ESSAY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND PRINCIPLES, 
 
 OF 
 
 <£otfuc 9lvt\)ittttuxt. 
 

 
E S SAY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND PRINCIPLES, 
 
 OF 
 
 #otl)tc grctntecture. 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR JAMES HALL, BART. P. R. S. Edin. 
 
 Est enim omnium in Anglia Ecclesiarum prima et vetustissima, primo ex virgis 
 torquatis facta, ex qua virtus divine sanctitatis jam inde a principio redolevit 
 spiravitque in omnem pa.triam. Hist. MS. Glastoniensis Eccles. in Bib. Cott. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY W. BULMER AND CO. CLEVELAND-ROW, ST. JAMEs's ; 
 
 FOR JOHN MURRAY, ALBEM ARLE-STREET ; J. TAYLOR, HIGH-HOLBORN J 
 
 AND W. BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH. 
 
 1813. 
 

 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 Research Library, The Getty Research Institute 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/essayonoriginhisOOhall 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 State of information as to Architecture. A singular mystery surrounds every thing 
 relating to the Gothic style. Probable cause of this obscurity. The downfall of the 
 Gothic style ascribed to the great Italian artists. Their hostility traced to a local 
 circumstance. Appeal from their judgment to the rules of the ancients. Architectonic 
 imitation defined and illustrated. History of the Author's feelings relative to this 
 enquiry. Essay formerly read in the Royal Society of Edinburgh, - page 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Theory of the pointed arch. Of the clustered column. Of the groined roof. Of the 
 tracery of the window in its simplest state. Of the cusp. Of complicated tracery. 
 Of the Gothic mouldings. Specimens of various windows. Of the door. Theory of 
 the crockets. Of the steeple. Of the pinnacle. Universal employment of crocket- 
 work. Decoration of a flat surface by cage-work in relief, - - - 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 More complicated examples of the Gothic style. Ornamental borders. Canopies. Tombs. 
 General design of a Gothic edifice. Its deviations from the prototype accounted for. 
 Of complicated roofs. Of complicated steeples. Cases of literal representation of the 
 prototype. Examples of the proper architectural adoption of the original forms, 69 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Opinions of various Authors on the origin of Gothic Architecture. Opinion of Dr. 
 Warburton ; an avenue of living trees. Opinion of Mr. Gray ; interlacing arches ; 
 argument derived from these arches in favour of the system of wicker-work. Opinion 
 of Governor Pownal. Opinion of Mr. Murphy. Opinion of Mr. Grose. Recapitulation 
 of the Theory advanced in this Essay, - - - - 89 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 History of Gothic Architecture in successive ages. Authority of Sir Christopher Wren 
 for ascribing the Gothic style to the Free-masons. Supported by Governor Pownal, — 
 and by Mr. Walker. Sir C. Wren's opinion as to the Saracens, controverted. 
 Legendary accounts of early fabrics in wicker-work. At Durham. At Glastonbury. 
 Name of Gothic architecture not derived from the Gothic nation. Conjecture as to its 
 origin. Injustice done to the style, by ascribing it to barbarous times, - page 103 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Comparison between the Greek and the Gothic styles. Each of them founded on a 
 peculiar system of Imitation. Contrasted in many respects. This contrast peculiarly 
 marked in the sacred edifices. Consequences produced by that contrast. Difficulty of 
 applying the Grecian style, to modern purposes ; Question if the Gothic would not be 
 more applicable. Importance of returning to the principle of Imitation. Single 
 example of its employment in modern times. Advice to the young artist, - 130 
 
ESSAY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ORIGIN, PRINCIPLES, AND HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 State of information as to Architecture. A singular mystery surrounds every thing 
 relating to the Gothic style. Probable cause of this obscurity. The downfall of the 
 Gothic style ascribed to the great Italian artists. Their hostility traced to a local 
 circumstance. Appeal from their judgment to the rules of the ancients. Architectonic 
 imitation defined and illustrated. History of the Author's feelings relative to this 
 enquiry. Essay formerly read in the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 
 
 1 he principles of design which guided the architects chap. i. 
 of ancient Greece, have been handed down to us by state of ; n - 
 
 di ,i i . formation as 
 
 ounted authority; yet we are entirely destitute of to Architec- 
 
 ., . ture. 
 
 similar information respecting another style of archi- 
 tecture, which, not many generations back, prevailed 
 exclusively in our own country. 
 
 B 
 
2 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. i. The principles of Gothic architecture, or at least its 
 a singula, methods of construction, must have been familiar to 
 rounds every every Artist, who, before the period of the Reforma- 
 
 thing relat- 
 ing to the tion, superintended the building: of a church, or of an 
 
 Gothic style. ' r © ' 
 
 abbey ; and it seems wonderful that information so 
 widely diffused should have disappeared so completely; 
 but this wonder ceases in a great measure, when it is 
 learnt, as will appear, upon the most respectable 
 authority, in the course of the following pages, that the 
 practice of the Gothic style was possessed exclusively 
 by the society of Free Masons, who are known, at all 
 periods, to have prided themselves in maintaining the 
 most inscrutable secrecy in their transactions. 
 probable The natural effect of concealment is to awaken 
 
 cause of this . . 
 
 obscurity, curiosity ; and much ingenuity has been spent in at- 
 tempting, by conjecture and by antiquarian research 
 to detect the origin and principles of Gothic architec- 
 ture. These efforts, however, have been but little 
 successful ; for several of the most prominent and most 
 characteristic features of this style occur, of which no 
 explanation has been furnished, or even attempted by 
 any of the theories proposed. 
 
 The principal object of the following Essay, is to 
 prosecute a similar undertaking, I trust, with better 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. i 
 
 success; since the theory which it endeavours to vin- chap. i. 
 dicate and illustrate, is not confined in its application 
 to any particular set of Gothic forms, but embraces 
 them all without exception. It applies also to this 
 style in all stages of its progress: — in that state of 
 simplicity peculiar to its first appearance ; as well as 
 in that of excessive refinement and complication, to 
 which it had arrived at the period of its downfall. 
 
 Another branch of this Essay is occupied with the 
 Gothic style, as an object of taste ; the success which 
 has attended its employment in connecting ornament 
 with utility, being fully brought into view. It is 
 hoped, upon this ground, that some steps are made, 
 in concurrence with the present disposition of the 
 public, towards the restoration of this much injured 
 art, to that due share of estimation which it once pos- 
 sessed, and which it lost early in the 16th century by 
 one of the most sudden and violent revolutions that 
 has ever taken place in any department of the fine 
 arts. A brief notice of the nature and causes of this 
 event, will throw light upon the general question, 
 and will assist me in stating those circumstances by 
 which I was induced to enter upon the subject of this 
 Essay. 
 
ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. i. This revolution in taste was undoubtedly brought 
 Thc.iownf.iii about by the great Italian artists of that age, with 
 style 6 ascrib- Michael Angelo and Raphael at their head. The 
 
 ed to the t . . 
 
 great Italian teinper f these masters, in regard to the (jotinc style, 
 
 masters. r ° 
 
 may be judged of, by the following passage in Vasari, 
 their friend and companion. In the Introduction to 
 his Lives of the Painters, after giving an account of the 
 five orders of ancient architecture, he says,* " There 
 is still another kind of work called German, of which 
 the ornaments and proportions differ widely, both 
 from those of the ancients and of the moderns : it is 
 
 * " Ecci un' altra specie di lavori clie si chiamano Tedeschi, i quali sono di ornamenti, 
 e di proporzione molto differenti da gli antichi e da' moderni ; n& oggi s' usano per gli 
 eccellenti, ma son fuggiti da loro come mostruosi e barbari ; mancando otini lor cosa di 
 ordine, the piu tosto confusione o disordine si puo chiamare; avendo fatto nelle lor fab- 
 briche, che son tante c' hanno ammorbato il montlo, le porte ornate di colonne sottili ed 
 attorte a uso di vite, le quali non possono aver forza a reggere il peso, di che leggerezza 
 si sia; e cost per tutte le faccie ed altri loro ornamenti facevano una maledittione di 
 tabernacolini 1' un sopra 1' altro, con tante piramidi, e punte, e foglie, che non ch' elle 
 possono stare, pare impossibile ch' elle si possano reggere. Ed hanno piu il modo da 
 parer fatte di carta che di pietre, di marmi. Ed in queste opere facevano tanti risalti 
 rotture, mensoline eviticci, che sproportionavano quelle opere che facevano j e speso con 
 mettere cosa sopra cosa andavano in tanta altezza, che la fine d' una porta toccava il tetto. 
 Questa maniera fu trovata da i Gotthi, che per aver ruinate le fabbriche antiche, e morti 
 gli architetti per le guerre, fecero poi coloro, chi rimasero le fabbriche di questa maniera; 
 le quali girarono le volte con quarti acuti e riempierono tutta Italia di questa maledittione 
 di fabbriche; che per non averne a far piu, s' e dismesso ogni modo loro. Iddio scampi 
 ogni paese da venir tal pensiero ed ordine di lavori che per essere eglino talmente difformi 
 alia bellezza delle fabbriche nostre, meritano che non se ne favelli pill che questo." 
 Vasari Fife de' Pittori, Introdutzione, p. 24. Ed. Bologna, 1647. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 not practised now by our first-rate artists, but is chap. i. 
 shunned by them as monstrous and barbarous, being 
 void of all order, and rather deserving the name of 
 disorder and confusion. In their buildings, which 
 are so numerous that the face of the earth is infested 
 with them, we see doors ornamented with slender co- 
 lumns, and twisted like vines, incapable of supporting 
 even the lightest weight. On every face of these 
 buildings, has been placed such a swarm of little 
 tabernacles, one upon the top of another, with so many 
 pyramids, and points, and leaves, that, so far from 
 appearing likely to last, it seems impossible they 
 should be able to bear their own weight; and they 
 look more as if cut out in paper, than formed of 
 stone and marble. These works have so many 
 projections, breakings, brackets, and twinings, that 
 every thing is crowded and disproportioned to itself; 
 and one thing is heaped upon another to such a 
 height, that a door is often seen to reach to the very 
 roof. 
 
 " This mode of building was invented by the Goths; 
 for the ancient edifices being destroyed, and the ar- 
 chitects killed in the wars, those who remained 
 masters of the country constructed buildings in this 
 
6 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. r. way. They made their arches pointed, and crowded 
 all Italy with these cursed fabrics. May Heaven pre- 
 serve every good country from following such detest- 
 able fancies, whose ugliness forms so great a contrast 
 with the beauty of our works, that they do not deserve 
 to be any more spoken of." 
 Their host;- Such a declaration, coming in a manner so direct 
 a local cir- and positive from the school of Michael Angelo, from 
 
 cumstance. 
 
 the fountain head of modern taste, seems calculated 
 to give rise to much perplexity, when contrasted with 
 the admiration expressed by men of the highest 
 authority, for works of Gothic Architecture. But a 
 fact hitherto, I believe, overlooked, relieves us in a 
 great measure from that perplexity; it is, that the 
 Gothic of Italy is very inferior to that of the rest of 
 Europe, so that the severe terms employed in the 
 passage just quoted, which, if applied to the speci- 
 mens of that style in England, France, Germany, 
 Spain, or Portugal, would be most unjust, and even 
 ludicrous, are well merited by the Gothic of Italy, 
 of which alone Vasari could speak, since his life, 
 written by himself, shews, that he had never crossed 
 the Alps. My recollection of what I had seen in 
 that country led me to this view, in which I have 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 been confirmed by Mr. Byres,* who has informed me, chap. i. 
 since his return to this country, that, with the ex 
 ception of the church of Orvietto, he has found the 
 Gothic of Italy to be of the lowest description. This 
 degraded state has probably arisen from a constant 
 struggle for pre-eminence, during the ages of its 
 purity on this side of the Alps, between the Gothic 
 style and that of the ancients; a struggle which led 
 to the mutual confusion of these two beautiful arts. 
 That such a conflict did take place, we gather from 
 the lives of several architects written by Vasari, in 
 which it appears, that, during this period, occasional 
 attempts were made to revive the architecture of the 
 ancients, although the German style, as he calls it, 
 prevailed upon the whole; and we see in Italy the 
 effects of this conflict most strongly in those produc- 
 tions, which exhibit an incoherent assemblage of Greek 
 and Gothic ideas, the buildings being made up of frag- 
 ments piled together without sense or taste, producing 
 a set of motley structures well deserving all the curses 
 which Vasari has so liberally bestowed on them."!* 
 
 * This gentleman is well known as having contributed most successfully to form the 
 taste of his young countrymen, during a residence of more than twenty years at Rome. 
 
 f Mr. Byres mentioned to me a circumstance which shews to what a degree the Gothic 
 style was foreign to Italy. A Gothic vault at the convent of Trinita del Monte, in Rome, 
 
8 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. i. To whatever cause we ascribe the inferior state of 
 Gothic architecture in Italy, the fact of its inferiority 
 seems to resolve our present difficulty. The Italian 
 masters, surrounded with these contemptible structures, 
 would naturally treat the style to which they belonged 
 without ceremony, never suspecting that it was sus- 
 ceptible of that excellence for which it is elsewhere so 
 conspicuous ; and the tone assumed by the school of 
 Michael Angelo, being implicitly followed all over 
 Europe, " architects," as Sir Christopher Wren ex- 
 presses it, " became ashamed of the modern barbarity 
 of architecture," the genuine feelings of taste giving 
 way, as has frequently happened on other occasions, 
 to the influence of fashion. 
 Appeal from Without departing, then, from the deference which 
 
 fbeir judg- 
 ment to the i s so i U stlv due to those illustrious masters in all that 
 
 rules of the " J 
 
 Ancients. 
 
 was shewn to him by father Jacquier, who informed him that the chapel, of which it 
 was a remnant, had been built by Francis the First of France, the stones of which it was 
 composed having been brought ready hewn from that kingdom. An inference of the 
 same sort may be derived from Vasari's account of the church of Acesi, built A. D. 1206, 
 by Jacobo Tedesco, father of Arnolfo di Lapo. He tells us that it had " a lofty belfry, 
 the height of which was five times its breadth ; having upon its summit an extremely 
 high octagonal pyramid; but the whole was taken down, as it threatened to fall." Uh 
 campiDiile altiisimo, cioe cinque i-oltc alto quanta egli 2 largo. Avcva sopra una 
 piramhle altissima, a otto face, inafu leiata perc/ie minacciava rovina. It is obvious 
 that Vasari was altogether unacquainted with Gothic architecture, such as is exhibited in 
 our churches, when he could thus, in such circuitous terms, describe a common spire. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 9 
 
 lies within their proper sphere, I must presume abso- chap. i. 
 lutely to reject their judgment asto Gothic architecture, 
 which was thus known to them only by the most 
 spurious examples. I am convinced, that if the question 
 had been fairly tried, and if Michael Angelo had been 
 carried out of Italy, (which he never quitted during 
 his life), and had it been required of him to pronounce 
 upon the Gothic style, by an examination of some of 
 those beautiful monuments which abound on this side 
 of the Alps, judging of them by the principles of the 
 ancient Greeks, which he held as the most sacred rule, 
 he could not have failed to appreciate their merit, and 
 would not have delivered that harsh decision by 
 which, ever since his time, the taste of Europe has 
 been overruled. 
 
 I had never attended particularly to Gothic archi- 
 tecture till after spending two years in Italy and Sicily, 
 when, from the spirit which I had there imbibed, I 
 was certainly as little disposed as any scholar of 
 Michael Angelo could be, to admire, or even to tolerate, 
 any thing repugnant to the rules of antiquity. Yet 
 it was in this disposition, that returning home, in 1785, 
 through the western provinces of France, I was first 
 struck with the beauties of the Gothic works, which 
 
10 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. i. there occur in the highest perfection, and which, so 
 far from sinking in comparison with what I had lately 
 seen, rose in my estimation, when tried by the spirit 
 of the ancient rules. 
 
 One of the most important of these is founded on 
 that principle of imitation, which was invariably kept 
 in view by the ancients in their best works. My 
 worthy friend, Mr. Byres, had forcibly directed my 
 attention to the rigorous manner in which this principle 
 was adhered to, in all the purest monuments of anti- 
 quity at Rome ; and had pointed out its efficacy, in 
 producing coherence, and unity of design. Perceiving 
 that these qualities belonged, in an eminent degree, to 
 the Gothic works before me, 1 was led to conjecture, 
 that the architects by whom they were erected, had 
 been guided by similar principles. Every subsequent 
 observation having tended to confirm that opinion, I 
 now venture to bring forward the following Essay, 
 the object of which is to prove, that such was in fact 
 their practice, and to show its beneficial effects. But 
 before I can enter into the details of this argument, it 
 will be necessary to make some observations on the 
 peculiar species of imitation, which belongs to archi- 
 tecture. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 11 
 
 In the execution of a statue or of a picture, the chap. i. 
 artist undertakes to produce an entire representation Architectonic 
 
 ... -■ imitation de- 
 
 of some natural object. The imitation, now to be fined and a- 
 
 J lustrated. 
 
 considered, is of a different sort, the original forms 
 being modified according to the circumstances of the 
 case. In a work destined to answer some useful pur- 
 pose, whatever visibly counteracts that purpose, never 
 fails to occasion deformity; so that even where orna- 
 ment is principally intended, the ostensibly useful 
 object of the work, if it have any such, must be pro- 
 vided for, in the first place, in preference to every 
 other consideration. But in almost every useful work, 
 some parts occur, the shape of which is quite indifferent, 
 with respect to the proposed object of utility, and 
 which, therefore, the artist is at liberty to execute as 
 he pleases ; a liberty, which has opened a wide field 
 to the taste and invention of ingenious men in every 
 age and country, who have turned their attention to 
 the composition of ornaments, and whose exertions 
 have been more or less influenced, by the state of 
 civilization in which they lived. It would seem, how- 
 ever, that little has been effected by absolute invention, 
 since we see, that recourse has been had, almost uni- 
 versally, to Nature, and that ornament has been 
 
12 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. i. attained by the imitation of objects, to which she has 
 Given a determinate and characteristic form. 
 
 Thus, the hatchets and canoes of Otaheite are 
 covered with rude images of various natural objects ; 
 the heads of our ships are decorated with figures of 
 men and animals; and among the Greeks, in the 
 period of their highest refinement, we find the handles 
 of vases in the shape of vine branches, or of twisted 
 serpents. 
 
 In such cases, the forms of Nature have been par- 
 tially adopted and so modified, as to suit the useful 
 destination of the work ; artists of every age, having 
 been led to select, among the forms of natural objects, 
 such as answered their purpose, to the exclusion of 
 the rest ; and having exhibited modified imitations of 
 nature, which, being justified by the circumstances of 
 the case, do not suggest the idea of mutilation. Thus 
 we meet with the foot of a table executed like that of 
 a lion, or the hilt of a sword like the head of an eagle, 
 without asking what is become of the body of the 
 animal, and without being struck with any impro- 
 priety in the omission. 
 
 Frequently, where the materials employed are 
 themselves possessed of variety and elegance ; the 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 13 
 
 object of ornament has been sufficiently attained, by chap. i. 
 allowing the natural forms, in whole or in part, to 
 remain in the finished work. For instance, cups are 
 made of shells, of cocoa nuts, or of ostrich eggs, the 
 character and beauty of which depend upon the 
 natural form of the materials. And in the case of 
 the bottles, used by the Roman Catholic pilgrims, an 
 example occurs of an utensil, in which the natural 
 form has undergone little or no change, since it con- 
 sists of the hard outward skin of a gourd, of the same 
 shape in which it grew upon the plant, with this 
 single variation, that the neck of the bottle is formed 
 by means of a string tied round the fruit when of small 
 size. 
 
 This last class of forms has been introduced, by 
 imitation into works composed of materials naturally 
 possessed of no peculiar shape. Thus we have silver 
 cups in the form of those made of shells, and fruit- 
 dishes of stone-ware in the form of baskets. The 
 ancient Peruvian vases of pottery are executed in 
 exact imitation of gourds ; a practice which probably 
 succeeded the use of gourds as bottles. In such cases 
 the want of real character in the object is supplied by 
 a fictitious one, which, in the hands of a man of 
 
14 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. i. genius, is often productive of the most happy effects; 
 since it enables him to confer upon his work the 
 merit of consistency, and truth of character, qualities, 
 which influence the mind of the spectator as power- 
 fully, when founded on fiction as on reality. For we 
 judge of such a work, as we do of a romance, in which 
 we are scarcely less interested than if we believed it 
 to be true. 
 
 In every country where much refinement of art has 
 been introduced, great pains have been bestowed in 
 ornamenting stone buildings with figures representing 
 various natural objects. As stone is not naturally 
 possessed of any peculiar shape, and, as the useful 
 object proposed in structures formed of it, may be 
 accomplished in various ways, very great latitude is 
 left to the invention of the artist. The latitude has 
 even been too great ; for experience shews, that the 
 artist has succeeded best, where his imagination has 
 been circumscribed, and forced into a regular channel 
 by the practice of executing stone buildings in imita- 
 tion of structures, composed of materials, which 
 naturally possess a determinate and characteristic 
 form. Such was the method followed by the archi- 
 tects of ancient Greece, who constructed temples, and 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 15 
 
 other public edifices, in imitation of a rustic fabric chap. i. 
 composed of square beams, supported upon round 
 posts or stems of trees, and who derived the numerous 
 ornaments of that beautiful style, from circumstances 
 which would naturally take place in such a fabric* 
 
 * That they really did imitate a building of wood is stated in the clearest manner, in the 
 works of Vitruvius, particularly in his chapter, " De Ornamentis Columnarum." He 
 there speaks of architectural work in stone or marble, as a representation (imago), and of 
 the timber fabric as a reality (in veritate), as will appear by the following quotation. 
 
 " Itaque, in Graecis operibus, nemo sub mutulo denticulos constituit, non enim possunt 
 
 subtus cantherios asseres esse. Quod ergo supra cantherios et templa in veritate debet 
 
 esse collocatum, id in imaginibus, si infra constitutum fuerit, mendosam habebit operis 
 rationem. Etiamque antiqui non probaverunt neque instituerunt in fastigiis mutulos, aut 
 denticulos fieri, sed puras coronas; ideo quod nee eantherii nee asseres contra fastigiorum 
 frontes distribuuntur, nee possunt prominere, sed ad stillicidia proclinati collocantur. 
 
 " Ita quod non potest in veritate fieri, id non putaverunt in imaginibus factum, posse 
 certain rationem habere. Omnia, enim, certa proprietate, et a veris naturae deductis 
 moribus, traduxerunt in operum perfectiones. Et ea probaverunt, quorum explicationes, 
 in disputationibus, rationem possunt habere veritatis." 
 
 In one respect, this passage is extremely obscure ; but in another view, it is sufficiently 
 clear to answer the present purpose. The obscurity arises from the difficulty, or ratber 
 impossibility, of discovering the meaning of several of the technical terms employed ; 
 these being very rarely used by authors, and relating to a mode of building different from 
 any now practised. But whilst commentators differ as to the precise meaning of the 
 words cantherius, asser, and templum, as used in this passage, they all agree in consider 
 ing them as denoting parts of the timber frame of a roof. At the same time, mutulus and 
 denticulus are well known terms of architecture, and appropriated to buildings of stone. 
 The latter part, which relates to the principle of imitation in general, is sufficiently clear. 
 The passage, in English, is nearly as follows : 
 
 " Thus in the works of the Greeks, denticles were never placed under a modillion, 
 because it is impossible that the asseres can be under the eantherii. If, then, what is 
 situated over the eantherii and templa in reality, be exhibited as under them in the imi- 
 tation, the rule of the work will be held as false. 
 
 " In the same manner, the ancients never approved of, or directed, the introductions, 
 
16 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. i. A faint and distant resemblance, however, of the 
 original, has generally been found to answer all the 
 end proposed by the imitation ; a resemblance, which 
 may sometimes be traced in the general distribution 
 of the edifice, sometimes in its minute parts, and not 
 unfrequently in both. The forms of nature, thus 
 introduced, have been greatly modified by those of 
 masonry. For though stone is by nature shapeless, 
 yet, in the course of practice, many peculiar forms 
 have been long established, and universally employed, 
 in working it; such as straight lines, plain surfaces, 
 square angles, and various mouldings used to soften 
 the effect of abrupt terminations ; all of which, origi- 
 nating in motives of mechanical convenience, or a 
 desire of neatness, had, in very early times, been 
 appropriated to masonry, and considered as essential 
 in every finished work of stone. \\ hen the principle 
 of imitation was introduced, these masonic forms still 
 
 of modillions or denticles in the frontispiece, but preferred a plain cornice; for this 
 reason, tliat neither the rantlwrii nor asseres lie towards the gable, nor can they project 
 beyond it, but are placed with an inclination to the eaves. 
 
 " Thus they esteemed it a departure from principle to exhibit, in an imitation, what 
 could not occur in reality. For in finishing their works, they introduced every ornament 
 in an appropriated manner, and according to a real analogy borrowed from nature ; and 
 they approved of what could be theoretically accouuled for, on the principle of its resem- 
 blance to truth." 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, IT 
 
 maintained their ground ; and being blended with the chap. i. 
 forms peculiar to the materials employed in the con- 
 struction of the prototype, the two classes reciprocally 
 modified each other. 
 
 This combination of art with nature, of which we 
 see the most perfect example in the Corinthian capital, 
 produces what are called architectonic forms, in which 
 the variety of nature, being subjected to the regularity 
 of art, the work acquires that peculiar character, 
 which, in a natural object, or in its entire representa- 
 tion, we consider as offensive, under the name of 
 formality ; but which, in architecture, we admire as a 
 beauty under the name of symmetry. 
 
 Occupied with these views, I was struck, as 1 have 
 said, with the beauty of some Gothic buildings in 
 the west of France ; and seeing them impressed with 
 a character so peculiar, and possessing unity of style, 
 in so eminent a degree, it occurred to me, that they 
 also must have been constructed upon the imitation of 
 some fabric real or imaginary, formed of materials 
 possessing a characteristic shape ; and I had begun 
 eagerly to search for indications of a prototype among 
 the buildings which surrounded me, when an acci- 
 dental circumstance greatly assisted my speculations. 
 
18 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. i. It happened, that the peasants of the country, through 
 History of which I was travelling, were employed in collecting 
 
 the Author's 
 
 feeiingareia- ant ] bringing home the long rods or poles, which they 
 
 tive to thla O O O I J 
 
 !U(]Uiry ' make use of to support their vines, or to split into 
 hoops ; and these were to be seen in every village, 
 standing in bundles, or waving partly loose in carts. 
 It occurred to me, that a rustic dwelling might be con- 
 structed of such rods, bearing a resemblance to works 
 of Gothic architecture, and from which the peculiar 
 forms of that style might have been derived. This 
 conjecture was at first employed to account for the 
 main parts of the structure, and for its general appear- 
 ance only; but after a diligent investigation, carried 
 on at intervals, with the assistance of friends, both in 
 the collection of materials and in the solution of dif- 
 ficulties, I have been enabled to reduce even the most 
 intricate forms of this elaborate style to the same sim- 
 ple origin ; aud to account for every feature belong- 
 ing to it from an imitation of wicker work, modified 
 according to the principles just laid down as applica- 
 ble to architecture of every sort. 
 
 The whole of this theory has been submitted to an 
 experimental test, by the construction of a wicker 
 fabric now standing in my garden, a view of which is 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 19 
 
 given in the frontispiece. In it all the peculiar forms chap. i. 
 of Gothic architecture have been restored to their 
 alleged original state, The facility which has attended 
 this restoration is very satisfactory, and affords, I 
 conceive, no small confirmation of the theory by which 
 it has been accomplished ; the variations, too, which 
 time and the course of nature have produced upon 
 this little fabric, contribute to the same end, and fur- 
 nish explanations of some Gothic forms, which are 
 frequently employed in works of the best times. I 
 shall hereafter produce some documents, which prove, 
 that this mode of construction was in fact employed 
 in old times, in cases of peculiar necessity ; and that 
 some fabrics of this description were connected with 
 legendary circumstances, which conferred upon them 
 the highest degree of veneration, in the eyes of men 
 of the middle ages. 
 
 In an Essay read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Essay f or - 
 
 on the 6th of April, 1797, and afterwards published ^Roya* So- 
 ciety of Edin- 
 
 in their Transactions, Vol. IV. I announced, by a short bur £ h - 
 sketch, my ideas as to the origin of Gothic architec- 
 ture, which every observation of these last 15 years, 
 has tended strongly to confirm, and which I now 
 bring forward at full length, with the advantage of a 
 
20 ESSAY ON 
 
 < hap. i. set of Plates, chiefly executed by Mr. Blore, a young 
 artist of great merit, who has been induced, during 
 several years, to devote himself to this work. In 
 entering upon this subject, I find myself placed in a 
 dilemma, between the desire of giving as much force 
 and perspicuity as possible to the argument, and the 
 fear of fatiguing the attention of the reader, by a 
 burdensome assemblage of details. I must then ear- 
 nestly solicit his indulgence, if I have passed the golden 
 mean on either side. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Theory of the pointed arch. Of the clustered column. Of the groined roof. Of the 
 tracery of the window in its simplest state. Of the cusp. Of complicated tracery. 
 Of the Gothic mouldings. Specimens of various windows. Of the door. Theory of 
 the crockets. Of the steeple. Of the pinnacle. Universal employment of crocket 
 work. Decoration of a flat surface by cage-work in relief. 
 
 OF THE SIMPLE GOTHIC ROOF. 
 
 As we enter a Gothic church, our attention is first chap. ii. 
 attracted by a double row of clustered pillars, each 
 composed of an assemblage of long and slender shafts, 
 which, reaching from the ground, nearly to the summit, 
 there separate and spread in all directions, forming 
 the ribs, or groins, as they are called of a vaulted 
 roof. In the meeting of these groins, and in the 
 windows of the sides and ends, we see the form of 
 the pointed arch, the principal characteristic of Gothic roimedarch. 
 architecture. Such structures have, I conceive, been 
 executed in imitation of a rustic fabric, constructed as 
 follows. Suppose a set of round posts driven firmly 
 into the ground, (Plate I.) as shewn in the ground piatei. 
 plan, (Fig. l.) and in the view, (Fig. 2. at a, b, c, d, 
 
22 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. e,J,) the interval between the neighbouring posts in 
 the same row being nearly equal to the distance 
 between the rows, each post being raised above the 
 ground to a height equal to about three of those in- 
 tervals, (Fig. 2.) Then a set of long and flexible rods 
 of willow, being applied to each post, let them be 
 
 clustered thrust into the ground at its base, and bound to it by 
 
 column. 
 
 two tyings, one near the ground, and another at two 
 thirds of its height; the rods being left loose from 
 this last point upwards, and free to be moved in any 
 direction. The number and distribution of the rods 
 is shewn by little circles in the ground plan, (Fig 3.) 
 By this disposition, the inside of each post is entirely 
 covered, so that when seen from between the rows, 
 the lower part of each post is concealed from the 
 view, and presents the appearance of a bundle of rods, 
 (Fig. 4.) similar to that which surrounds the handle 
 of the axe in the fasces carried by the Roman lictor. 
 In this most simple construction, the number of rods 
 applied to each inner post in the row, as c or d, is 
 five ; and the number applied to each end post in the 
 row, as a or b, is only three. 
 Groined Things being thus disposed, the skeleton of thatched 
 roof may be formed by bringing together the loose 
 
 roof. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 23 
 
 ends of the rods, which had been left free, as men- chap it. 
 tioned above, and binding them to each other. This 
 is represented as finished in Plate V.; but the struc- 
 ture being rendered intricate by the mixture of dif- 
 ferent sets of forms, I have, for the sake of distinctness, 
 given each set separately in Plates II. III. and IV. in piatesii.m. 
 which the same letters of reference, a, Z>, c, &c. are 
 maintained through all the Figures, both ground plans 
 and views. 
 
 The middle rod (r) from one of the posts, (cl, Plate I. 
 Fig. 3. and Plate III. Fig. 1.) being so bent as to 
 meet a similar one (s) from the post immediately op- 
 posite to it in the middle of the space between the 
 rows, let the two rods be made to cross each other, 
 and let them be bound together at their crossing, 
 (Plate II.) Thus will be produced the exact form of 
 the Gothic arch. 
 
 The same being done with each pair of opposite 
 posts, and an arcade of pointed arches being so formed, 
 let them be connected together by a straight rod laid 
 horizontally upon the forks of the crossing rods, and 
 bound to each arch (gh, Plate III. Fig. 1. and 2.) I 
 propose to give to this straight horizontal rod the name 
 of the ridge bar. 
 
24 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ir. Next, let a loose rod be brought from any two con 
 tiguous posts in the same row, so as to form a pointed 
 arch similar to that just described, and nearly of the 
 same height. This being done with every two con- 
 nate in. tiguous posts, (Plate III. Fig. 3. and 4.) and a new 
 set of pointed arches being so produced standing op- 
 posite to each other in pairs, let each pair be bound 
 by a horizontal rod, or ridge bar, (as ki, and ml, 
 Figs. 3. and 4.) laid upon the opposite forks, and 
 bound to each of them ; this new set of ridge bars 
 crossing that first described at right angles. 
 
 Having in this manner disposed of two out of the 
 three rods connected with each corner post, as a, or 
 b : and of three of those belonging; to each of the 
 others ; we have one rod of each corner post, and two 
 of each middle post still to employ; which is done as 
 follows. — A pair of these unoccupied rods being 
 brought together from each pair of posts (as a, and </,) 
 which stand diagonally with respect to each other; 
 let them be made to meet in the middle, not as in the 
 first case, crossing at an angle, but lying side by side 
 and forming a continued curve or semicircle, and let 
 them be joined together after the manner of a hoop 
 (as shewn separately, and in a direct view, in Plate IV. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 25 
 
 Fig. 1.) and the same being done with every pair of chap. n. 
 diagonal posts, (Plate IV. Fig. 2. and 3.), a set of piateiv. 
 semicircular arches will be produced, crossing each 
 other at right angles, and the whole loose rods will 
 have been employed. 
 
 Each of the three sets of arches having now been Plate v. 
 separately described, the complete structure, in which 
 they are all combined (Plate V.) may easily be un- 
 derstood . 
 
 A frame so constructed would be fit to support 
 thatch, and has probably been often used. It would 
 seem however, that, for the sake of strength, the 
 number of rods has frequently been increased in each 
 cluster, by the introduction between every two of the 
 first, of an additional rod ; which rising with them to 
 the roof, still maintains its middle position as they 
 spread asunder, and meets the ridge bar at an inter- 
 mediate point. This arrangement is shewn in Plate VI. Plate vi. 
 Figure 2. shews a frame-work thus constructed as 
 seen from below, with its covering of thatch. And 
 Fig. 1. of the same Plate, is an exact portrait of the 
 entrance to the cloister of Westminster Abbey. — From 
 the resemblance of the stone work in this example to 
 the wicker structure, we may trace the origin of the 
 
 E 
 
26 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. leading unci most characteristic features of Gothic ar- 
 chitecture : — the Pointed Arch, the Clustered Column, 
 and the Groined Roof. 
 
 In the course of practice, similar modes have been 
 employed, in the midst of innumerable varieties, in 
 respect to the proportion of the parts, and as to the 
 number, magnitude, and distribution of the rods. I 
 have chosen the above simple and regular example as 
 one of the most easy to be understood ; but in the 
 course of this Work, I shall have occasion to allude to 
 others, which are extremely complicated In this 
 place I shall mention only one more example ; the 
 structure of which, though not quite so regular as 
 
 riatevn. that of the last, is more simple. In Plate VII. Fig. 3. 
 is a view of the north aisle of Melrose Abbey. In this 
 particular example, the side arches are far wider in 
 span than the arches which cross the aisle. Figures 1. 
 and 2. shew the same form executed in wicker-work, 
 which agrees with the wicker structure first described, 
 and represented in Plate V. differing from it only as 
 to the proportion between the side and cross arches, 
 which, in PlateV. have been represented as equal. That 
 equality, however, was by no means essential in such 
 a structure, whether made of willow or of stone ; and 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 27 
 
 the architect seems, in the arrangement of his plan, to chap. ii. 
 have been guided as to this, by some occasional cir- 
 cumstance of convenience.* The ridge bars in all 
 these simple plans are straight and horizontal, which 
 is universally observed in the nave and aisles ; and. 
 though it is sometimes omitted, the line in which the 
 opposite sides of the vault meet preserves its horizon- 
 tality. In all the cases hitherto quoted, the diagonal 
 arches are exact semicircles; but this, though common, 
 is not universal in Gothic roofs; the diagonal arch be- 
 ing sometimes slightly pointed, as may be seen in the 
 side aisles of York Minster, which are of a form in 
 other respects perfectly regular, the side arches being 
 of equal span with those which cross the aisle. 
 
 The wicker structure, as shewn in the frontispiece, Frontispiece. 
 was formed according to the plan of the cloister of 
 Westminster Abbey, by a set of posts of ash about 
 three inches in diameter thrust into the ground, with 
 a set of willow rods of about an inch in diameter ap- 
 plied to them, the whole being conducted as already 
 fully described. The construction answers perfectly 
 
 * I have never yet met with a case of the simplest form, such as that of Plate V. 
 in which the span of the cross and side arches were equal ; though that equality does 
 occur in the more complex case of the cloister of Westminster Abbey, given in Plate VI. 
 
28 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. well in practice, and affords a firm support for the 
 thatch. The summit of the roof within is about eight 
 feet high, so that a person can walk under it with 
 ease. 
 
 Having now given the theory of a Gothic roof, in 
 its state of greatest simplicity, I shall pass on to other 
 branches of the art ; and shall return to the roof 
 in a more advanced part of the Essay, when I shall 
 be enabled to explain its complications and varieties, 
 by means of a number of devices, which, in the course 
 of what follows, will be unfolded in succession. 
 
 OF THE WINDOW 
 
 The roof might be completed in any of the modes 
 just pointed out; but the building would not be 
 habitable, as a house, unless the intervals between the 
 posts of the sides, and at the ends, were closed. This 
 object would best be accomplished by means of wicker 
 work, the ribs of which might consist of rods like those 
 just described placed at equal distances in these in- 
 tervals. Every purpose of the inhabitants might be 
 answered by wicker-work, taking that term in its 
 most extensive sense ; that is, comprehending both 
 cage-work and basket-work. A cage differs from a 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 29 
 
 basket only in this, that in one the interval between chap. ij. 
 the ribs is wattled fall of twigs, and in the other, 
 these ribs are left bare. A combination of the two 
 seems to have existed in the Gothic original ; and we 
 may thus account for the windows, and all their very 
 peculiar forms. In such a fabric, if the openings of 
 the sides and ends were closed entirely with basket- 
 work, the house would be both close and dark. In 
 order to obtain air and light, a window would be 
 formed by omitting part of the wattling, and leaving 
 intervals of open cage-work. 
 
 In Plate VIII. Fig. 1. the door «, is represented riatevm. 
 as completely wattled up, as also the side space b. In 
 the opening c and d, windows are formed by omitting 
 part of the wattled work, and leaving two upright 
 rods in each ; that in c being square, and that in d 
 having its upper part bounded by rods, bent into a 
 form similar to that of the rods of the main opening 
 above ; so that the window terminates upwards in a 
 Gothic arch. The cage-work thus produced would 
 constitute a very essential feature of the building ; for 
 standing in full view, it would form a contrast with 
 what lay beyond it ; appearing light upon a dark 
 ground, when seen from without; and dark, as 
 
30 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. opposed to the sky, when seen from within ; it would 
 therefore be of great importance wherever ornament 
 or effect were studied. If the structure of the Gothic 
 roof was in reality suggested in the manner that has 
 been lately pointed out, it is natural to suppose that 
 those slender ribs of stone, called mullions, together 
 with all the tracery employed in every Gothic edifice, 
 to divide the windows and to support the glass, have 
 been executed in imitation of this cage-work. At 
 Knaresborough, in Yorkshire, we see a window of the 
 
 Plate vm. church, (Plate VIII. Fig. 3.) divided by a set of 
 straight and vertical mullions, reaching from top to 
 bottom ; just as in the cage-work Fig. 2. of the same 
 Plate. 
 
 Upon this simple idea, numberless variations would 
 be made, with a view to strength, as well as beauty 
 and variety. The simplest of these variations would 
 be produced by splitting each of the upright rods 
 down to the level of the impost of the pointed arch, 
 then carrying the half rods to right and left, as shewn 
 
 piateix. in Plate IX. Fig. 1. Some of the outermost spaces, 
 as a, a, being wattled up, the middle space would be 
 left in cage-work, as shewn in Fig. 2. of the same 
 Plate, exactly resembling the very common stone 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 31 
 
 window, Fig. 3. of the same Plate, which is one of chap. ii. 
 St. Mary's Beverly. 
 
 Rods split in the same manner, furnish another 
 figure, likewise very common in Gothic windows. The 
 wicker structure is shewn in Figs. 4. and 5. of the 
 same Plate ; Fig. 4. being represented as in the pro- 
 gress of execution. The half rods are first carried to 
 right and left, as in the last case ; but the neighbour- 
 ing half rods, instead of being made to cross each 
 other, are bound back to back at the points a, a, Fig. 4.; 
 then drawn asunder, and brought to meet again im- 
 mediately above their original places, and bound face 
 to face at b, b. They are then separated a second 
 time as at first ; and the same operation is repeated, 
 till the whole is filled with a set of regular and per- 
 fectly equal figures, of very elegant form, bounded by 
 waving lines, as completed in Fig. 5. This I con- 
 ceive to be the origin of another very common Gothic 
 window, represented in Fig. 6. which is a window of 
 Selby in Yorkshire. 
 
 In the general form of this window, its resemblance 
 to the wicker model may easily be traced ; but in all 
 the concave bends of the stone-work, a small pointed 
 ornament occurs, which is very common in Gothic 
 
32 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. windows, and is very general in every branch of the 
 
 art. As this ornament has not to my knowledge been 
 
 characterised by any particular name, I have ventured 
 
 cusps, to apply to it that of cusp, by which mathematicians 
 
 denote a figure of this sort. 
 
 The cusp seems to have been derived from a cir- 
 cumstance which naturally occurs to willow rods, 
 placed in the predicament we have ascribed to those 
 mentioned above : for one of two things would inevi- 
 tably happen ; either these rods would strike root and 
 vegetate, or they would die, and of course fall into a 
 state of decay. Neither of these circumstances seem 
 to have escaped the inventors of Gothic architecture ; 
 for, as we shall have occasion afterwards to shew in 
 the various cases, they frequently represented the 
 rods as in a full state of vegetation. So common, 
 indeed, and so unequivocal is the appearance of foliage 
 in Gothic buildings, that this view did not fail to pre- 
 sent itself, as soon almost as it occurred to me to 
 derive the Gothic forms from boughs thrust into the 
 ground. It was long, however, before I met with 
 any satisfactory explanation of the cusped ornament ; 
 though the frequency of its appearance, and the uni- 
 form manner in which it is introduced in all Gothic 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 33 
 
 works, left little room to doubt, but that it had an chap. i. 
 origin in common with the more substantial forms of 
 the style. At last a friend, to whose assistance I have 
 been indebted in many parts of this undertaking, sug- 
 gested to me, that it might have been borrowed from 
 the appearance assumed by the bark of the rods when 
 about to fall off, in consequence of decay. In pur- 
 suance of this suggestion, I attended particularly to 
 branches so situated, and met with several facts tend- 
 ing to confirm this conjecture. In every kind of tree, 
 the bark curls previously to dropping off, in conse- 
 quence of the unequal contraction of the layers of 
 which it is composed. This takes place variously, in 
 different kinds of wood ; in some the bark bends 
 inwards, in some outwards, in some across the branch, 
 and in some lengthwise. I have observed, that the 
 bark of the willow always bends concave outwards, 
 and lengthwise with respect to the branch. One of 
 the first distinct examples I met with of this, was on 
 a pailing of willow at St. Mary's Isle in Galloway, in 
 the summer of 1792, as shewn in Plate X. Fig. 1. The Piatex. 
 rail had been made entirely of fresh wood, and the 
 posts having all struck root, had then the third year's 
 growth upon them. The horizontal bars had died of 
 
 F 
 
34 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. course, and were in the act of throwing off their bark. 
 This, in some places, was seen separated from the wood 
 at one end, and adhering to it at the other, forming a 
 gentle and continued curve with the mass of bark 
 which still remained attached to the wood. Some 
 pieces of bark, a few inches in length, had separated 
 at both ends, and remained adhering only by the 
 middle; in some places two neighbouring pieces of 
 rising bark met and exhibited a shape very much 
 resembling that of the cusped ornament, which I have 
 just described. Fig. 2. and 3. of same Plate, shew 
 other examples of the same : all drawn exactly from 
 nature. 
 
 Fig. 4. Plate X. is from a sketch which I drew upon 
 the spot in 1796 of a cusp of bark, which did actually 
 occur in my willow Cathedral; and it deserves par- 
 ticularly to be noticed, that the cusp of bark which is 
 here seen on the willow, stands exactly in that place 
 of the window where in the stone-work the cusp 
 occurs invariably. 
 
 There is great reason to suppose, that an accident 
 of this sort may have suggested the cusped ornament. 
 For if we conceive a window of the willow house, in 
 the state of decay just described, or as represented in 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 35 
 
 the wicker form in Fig. I. Plate XI. to coine under chap. ir. 
 the observation of an architect of genius, in the habit piatexi. 
 of borrowing all his ideas from this source, and eager 
 to seize upon whatever contributed to the beauty of 
 his compositions, or to give them an air of novelty, it 
 is most natural to believe, that, like Callimachus,* the 
 inventor of the Corinthian capital, he would avail 
 himself of the circumstance, by imitating in stone the 
 curling bark ; and this being treated with that regular 
 symmetry, which architecture bestows upon the natural 
 objects which it represents, as shewn in Fig. 2. of the 
 same Plate, would produce a light and elegant effect, 
 and the ornament would soon be very generally 
 adopted. 
 
 As the Gothic architects seem to have held them- 
 selves at liberty, either to employ this ornament, or 
 to omit it at pleasure, a similar freedom, will be used 
 in the following attempt, to explain the general forms 
 of Gothic windows ; and passing over the cusp, as 
 already accounted for, it will be occasionally omitted 
 in those figures which are introduced with a view to 
 explanation. 
 
 The windows hitherto mentioned have been pro- Tracery. 
 
 * Vitruvius, Book iv, Chap. I . 
 
36 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. duced by means of rods, split once, and worked up 
 together, so as to produce equal and uniform compart- 
 ments; but it may be easily conceived that when the 
 rods are repeatedly split, when detached pieces are 
 introduced, when the compartments are diversified in 
 size and shape, that the means are supplied of inex- 
 haustible variety. 
 
 piates xii. Plate XII. and XIII. represent four real windows, 
 xra.xiv. . . . 
 
 xv. xvi. as specimens or various classes. 1 he two "following 
 
 Plates, XIV. and XV. exhibit the same windows, 
 stripped of the ornament of the cusp, and accompanied 
 by similar forms, represented as executed in wicker. 
 Plate XVI. shews the details of that wicker construc- 
 tion. In all these explanations, the same letters of 
 reference are used to denote corresponding parts in 
 wicker, and in stone ; and are maintained through the 
 different Figures and Plates, to denote each particular 
 object in the progress of its employment, as follows. 
 
 Plate XII. Fig. 1, is a window in Magdalen Church 
 Oxford ; it is intended to shew the result of rods 
 repeatedly split ; the explanation of which will be seen 
 in Plate XIV. Figs. Land 2., and in Plate XVI. Fig. 1. 
 
 Plate XII. Fig. 2. is a window of St. Giles's 
 Cathedral Edinburgh, intended to shew a construction 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 37 
 
 formed entirely of hoops, and other wicker forms, chap. ii. 
 which are not, as in the last case, prolongations of the 
 upright mullions, but detached pieces. The construc- 
 tion will appear obvious by inspection of Figs. 3. and 
 4. of Plate XIV. and by Fig. 5. of Plate XVI. in 
 which last the triangular form seen in the middle of 
 the circle, is shewn to be produced from a single rod. 
 
 Plate XIII. Fig. 1. is a window of Beverley Minster, 
 shewing a combination of the two last mentioned 
 methods ; its wicker original, as shewn in Plate XV. 
 Fig. 2., being composed partly of prolongations of 
 the upright rods, and partly of detached pieces 
 introduced. The principal tracery in the middle of 
 the window is produced by a rod split repeatedly, as 
 shewn in Plate XVI. Fig. 2. where the construction 
 is represented as half executed. And among the pro- 
 longations, upwards of the upright mullions, two of 
 the detached pieces are conspicuous; one in form of 
 letter S. ; and the other in that of a hoop with a very 
 elegant triangular figure occupying its middle, formed 
 of a single rod split only twice, as shewn in Plate XVI. 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 Plate XIII. Fig. 2. is a window of Trinity Chapel 
 Ely. Here we meet with some forms produced by 
 
38 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. the prolongation of the upright mullions, some by the 
 introduction of detached pieces, and others which 
 admit of either solution, since they may be executed 
 in both ways. This will appear by close inspection 
 of Fig. 4. Plate XV., as I shall now point out in detail. 
 Fig. 3. of Plate XVI. shews the middle rod so split 
 at a, b, c, d, and e, as to form by its prolongation 
 upwards all the middle and upper part of the window, 
 as denoted by the same letters in Figs 3. and 4. of 
 Plate XV. Or we may suppose that all that part of 
 the window has been produced by the introduction of 
 a detached rod bent, as in Fig. 9- Plate XVI. begin- 
 ning at b, and ending at x\ and such a construction 
 has in fact been employed with good effect in a small 
 model in my possession. Figs. 8. and 10. of the same 
 Plate show various modes, in which the side forms 
 might be executed. The rod g i h (Fig 8.) being so 
 split as to form an opening at ?, and so that the wood 
 shall still remain entire both at g, and at h. Then 
 hoops formed as in Figs. 4 and 7- with the extremities 
 beut back upon themselves after forming the knot as 
 in Fig, 7? are introduced into the openings as shewn 
 in Fig. 8. The end of the rod thus bent back upon 
 itself, is well marked in the stone work, Fig. 3. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 39 
 
 Plate XV. The same form may be produced by chap. it. 
 another method, as shewn in Fig. 10. Plate XVI. the 
 split rods crossing from side to side, as in m, n, o ; might 
 afterwards be constrained to assume the same form 
 as that last described by the introduction of hoops. — 
 It thus appears, that the forms of this window may 
 be executed in various modes ; and I have found them 
 all to answer nearly equally well in practice. 
 
 Plate XVII. shews a window of Chartham Church Hate xvn. 
 in Kent, the fundamental form of which is different 
 from any of those hitherto produced, but which 
 occasionally, though rarely, occurs in windows, and 
 in other parts of the Gothic style. It has probably 
 originated in accident, but may have been continued 
 with a view to variety. 
 
 I ascribe the origin of this class of forms to the 
 predicament in which a bough or hoop is placed when 
 bent with a degree of abruptness, beyond what its 
 elasticity can bear.— When moderately bent, a rod 
 acquires an uniformly flowing form, as in Fio-. 2. 
 Plate XVII ; but when the bend is so abrupt or short 
 as to overcome the elasticity of the bough, (as 1 
 understand is most likely to happen when it is made 
 use of in the course of summer, and before it has 
 
40 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. acquired sufficient toughness), the hoop yields at one 
 point, as at a in Fig. 3, or at b in Fig. 4, and an 
 angular inflection takes place frequently without any 
 laceration of the substance ; to use a very homely 
 phrase of the basket makers, its back is broken. In 
 this state, all the rest of the hoop except at the point 
 thus yielding, retains its elasticity and flowing curva- 
 ture, so that a curvilinear angle is produced ; the 
 curves which form the sides of that angle being some- 
 times concave towards the side fronting the opening 
 of the angle, as in Fig. 3. and sometimes convex 
 towards that same side, as in Fig. 4. In making up 
 the supposed original of the window, Fig. 1. Plate 
 XVII. both these modes of curvature seem to have 
 been employed. — A single strain upon a bough will 
 produce one angular point of this kind, which point 
 can never again recover its elasticity ; and repeated 
 strains applied to different points of the same bough, 
 may give rise to a number of such points. Thus the 
 bough, Fig. 6. Plate XVII. may have been strained 
 at the three points c, d, and e, and the bough in Fig. 7- 
 at the five points^, g, h, i, and k. Now if we suppose 
 the form of a rustic window composed of rods re- 
 peatedly split, and Fig. 5. representing that window 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 41 
 
 in wicker; the boughs just mentioned, as shewn in chap ii. 
 Figs. 6. and 7, might be introduced among the split 
 rods in such a manner as to produce the window Fig. 5, 
 answering to the same letters in Fig. 6, where they 
 indicate the same points of the bough acting its part 
 in the structure of the window. The same with respect 
 to the bough in Fig. 7, in which the letters^, g, h, i, 
 and k, correspond to the same letters in Fig. 5. Some 
 of the projecting angles of this window bear a con- 
 siderable resemblance to the cusps lately described and 
 traced to bark in a state of decay ; but the facts here 
 are different, as we see at i, k, and g,f 9 &c. in Fig. 5. 
 where the member under consideration is actually 
 detached from the rest of the tracery in a manner 
 quite irreconcileable to any possible state of bark ; 
 nor could the curling bark, by any effort of imagina- 
 tion, be conceived to meet the stem so as to form an 
 angle with it, as the projection here treated of meets 
 other points of the tracery at the points h and d. 
 
 By means of these devices, and their combinations, 
 great variety has been introduced into the construc- 
 tion of Gothic windows. But an entire class of forms 
 still remains to be noticed, which very frequently 
 occur in windows, and also in various other parts of 
 
 G 
 
42 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. Gothic architecture. These forms are composed, in 
 a great measure, of straight rods, connected together 
 in various modes, nearly allied to those already men- 
 tioned, and frequently intermixed with them. In 
 using them, the architect has the advantage of being 
 enabled to give to work made of short rods, nearly 
 the same strength and appearance with that made of 
 long ones ; and of bestowing a consistent and uniform 
 character, on work made of rods of unequal lengths. 
 piate xviii. Fig. 1. Plate XVIII. represents the great window 
 of Westminster Hall, which is principally composed 
 of these forms ; and Fig. 2. represents the same 
 window, as executed in wicker-work. I have already, 
 in general terms, solicited the indulgence of the reader 
 towards the details in this work : I must, in a parti- 
 cular manner, urge that request in the present case, 
 which is undoubtedly the most complicated of any 
 that I shall have to enter into, and at the same time 
 one of the most important ; since a key is thus fur- 
 nished to the solution of a set of forms, which, in a 
 greater or less degree, occur in all Gothic works of 
 large size. In order to facilitate these explanations, 
 
 piate xix. 1 have in Plate XIX. repeated such of the forms as 
 appear the most intricate, upon a scale, magnified 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, 43 
 
 about three times ; every object being denoted in botn chap. ii. 
 Plates by the same letters. 
 
 The whole window is first divided into three parts 
 of equal breadlh, by two large upright rods, I. II. 
 and III. IV. reaching from top to bottom ; each of 
 these sends off a side branch at V. and VII. which 
 forms a pointed arch with the main sides of the window 
 at VI. and \ III. Each of these three compartments 
 is again subdivided into three spaces of equal breadth 
 by two upright rods of smaller size, all of which 
 spring from the bottom of the window ; in the two 
 side compartments they extend to its summit ; in those 
 of the middle they branch to right and left near the 
 top, and form tracery. In this manner the whole 
 window is divided into nine spaces of equal breadth, 
 which, from the bottom to the level of the impost, are 
 left free and unoccupied ; only that atone half of that 
 height, a binding crosses them horizontally from side 
 to side at IX. X. This binding consists of a rope of 
 wicker work, formed of twigs, twisted round each 
 other, and round the uprights just described, and by 
 which they are held firmly in their places. At this 
 place, matters are so arranged, that an upright which 
 passes through the cross binding, may consist of one 
 
11 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. piece or of two ; the joining which there takes place 
 being completely disguised. First, suppose the upright 
 to be so joined, the under pieces being split at top, as 
 at the point A, the halves of each, Plates XVIII, 
 and XIX, Fig. 1. as AB and AC, are spread out to 
 right and left, and made to meet with similar halves 
 from the neighbouring uprights, immediately under 
 the rope of twigs at the points B and C, so as to form 
 a series of pointed arches. The lower extremity of 
 each upper piece being then dressed to a sharp edge, 
 is introduced into the split A, and the split sides 
 being forced together by a binding, as at L, the join- 
 ing is completely concealed ; and additional strength 
 may be given, by means of a binding at B and C. 
 When the rods are continued from top to bottom, 
 without any joining, as at F and I, then a piece of 
 split twig, as CF or GI, is introduced, so as to pro- 
 duce the same appearance as at A, where a joining 
 takes place. 
 
 In the upper part of the window, the nine spaces, 
 already mentioned, are subdivided by rods variously 
 disposed, as shewn in the Plate. The most general 
 mode is by a straight and upright rod, applied as 
 
 xviiLxix. follows : Plates XVIII and XIX. Fig 2. the rod a b 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 45 
 
 is placed in a vertical position, half-way between two chap. ii. 
 of the uprights above mentioned. It is split, both 
 above at b, and below at a ; the halves, at both ex- 
 tremities, being spread out to right and left till they 
 meet those uprights, and are bound to them at the 
 points c, d, f, and e ; each half rod is thus thrown 
 into a curve of contrary flexure between a and c, and 
 between h and e, &c. Another rod x i y similar to a b, 
 and split like it, is then placed directly above it; and 
 having its halves spread out, and applied to the neigh- 
 bouring uprights, exactly as with respect to a b ; the 
 distance too is such above a b, that the half-rods cross 
 each other in the points g and h, so as to leave a sort 
 of square opening between them, whose angles are 
 b, g, i, h. Another similar rod k /, is placed in a 
 similar manner below a b, producing another square 
 below b a, like that just described above it. The 
 other extremities of the two last mentioned rods are 
 also split at / and x, and are disposed of as shall im- 
 mediately be shewn. 
 
 At the level of the impost, where the tracery begins, 
 another opportunity occurs of splicing the uprights at 
 M and L, Plates XVIII. and XIX. Fig. 2. The 
 under portion being split, the halves from the neigh- 
 
46 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. bouring rods MO and LN are brought nearly to meet 
 in a pointed arch at NO, and upon it the under ex- 
 tremity of / k, split at /, as mentioned above, rests 
 and affords an opportunity of binding them together. 
 If the splicing here does not take place, and the rod 
 continues entire, as at P, then a detached piece, as 
 PQ, is introduced, for the sake of uniformity, to act 
 the part of MO, and thus produce another case of 
 ambiguity such as that already described at the cross 
 binding below. 
 
 The middle rods MR and LS are split near the 
 summit at R and S ; their halves are made nearly to 
 meet at m, and a rod m n split like a b, is made to 
 rest upon the pointed arch so produced; the upper 
 halves of that last rod m n, forming pointed arches 
 with the main rods of the window, and thus occupying 
 the summit of the whole. 
 
 Four regular spaces, each terminating in a pointed 
 arch, of which PZY is one, Plate XVIII. and Plate 
 XIX. Fig. 4., are formed by meeting of branches 
 split from the upright rods. These are occupied each 
 by two twigs, so crossing as to produce a circle in the 
 middle. There are likewise four triangular spaces 
 irregular but similar to each other, formed by the 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 47 
 
 meeting of these same branches, of which the space CHAP n 
 ZWY is one, occupied each by two bent twigs cross- 
 ing each other. In the windows are also two similar 
 figures, one of which is shewn in Fig. 3. Plate XIX., 
 at VIII , P. IV. The other spaces of this window 
 are occupied entirely by repetitions of the forms 
 already described, as the figure plainly shews. 
 
 The same explanation will apply to numberless 
 other Gothic windows, as this form, more or less 
 varied, and combined with others, is extremely 
 common. 
 
 OF THE GOTHIC MOULDINGS. 
 
 By means of these examples, I trust that the reader 
 will now find it easy to explain upon the theory of 
 cage-work, the general plan of any piece of Gothic 
 tracery. But this will not apply to the details of 
 execution ; whoever makes a critical examination of a 
 Gothic window will find, that the cross section of its 
 tracery differs very widely from that of a piece of 
 cage-work ; but this difference arises as a natural con- 
 sequence of the hypothesis here laid down, when 
 all the circumstances are taken fairly into account. 
 
 To furnish this explanation, we must have recourse 
 
48 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. n. to the general principles of architectonic imitation, 
 and to the modifications, stated in the first Chapter, 
 which a natural form may be expected to undergo 
 when transferred into works in stone. By means of 
 these principles, I hope to explain the system of 
 
 Mouldings. Gothic mouldings; one of the most ingenious devices, 
 and one of the best adapted to its object, that has 
 ever been invented. 
 
 In attempting to illustrate this very difficult subject, 
 I think it best to adhere to one example. I am 
 acquainted with none more satisfactory than that 
 which was last considered, the window of Westminster 
 Hall ; since it comprehends as much variety as any 
 where occurs in one work, and since there is no object 
 in the kingdom more frequently seen, or more easily 
 inspected. This window stands in full view from 
 Palace Yard ; and its details may be examined in such 
 parts of the edifice, as are within reach, the whole 
 
 piates xx. being in one style. Plates XX. XXI. and XXII. are 
 
 XXI. XXII. 
 
 xxm. employed in the details of this subject. Plate XXIII. 
 shews a small portion of this window, executed upon 
 a large scale, in order to render the forms of the 
 mouldings very conspicuous Plates XXIV. and 
 XXV. are oblique views of the whole window, one 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 49 
 
 shaded, the other in outline, calculated to exhibit the chap^ii. 
 various combinations of these mouldings to shew their 
 modes of meeting. 
 
 If an artist were required to execute in stone the 
 frame work intended to support the glass of a large 
 cathedral window ; and to do so in imitation of a 
 frame of cage-work made of willow boughs, such as 
 any of those lately exhibited, it is certain that he would 
 be tempted, by two powerful considerations of utilitv, 
 to deviate considerably from a literal representation of 
 the original object. Whilst he maintained the general 
 plan of cage-work, he would gain additional strength, 
 and also impede less light, by assuming a profile in 
 his stone mullions different from that of the willow 
 rods. 
 
 It is evident that a strong wind acting upon the 
 glass, as on the sail of a ship, would endanger the 
 whole fabric, unless counteracted by a great power of 
 resistance ; and it is well known that the cylindrical 
 form, which belongs to the original, is not calculated 
 to accomplish that purpose with best effect. In the 
 construction of a floor, or of a roof, the carpenter 
 makes use of a beam much deeper than it is broad, 
 and places it so that the deepest, and of course the 
 
 H 
 
50 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. n. strongest section is opposed to the strain to which his 
 "^ work is exposed Upon the same principle, an archi- 
 tect, when employed to imitate the frame of cage-work, 
 would be tempted to execute his mullions, so that 
 when measured from back to front they should be 
 much deeper than when measured across; a precaution 
 which will not be deemed superfluous when it is 
 considered how brittle a material free-stone is when 
 reduced to small dimensions. The consideration of 
 liffht would lead to the same determination. It is 
 
 Applied to obvious, that a mullion, whose cross section is oblong, 
 
 the. Mullions. 
 
 and which is placed with the longest line of that 
 section at right angles to the glass, will interrupt less 
 light than if, containing the same quantity of stone, its 
 shape were cylindrical. In yielding to these con 
 currino- motives, the first inventor of Gothic windows 
 is justified by the most illustrious examples of archi- 
 tectural invention, in deviating so far from his original, 
 as to represent a round willow rod by a mullion, whose 
 cross section is oblong. 
 
 The first idea of a man accustomed to work in stone, 
 
 would be to make this cross section an oblong rect- 
 
 rian xx. angle, perhaps a double square, as in Plate XX. 
 
 Figs. 1, aud 5, compared to Fig. 4, which exhibits the 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 51 
 
 same in willow. But it would soon occur, that a chap. ii. 
 considerable addition might be made to the quantity 
 of light, without much loss of strength, by removing 
 the four corners, as in Fig. 2, a narrow fillet CB being 
 left between the two sloping surfaces AB and CR. 
 Lastly, with a view to ornament, each of these faces 
 might be cut out with a concave sweep, as a b and 
 c r; thus producing the entire form in Fig. 3, which, 
 with two small grooves at G and g for the purpose of 
 receiving the glass, is exactly the horizontal section of 
 the simplest mullion of the window of Westminster 
 Hall. 
 
 In all windows of small size, this simple mullion 
 would afford sufficient strength ; but where the size 
 was increased, and, of course, when the strain from 
 wind became more formidable, a demand would arise 
 for additional strength in the mullions. This would 
 naturally suggest the idea of interposing among the 
 simple mullions others of larger size. The first idea 
 would be to place two simple mullions side by side, 
 as in Fig. 6, by which means the strength would be 
 doubled, though at the expence of interrupting twice 
 as much light as in the simple case. But this being 
 done, a great addition could be made to the strength 
 
52 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. il without impeding any more light, by adding the 
 piate xx. stone work indicated in Fig. 7- by dotted lines, both 
 upon the inside and outside of the window. And this 
 additional quantity of stone, acting at a distance from 
 the centre of motion, and after the manner of a 
 buttress, would contribute more to the strength of the 
 fabric than any part of the original mnllions of an 
 equal solid measure. The double mullion, with this 
 addition, would therefore have its strength increased 
 to triple or quadruple that of the first simple mul- 
 lions, and thus perhaps surpass what was required. 
 
 We may reasonably suppose, that these reflections 
 have been made by the inventor of this arrangement; 
 since we find that the mullion of the second order in 
 Westminster Hall window, shewn in Fig. 9- is con 
 siderably narrower than twice the breadth of a single 
 mullion, and seems to have been made out, as in Fig. 8. 
 by designing two of these single mullions, side by 
 side, but nearer than they could stand in stone, and 
 so that if they were both in imagination completed, 
 thev would cross each other,' as shewn at z and t. The 
 additional portions z x and t s being then introduced 
 in such a manner as to impede no light, the mullion of 
 second order would be completed, as in Fig. 9- By 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE -53 
 
 this arrangement, the entire figure of the simple chap. ir. 
 mull ion is preserved on that part of the double one 
 which lies next the glass; thus, g a F c, in Fig. 9- is 
 the same as h k I m, in Fig. 8. or g a h c, in Fig. 3. 
 There would be a considerable advantage in this 
 method by a saving of light ; and experience has 
 shewn it to be sufficiently strong. The introduced 
 parts, z x, and t s, in Fig. 8, acting with such advan- 
 tage that the mullion of the second order, though it 
 impedes much less than twice as much light as the 
 single one, may possess double its strength. 
 
 These mullions of the second order would afford 
 considerable strength, and have been found sufficient 
 in all churches of moderate size; but in cathedrals 
 and other very large buildings, it has been necessary 
 to carry this arrangement a step farther, and to intro- 
 duce some mullions of a third order. These seem to 
 have been constructed upon the same principle with 
 that mentioned in the transition from the first order to 
 the second. Two double mullions, like that of Fig. 9. 
 have been placed side by side, as in Fig. 10. so near 
 as to cross each other if produced at z or t\ Two 
 additions, z x , and t K s\ being then thrown in so as to 
 impede no light, the mullion of the third order, as 
 
54 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. n. shewn in Fig. 11, has been completed. This has the 
 advantage of impeding much less light than would be 
 impeded by three single (millions ; in fact, little more 
 than by two : though it contains a quantity of stone 
 equal to about five of them, producing a resistance 
 much greater than could be effected by that number, 
 if placed side by side. 
 
 The figure of the simple mullion, Fig. 3, seems to 
 be uniform in all windows ; but the form of the addi- 
 tional part introduced to complete the second and 
 third order, is subject to very great variety, as I shall 
 shew in a separate Plate. In the present instance, 
 the addition completing the second order consists both 
 within and without of a cvlindrical rod, connected with 
 the main mass by two sloping planes ; and the addi- 
 tion completing the third order, is exactly a repetition 
 of that which completes the second, only that the 
 cylinder is of a larger diameter. 
 
 This arrangement may have been suggested by an 
 expedient resorted to by the inhabitants of those 
 willow houses placed in stormy situations, who, in 
 order to give strength to their windows, would 
 employ additional rods, placed as shewn in Fig. 14. 
 
 riatc xx. In Fig 13. Plate XX. the three orders are shewn 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 55 
 
 side by side in a ground plan, and close together, for chap. ii. 
 the sake of comparison, the line g g 1 g'\ marking the 
 position of the glass. And in Plate XXI, oblique Plate xxi. 
 views are given of the same forms denoted by the 
 same letters ; the stones being represented as already 
 hewn and prepared for the construction of a window. 
 In these two Plates, the same letters, a, b, c, d, &c. 
 have been appropriated to the same forms ; but those 
 employed in the second order have been marked with 
 an accent, thus, d, b\ c, and those in the third by a 
 double accent, thus, d\ b\ &c. An important cir- 
 cumstance, arising out of the mode of construction 
 which I have just described, may here be seen. The 
 external form of each inferior order of mullions makes 
 part of the form of all the orders superior to it. Thus 
 the form gab c, of the first order, Plate XX. Fig. 13. 
 is the same with g d b c, of the second order, and 
 with g a b n c\ of the third order ; also g d fr c d' e of 
 the second order, is the same with g a b" c d" e of 
 the third order. The same circumstances may be 
 traced, by means of the same letters, in the solid 
 stones, represented in Figs. 15,l6,andl7, of Plate XXI. 
 In consequence of this identity, when an inferior 
 mullion meets with one of a superior order, it finds 
 
5G ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. mouldings exactly the same as its own ; the two sets 
 inhering, as it is expressed by the workmen, each 
 moulding uniting with its equal, in a plane parallel to 
 the glass. 
 
 Thus, in Fig. 18. of Plate XXI we see the meet- 
 ings of two mullions of the first order; in Fig. 19, of 
 two of the second order; and at i and k, in Fig. 21, of 
 two mullions, of the third order. In Fig. 20, the first 
 order meets the second, and the leading fillet, 
 b b c c, of the first, meets at t with the corresponding 
 fillet b b y c c belonging to that second order. The 
 two fillets lying in the same plane l> b c c parallel 
 to the glass; all between that plane and the glass 
 being perfectly regular. In Fig. 21, at /, the first 
 order meets the third, and its fillet, b b c c, there finds 
 the fillet Z>" b" c y c ', with which it unites in the same 
 manner as in the case last mentioned. At m, in Fig. 21, 
 the second order meets the third. Here the rod e e 
 meets with the corresponding rod e e and unites 
 with it in lines parallel to the glass, all within being 
 perfectly regular. If we conceive the rod e m, to lie 
 continued into the solid stone, and through it, it will 
 pass clear within the rod K" h" ; and if the fillet b c is 
 continued in the same manner in imagination, it will 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 57 
 
 be found to pass within both the rods e u e and fi" Ji" of chap. ii. 
 the third order. 
 
 We have now traced the forms of the three orders 
 of mullions occurring in the window of Westminster 
 Hall. They are presented in the order and distance 
 which they stand, with respect to each other, in 
 Figure 12. Plate XX. which exhibits a horizontal 
 section of that window in the line XI. XII. Plate 
 XVIII. Fig. 1. 
 
 We should now proceed to apply what has been 
 said in explaining that window itself; but it is neces- 
 sary, first, to consider how this system has been 
 applied to the cusps. In some cases, the entire fillet, Applied to 
 
 111 the Cusps. 
 
 of the first order, together with the concave part 
 within the fillet, are employed in forming the cusp ; 
 in others, the cusp keeps within the fillet, and springs 
 locally from the middle of the concave. The two 
 modes are well contrasted in the ruined Church of 
 Dunglass in East Lothian, as shewn in Plate XXII. piate xxu. 
 In one window (Fig. 1.) upon a mullion of the second 
 order, the cusp a e b c occupies the first order com- 
 pletely ; its fillet a h c v t s and concaves a b e, and 
 c b e, being in continuation of the fillet, and con- 
 cave of the mullion. These last, at the same time 
 
 i 
 
58 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. continuing undisturbed, and appearing where not 
 concealed by the substance of the cusp, as at s, x, v,y. 
 The cusp terminating on the side next the mullion by 
 slopes s t x, and v t x. A triangular hollow being 
 produced, of which x is the bottom. 
 
 On the opposite side of the church, there is a 
 window, in which, upon a mullion of the first order, 
 Fig. 2. the cusp springs locally at the points i, and h, 
 from the middle of the concave m I, or o n, and carries 
 •along with it that portion i m, of the concave, which 
 lies between it and the glass, and forms the figure 
 m ip h os, which, on the side next the mullion, has two 
 slopes, as in Fig. 1. and terminates outwards in a fillet 
 iph. The main concave fml, continuing and pro- 
 ducing with the cusp a triangular hollow, which is 
 bounded outwards by the fillet i p k, and inwards by 
 the concave / r n, and having q for its bottom, the 
 narrow fillet, which accompanies the lines i p, and 
 p k, and which forms the summit of the cusp, thus 
 lies in a plane parallel to the glass, and about half 
 way between the fillet In, and inside of the concave 
 m o. No trace of the cusp appears upon the main 
 concave, either above h, or below ?', till another cusp 
 is introduced. In either of the two casesjust described, 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 59 
 
 and wherever a cusp occurs in Gothic architecture, chap. ir. 
 it is a mere appendage, and could he dressed away, if 
 required, so as to leave the main tracery entire. Which 
 ever mode is adopted, this ornament has a peculiarly 
 light and elegant effect.* 
 
 The cusps in the window of Westminster Hall are 
 executed in the mode last pointed out, rising locally 
 from the middle of the concave of the single mullion. 
 Thus, although the ribs which form the tracery, and 
 which possess characteristic mouldings continued 
 throughout the whole window, are only of three 
 orders, the window does possess four orders of termi- 
 nation including the cusps. 
 
 To each order a distinct office has been assigned by 
 the architect. The whole window, Plates XVIII. and Plates 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 XXV. is divided into three large compartments by xxv - 
 means of triple mullions, I. II. and III. IV. in imita- 
 tion of rods split once at V. and VII. and having one 
 half of each V. IV. and VII. II. placed vertically, and 
 the other carried to one side, viz. V. VIII. and VII. 
 VI These divisions are again divided upon the right 
 
 • In the last mentioned window, the bounding fillet of the cusp ip k, lies in a plane 
 nearer to the glass than the main fillet of the muHion/" I n, by 2\ inehes^and projecting 
 two inches beyond the inside edge m s o, of the concave. 
 
GO ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. hand, and the left, in a manner exactly similar, by 
 ^ the double mullions LS and MR, &c. These last 
 are again still farther subdivided by tracery, formed 
 of single mullions a, b, i, x, and according to the 
 arrangement explained page 45, and Plate XIX. 
 Fig. 2. Lastly, the whole is decorated with cusps, 
 rising, as we have already stated, out of the inner- 
 most concave, and having no appropriate moulding, 
 but their fillets, or bounding lines, lying in a fourth 
 plane parallel to the glass, as fully described in Plate 
 XXII. Fig. 2. 
 
 nates In Plate XXIII. the position of the four planes 
 
 xxiii. l * 
 
 XXIV parallel to the glass may be seen, where a cross cut of 
 the greatest mullion is represented. The outermost of 
 these planes passes through C, the next through B, 
 the next through A, and the nearest to the glass 
 through DEF. In this same Fig. Plate XXIII. and 
 in the shaded Plate XXIV. most of the circumstances 
 already detailed in Plates XXI. and XXII. and al- 
 ready described, may be traced: thus at G, a meeting 
 takes place between a double and a triple mullion. 
 The superior member of this last passes over the first 
 entirely, which in its turn passes over the single 
 mullions. In this maimer, a number of separate 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 61 
 
 designs are carried on in the same piece, each pre- chap. ti. 
 serving its own characteristic peculiarities, without 
 disturbing the others, or being disturbed by them. 
 
 The principles of construction which have been thus 
 stated in detail, with respect to the window of West- 
 minster Hall, may be traced, as to all essential points, 
 in every large Gothic window of the good times. The 
 same subordination of orders, and the same adherence 
 of each member or fillet, to its own peculiar distance 
 from the glass, is always maintained ; however much 
 these members may differ from each other. The same 
 arrangement has been extended, as hereafter will be 
 more particularly shewn, to every department of 
 Gothic architecture. 
 
 Plate XXVI. is employed in shewing: a collection Plates 
 
 r - o XXVI. 
 
 of various mouldings. In Plates XXVII. and XXIIL gjg, 
 a number of windows are brought together, as speci- 
 mens of varieties, which are to be met with in the 
 tracery ; to which collection every reader will find 
 it easy to add many from his own observation. 
 
 OF THE DOOR. 
 
 The simple Gothic door, of which we have an ex- 
 ample in the cloister of Westminster, Plate XXIX. riatexxix. 
 
62 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. Fig. 2. can very easily be reduced to the principles 
 we have laid down. Its under part, immediately 
 above the entry, consists of a pointed arch, such as 
 has repeatedly been described, and which seems to be 
 a simple imitation of two boughs, meeting and cross- 
 ing, as in Fig. 1. of same Plate. Over this is an arch 
 of contrary flexure, in imitation of that in Fig. 1. 
 This upper arch is decorated at regular intervals with 
 
 Crockets, tufts of foliage called Crockets, in imitation of buds 
 springing, as in Fig. 3. from the boughs, which, in 
 that situation, might naturally be expected to strike 
 root and grow; and at its summit, the rods, after 
 passing through the representation of a binding, ter- 
 minate in an assemblage of similar foliage called a 
 Finial. This form has the most elegant effect, and has 
 been ornamented in many cases to the highest pitch. 
 The various parts of the door are connected and 
 arranged like those of the windows, by mouldings 
 of all degrees introduced, as shall be fully shewn 
 hereafter. 
 
 OF THE STEEPLE. 
 
 The simple steeple, or rectilinear octagonal spire, 
 has its origin very obviously in the same general 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. fi3 
 
 principle, Plate XXIX. Fig. 6. at Morley in Derby- chap. ir. 
 shire. Its exact form is produced by eight poles piatexxix. 
 thrust into the ground at the angles of a regular octa- 
 gon, and having their upper extremities assembled 
 and bound together, as in Fig. 4. In the original, 
 this fabric might be introduced for ornament, or to 
 serve as a guide in a wild state of the country; and 
 in churches of stone, has been placed in the summit of 
 another building, in order to give it elevation. Some- 
 times the steeple is executed in smooth and plain 
 stone work, as in that of Morley just mentioned. 
 Frequently its angles are decorated with crockets, as 
 at Bunny in Nottinghamshire, Fig. 7. Plate XXIX. 
 in imitation of the buds, which, as in the case of the 
 door, would very naturally spring from these poles, 
 whose lower extremities would be placed in the most 
 advantageous position for promoting vegetation (Fig. 
 5). The spire has also been the subject of much 
 elegant invention, in the forms given to the poles by 
 various devices, and still more by the cage-work, 
 similar to that of the windows, which has been intro- 
 duced into the intervals between them, and which has 
 been employed in decorating the tower supporting 
 the spire. We shall return to this subject, after 
 
64 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. 11. taking- a view of some ornamental devices, which the 
 Gothic architects have derived from the principles we 
 have already laid down, and which are conspicuously 
 employed in the decoration of the steeple. 
 
 In the two cases last mentioned, the introduction 
 of crockets is amply justified by the vegetation which 
 might be expected to take place on rods so situated ; 
 but it is not upon the door and the steeple only that 
 we meet with these indications; they frequently 
 occur upon the summit of Gothic edifices, and in situa- 
 tions such that the boughs could not, by any stretch 
 of imagination, be supposed to reach the ground. The 
 circumstance, however, may be reconciled to all the 
 rest, by attending to a practice followed at this day in 
 Catholic countries; where, on Palm Sunday, and I 
 believe on other festivals, the churches are decorated 
 profusely, with boughs fresh torn from the trees, and 
 covered with foliage. This practice agrees well with 
 those wicker edifices, to which I have traced the 
 origin of Gothic architecture ; for this occasional de- 
 coration would completely harmonize with the more 
 lasting effect produced by the actual vegetation of 
 their boughs. Such decoration would be peculiarly 
 welcome on the top of the main posts, to which the 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 65 
 
 rods of the roof and of the door were tied, which chap. ii. 
 standing up in a heavy and abrupt manner, produce 
 an effect highly incongruous with the airy lightness 
 belonging to all the rest of the work. We find accord- 
 ingly, that the very place where the summit of this 
 post would appear, is occupied by a pinnacle, the 
 origin of which, in its utmost details, may be traced 
 to an original form, constructed upon the principles 
 just pointed out, as follows : 
 
 OF THE PINNACLE. 
 Plate XXX. Fig;. 1. represents the bare summit 
 
 ° r Plate XXX. 
 
 of one of the posts just mentioned. In Fig. 2. four 
 boughs torn from the tree, and covered with fresh 
 buds, are applied to its summit, and bound to it in an 
 upright position, and at equal distances, so that almost 
 the whole of the bough stands up loose about the 
 summit of the post. The loose ends are then brought 
 together over its centre, and bound so as to constitute 
 a very acute quadrangular pyramid, Fig. 3. Eight 
 short boughs or twigs likewise budded, are then 
 thrust into the binding already mentioned, in the 
 manner shewn in Fig. 4. two on each of the four 
 faces ; the summit of each pair, being made to meet, 
 
 K 
 
66 ESSAY ON 
 
 chai\ ii. so as to form a little frontispiece in an upright position, 
 covering each base of the pyramid. This decoration 
 is easily executed with real twigs, and has a finished 
 and neat effect, as in Fig. 4. Its architectural repre- 
 sentation is likewise very elegant, as may be seen 
 wherever ornamental Gothic work occurs. Figs. 5. 6. 
 and 7- are pinnacles of Ely, and Fig. 8. of York. The 
 first two and the last in their upper part, very much 
 resemble the wicker form in Fig. 4. ; the stem, in 
 conformity to masonry, is square, and dressed on all 
 its four sides with mouldings or mullions, in relief 
 according to the method last described. In Fig. 7- of 
 the same Plate three pinnacles are grouped together, 
 being one example of that unbounded variety pro- 
 duced by means of such boughs, which the Gothic 
 architect felt himself at liberty to employ in whatever 
 manner suited his purpose. 
 
 In taking a view of Gothic windows, we have seen 
 with what fertility of invention these artists have 
 availed themselves of every conceivable combination 
 of cage-work ; we shall now have occasion to witness 
 their exertion of the same activity in other departments 
 of the art, and in combining the whole under one 
 harmonious system, by employing the same class of 
 
V 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 67 
 
 forms to decorate both what was open and what was chap. in. 
 solid. They have been enabled to do so, by the com- 
 prehensive nature of wicker-work, embracing both 
 the basket and the cage. In fact, every basket has 
 for its basis a piece of cage-work in the ribs, round 
 which the twigs are wattled ; and the form of these 
 ribs being visible in the closest piece of basket-work, 
 the architect who assumed wicker-work as his proto- 
 type, was justified in decorating any piece of flat and 
 unbroken stone-work with tracery, executed in relief, 
 representing those ribs. On this occasion, the same 
 design has been adopted, as in the tracery of some of 
 the windows ; most commonly that of the window of 
 Westminster Hall (Plate XXIV.) ; and the same 
 arrangement has been pursued, as to the mouldings 
 and their subordinations ; the decoration consisting of 
 a half mullion as it projects from the glass, in some 
 cases with strong projection, in others with a mere 
 indication. Plate XXXI. shews an example of this riatexxxi. 
 arrangement in the gateway of Beverly Minster; the 
 sides and summit of which are decorated with crocketed 
 boughs, such as those last mentioned, disposed in 
 various modes, now easily understood. The solid mass 
 of stone-work immediately above the doorway, is 
 
68 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. ii. covered with tracery in relief, the upright ribs of 
 which terminate, at the summit, in an open railway or 
 battlement; a connection being thus established be- 
 tween what is solid, and what is open. A decoration 
 of the same sort of tracery, in relief, is seen upon a 
 smaller scale, on the door of oak, which occupies the 
 gateway. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 69 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 More complicated examples of the Gothic style. Ornamental borders. Canopies. Tombs. 
 General design of a Gothic edifice. Its deviations from the prototype accounted for. 
 Of complicated roofs. Of complicated steeples. Cases of literal representation of the 
 prototype. Examples of the proper architectural adoption of the original forms. 
 
 By the principles now laid down, the Gothic archi- ^i^2" 
 tect was furnished with resources for producing the 
 richest decorations, and for exhibiting the most un- 
 bounded variety, without ever being tempted to 
 deviate from those principles; at least I am induced 
 to think so, from having found them amply sufficient 
 to explain every specimen of Gothic work that has 
 occurred to me for many years back. This fertility 
 appears most conspicuously in cathedrals and other 
 works, in which no expense was spared, and in which 
 the architects seem to have prided themselves in carry- 
 ing variety and intricacy to excess. It is only by a 
 personal inspection of those complicated and highly 
 finished works, that an adequate idea can be formed 
 of the agreement between this theory and the facts 
 explained by it ; but I shall endeavour to suggest the 
 
70 ESSAY ON 
 
 ciial'. nr. course in which such observations may be directed, 
 by giving a few examples of the various classes, 
 numerous specimens of which occur in every great 
 work. 
 Borders. The variety of ornamental borders is very great, 
 some of these are decorated with crockets, some with 
 
 piate cusps. Plate XXXII. contains an assemblage of 
 xxxii. v G 
 
 both kinds, which, I trust, are now sufficiently ex- 
 plained by having their supposed wicker originals 
 placed beside each of them. 
 canopies. It will be seen with what attention and regularity 
 the same subordination of mouldings, which was 
 pointed out in the windows, has been observed in the 
 most intricate of these decorations. The following: 
 examples will illustrate this species of composition. In 
 
 piate Plate XXXIII. are shewn two very complicated 
 
 xxxiii. J r 
 
 works, one (Fig. 1.) is a canopy from the west front 
 of King's College at Cambridge, formed almost entirely 
 of an assemblage of budded boughs. And Fig. 2. is 
 one of a series of canopies from the monument of 
 Bishop Alcock in Ely Cathedral. It is composed 
 partly of budded boughs, and partly of cage-work in 
 relief. Of the same kind of workmanship are com- 
 stuii*. posed the stalls of all cathedrals, and all highly 
 
XXXIV. 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 71 
 
 ornamented chapels and tombs, every part of which chap. hi. 
 may be traced to some of the objects lately described. 
 Plate XXXIV. represents the monument of Bishop Plate 
 Bouet, in York Minster, in which this species of re- 
 finement is carried to its utmost pitch. 
 
 OF THE GENERAL DESIGN OF A GOTHIC EDIFICE. 
 
 Having traced to their rustic origin, all the forms 
 of Gothic architecture in their state of utmost refine- 
 ment and complication, I shall now take a view of the 
 general design of those buildings. I have already 
 admitted, in treating of the details, that the alleged 
 imitation was by no means a literal one; but I have 
 endeavoured to shew that the deviations were no 
 greater than the nature of the materials employed 
 might be expected to produce. In like manner, I 
 hope now to shew, that similar deviations in the ge- 
 neral design may be traced to a similar interference. 
 
 The form and distribution of the willow house would 
 afford sufficient strength, when its size and the nature 
 of its materials were maintained in their original rustic 
 simplicity; but in transferring its forms to a vast 
 edifice of stone, there would be an absolute necessity 
 for deviating, in some respects, from that primitive 
 
72 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap, in design, in order to bestow upon the work an adequate 
 degree of stability. The simplest Gothic roof consists 
 of two very heavy coverings ; the undermost, which 
 is seen from within, is constructed almost universally 
 of stone. The other, which is opposed to the weather, 
 is in England composed of lead ; and generally in 
 
 Scotland of flags very richly hewn, and so adjusted as 
 to produce a good effect in the outline. Such weight 
 could not fail to occasion a very strong thrust out- 
 wards ; acting like a bridge upon its abutments. In 
 order to resist this pressure, the architect has been 
 reduced to the necessity of introducing buttresses 
 placed on the outside of the wall 
 piate Plate XXXV. Fig. 1. shews an example of the sim- 
 
 plest roof. Fig. 3. shews another example, in which, 
 as is very common, the buttress terminates upwards, 
 in a pinnacle, by means of which load, its power of 
 resisting a thrust is augmented. Fig. 2. is a cross 
 section of \\ estminster Abbey. In this construction, 
 which is universal in cathedrals, the same device has 
 been carried a great deal farther, owing probably to 
 the necessity of the case, in consequence of the great 
 size of such buildings. Buttresses have been erected 
 at a considerable distance from the main wall of the 
 
 xxxv. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 73 
 
 edifice, and the thrust of the roof has been resisted by chap. in. 
 means of flying buttresses, meeting the main wall in 
 the manner best calculated to give effectual support to 
 the roof. In all cases, the space immediately below 
 them has been covered by a roof of its own, and the 
 space beneath united to the rest of the edifice by a 
 series of lofty open arches, and thus constituting what 
 are called its side aisles. Each of these aisles has a 
 groined roof, and a set of decorations similar to those 
 of the nave or main part of the edifice. This is shewn 
 in elevations of the outside and inside of the same 
 building (Westminster Abbey) in Figs. 4. and 5. The 
 introduction of aisles has, of necessity, given rise to 
 two rows of windows, and sometimes, as in the present 
 example, to three. The stucture is certainly bad in 
 point of effect ; the vast masses of masonry, of which 
 the buttresses are composed, give to the work a heavy 
 appearance, and the edifice, which in fact consists, 
 within, of one undivided whole, is thus made exter- 
 nally to look like a house composed of two or three 
 stories. 
 
 This disadvantage could not be entirely obviated ; 
 but every exertion seems to have been made, in order 
 to disguise the buttresses, and give them a light 
 
 L 
 
74 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. in. appearance ; and to effect this purpose, the architect 
 has frequently represented them as pieces of cage- 
 work, in conformity to the general principle which 
 had been adopted ; and by a method already pointed 
 out. This is shewn in the buttress of St. Mary's, 
 
 riate Beverly, Plate XXXVI. Fig. 1. which is one conti- 
 xxxvi. J ° 
 
 nued representation of cage-work with a pinnacle on 
 
 its summit, He strove also to give lightness to the 
 buttresses, by actually excavating them with niches 
 and canopies ; as in a buttress of York Minster, re- 
 presented at full length in Plate XXXVI. Fig. 2. and 
 
 Plate 
 
 xxxvn. on a large scale in Plate XXXVII.* 
 
 OF THE ROOF. 
 
 Roof. We can now return, with advantage, to the subject 
 
 by which this investigation was first opened ; the 
 inside roof as seen from below. The ribs, which con- 
 stitute its principal feature, bear the closest resem- 
 blance to the mullions of the windows. The cross 
 section of one of these ribs being in fact the same as 
 that of half a mullion cut off at the glass ; they are 
 
 * The figure being divided in two, in order to save room ; to do justice to the per 
 spective, we must suppose the left hand figure to be placed on the summit of that on 
 the right. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 75 
 
 the same as to the variety, the subordination, and the chap. hi. 
 mutual arrangement of the mouldings ; and the same 
 as to many of the forms which they assume, particu- 
 larly those shewn in Plates XX. and XXI. 
 
 Considerable varieties take place at the impost, 
 where the groins of the roof separate from the uprights. 
 Here a bracket usually appears and seems to denote 
 the binding by which the rods were confined in their 
 places. Sometimes one bracket embraces them all; 
 sometimes each rib has a particular small bracket of 
 its own. This last arrangement seems to represent a 
 mode of fixing the ribs by means of a rod wattled 
 among them alternately. In some cases, the ribs are 
 all of equal size ; in others, they vary in that respect, 
 and in the order of the mouldings. 
 
 Plate XXXVIII. shews the roof of the east end of Kate 
 the Temple Church. The aisles are equal in height, 
 but not in size with the nave, and the ribs branch out 
 on all sides. 
 
 Plate XXXIX. is a view of the chancel of St. Mary's, Plate 
 Beverly. Here the ribs, which form the groins of the 
 roof, unite on the north side in a cluster at the impost, 
 and are continued down the pier, forming with it one 
 unbroken line, being destitute of either impost 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
76 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. in. moulding- or capital ; but on the opposite side they all 
 enter into rings without appearing below them. They 
 do not spring, as is usual, from the same circumference 
 of one circle, but are distributed, as seen in the ground 
 Plate xl. plan, Plate XL. Fig. 4. The arrangement produces this 
 singular effect, that the ribs upon the south side cross 
 each other at a, b, c, and d, whereas those on the north 
 side diverge uniformly as at E, F, &c. a contrast which 
 is curious, and which produces upon the south a 
 striking resemblance to wicker-work. The mouldings 
 of these groins are highly indented, and characteristic, 
 as shewn in Fig. 5. Plate XL. Their strongly marked 
 indentures produce a great effect in the crossings, and 
 upon the north side all the mouldings except the most 
 prominent, coincide and disappear in the body of the 
 column ; the upper fillet and mouldings of each groin 
 only appearing, and producing by their assemblage a 
 set of flutes not unlike those of a Corinthian column, 
 Fig. 6. The diagonal arch is a complete semicircle, as 
 I found by measurement. 
 
 Similar methods have been employed with the most 
 happy effect in the domes which are introduced, where 
 the nave and the trancept cross each other in chapter- 
 houses of octagonal form, and in other great rooms of 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 77 
 
 public assembly. The forms employed in cases of chap. hi. 
 this kind, are often most ingenious and elegant. 
 
 The most simple structure I have met with of this 
 class, is the roof of the Dean's kitchen at Durham, 
 Plate XLI. made up of eight semicircular arches piatexu. 
 
 Dean's kifc- 
 
 sprineing from the angles of an octagon. The mode chen > Dur - 
 
 is also particularly represented in the ground plan, 
 Fig. 1. Plate XL. The eight chords a d, h e, af, b e,c h, 
 &c. uniting every fourth of the angles of the octagon, 
 abed efg h, are each made the span of a vertical 
 semicircular arch. These arches meet each other in 
 sixteen points. The eight inmost of these (i, k, /, m, 
 n, &c.) form an octagonal area on the summit, which 
 is left open, and from which an octagonal lantern 
 rises. From each of the eight outermost of these 
 points, (s, r, &c.) a horizontal straight line sz,rw, is 
 drawn from the centre outwards, these lines constitut- 
 ing the summit of a set of pointed vaults at right 
 angles to each front of the octagon, and terminating 
 on each of these fronts in vertical pointed arches, 
 (a zb, b w c, &c.) thus completing the fabric. 
 
 Plate XLII. shews the roof of the Chapter-house of Plate xlii. 
 
 Chapter- 
 York. Here, as shewn in the ground plan, (Plate XL. house, York. 
 
 Fig. 2.), we have four semicircular arches springing 
 
78 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. m. from, and connecting each pair of opposite angles, a e, 
 by, eg, and d h, thus crossing each other in a point i, 
 immediately over the centre, a e, hf, c g, being the 
 spans of the arches which thus lie in the entire surface 
 of a hemisphere of which they are great circles.* 
 Between each pair of neighbouring groins, an inter- 
 mediate one i, k, &c. has been placed, extending along 
 the hemisphere to k or /, from the centre i, half-way 
 to the outside. Here a horizontal rib h m n, or I p q, 
 strikes outwards, and meets three arches, asfk,fm, 
 
 riate xLin.y«, from each of the imposts bf, &c. In Plate XLIIL, 
 this construction is shewn in wicker-work, as now 
 standing in my garden. 
 
 RoofofEiy The roof of Ely Minster, where the nave and tran- 
 
 Miiister. • r i ' '1 ill 
 
 cept meet, is tormed upon a similar general plan, but 
 piateXLiv. is rather more complicated, as shewn in Plate XLIV. 
 and ground plan, Plate XL. Fig. 3. A set of imposts, 
 a, b, c, d, e,f, placed, as in the two last cases, in the 
 angles of an octagon, support the whole structure. 
 Over the centre is placed an octagonal frame of oak, 
 supporting a lantern, the size of which is about one 
 third of the lower octagon, the upper one having its 
 
 * In the last case they were likewise in a hemisphere, hut of which they were small 
 circles, the diameter of that sphere being a, e, Fig. 1. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 79 
 
 angles, i, Je, /, m, &c. corresponding to the sides a b, chap. hi. 
 b c, c d, &c. of the other. From each angular point 
 of the upper octagon, as i, k, /, &c. a horizontal rib, 
 as i r, q s, &c. extends outwards, drawn from the 
 centre. From each of the imposts of the lower octagon, 
 a, b, c, &c. rise thirteen arched groins a i, a q, &c. 
 branching inwards so as to support the roof and the 
 upper octagon. These terminate in the angles and 
 sides of the upper octagon, and in the horizontal ribs 
 which extend outwards from them, i r, q s, &c. in such 
 a manner, that the twelve intervals interposed between 
 these arches are nearly of equal size. The lantern 
 which rises from the small octagon has windows on 
 every face, and is covered by a roof, which exhibits 
 another variety of the general arrangement. Eight 
 semicircular arches, t n, k o, &c. springing from the 
 opposite angles, cross each other in the centre ; and 
 eight horizontal ribs, bisecting the angles between 
 these arches, are carried outwards horizontally, and 
 meet pointed arches, rising vertically from each face 
 of the octagonal summit of the lantern, i k, k /, &c. 
 Nine arches rise from each angle, as^? or q of that 
 summit, including the semicircles i n, k o, Ip, &c. and 
 the vertical arches just mentioned. 
 
80 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. in. It is worthy of remark, that in these vast and 
 consistency intricate structures, the systematic order and arrange- 
 
 of Mould- . . , 'ill 
 
 >ngs- ment of the mouldings are such, as to unite the whole, 
 
 inside and outside, in one great design. For if we 
 carry our eye across the mouldings, starting from the 
 glass, either towards the inside or towards the out- 
 side, we shall observe throughout, the same consistency 
 which we have already had occasion to admire, in the 
 mullions and tracery of the windows ; we are led 
 inwards to the most prominent of the rods in the 
 main pillars, and outwards to the extreme mouldings, 
 which terminate the pinnacles on the buttresses. 
 These various devices have reached the highest 
 
 Henry the pitch of refinement in Henry the Seventh's Chapel of 
 
 Seventh's 
 
 chapei Westminster Abbey, represented in Plates XLV. and 
 xlvi. xLVI, as it stood in 1810; which, both within and 
 without upon its solid parts, as well as in those which 
 are open, presents to view one continued representation 
 of cage-work ; and in which the flying buttresses, dis- 
 tended by open hoops, are peculiarly interesting. The 
 principle, according to my taste, has run, on this occa- 
 sion to a pedantic excess, although the specimen is 
 valuable, by furnishing the fullest possible illustration 
 of the theory proposed in this Essay, and the severest 
 
Plate 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 8 i 
 
 trial of its power in explaining all tiiat belongs to chap. m. 
 Gothic architecture. 
 
 OF THE COMPLICATED STEEPLE. 
 
 I have already endeavoured to account for the 
 plain octagonal spire, sometimes covered with crock- 
 ets, and sometimes smooth. The spire of Newark, 
 Plate XLVII. is finished, as to the pyramid itself, 
 with plain rods, but a series of windows are intro- nS 
 duced in four different levels, (four on each level,) 
 and upon alternate faces. The upper part of each 
 window is covered with crockets. This contrast 
 between the plain rods of the pyramid, and the 
 crocketed summits of the window, gives rise to much 
 distinctness, and has a peculiarly good effect. At the 
 base on the four faces, which answer to the corners of 
 the square tower upon which the spire rests, a set of 
 architectural forms make their appearance, represent- 
 ing four other rods pointing inwards, elevated at a 
 smaller angle from the horizon than the main rods, and 
 so placed, that, if produced, they would meet in the 
 axis of the pyramid, at about one-third of its height. 
 This seems to represent a very natural device for 
 giving strength to the original wicker steeple, and in 
 
 M 
 
82 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. in. stone also contributes much to the strength of the 
 work. Each of these four forms covering (as I am 
 informed) an arch by which a face of the spire is 
 supported. This form is represented, as executed in 
 wicker-work in Plate L. Fig. 2. 
 
 piaie Plate XLVII1. is the steeple of Batalha, copied from 
 
 XLviri. 5 ' L 
 
 Bataiha. Mr. Murphy's book. The general form is the same 
 as that last mentioned, but having its angles decorated 
 with crockets. The tracery which occupies the space 
 between the ribs is complicated, but may be executed 
 in wicker-work, as shewn in Plate XL. Figs. 7» 8, 9, 
 and 10. The waving line may be produced by dif- 
 ferent methods, but the most natural appears to be 
 that shewn at a b c, Fig. J. A split rod is doubled 
 upon itself by acute bends or folds, (as in the case 
 already mentioned of the window ofChartham, p. 39. 
 and Plate XVII.) at b c d, &c. Fig. 7, so as to give to 
 the rod an angular fold at these points. Then being 
 drawn out into the position efg h, Fig. 8, and still 
 more into the position i k I m, Fig. 9- Each position 
 of the rod, which, at its first folding in the position, 
 a b c, was straight, now becomes a curve of contrary 
 flexure, i o k, and k n /, or in the complete structure 
 in p q r, and r s t, Fig. 10. A rod thus bent, being 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 83 
 
 applied to each side of the space to be filled, t y z x, chap. hi. 
 and these being kept asunder by straight rods, as t x, 
 and y z, and the middle space, thus formed, being 
 filled up by a set of hoops, w w, the form is complete. 
 All other parts of this very complicated spire may 
 easily be understood, after the explanation previously 
 given, as no form occurs which has not been accounted 
 for in some other situation. Thus the lower border has 
 been explained in Plate XXXII. Figs. 9. and 10. The 
 hoop containing quadrangular figures, differs only in 
 the number of its folds from that explained in 
 Plate XVI. Fig. 6. The cage-work of the part of the 
 spire above the crown, is the same with that of the 
 window explained in Plates XVIII. &c. 
 
 Plate XLIX. is the steeple of St. Nicholas in New- piatexux. 
 
 St. Nicholas, 
 
 castle uponTyne; one of the boldest and most beautiful Newcastle. 
 works of this or any other style. It admits of an easy 
 construction in wicker-work, as I have found in 
 practice, and shewn in Plate L. Fig. 1. From the piateL. 
 opposite corners of the tower, rise two arches, pro- 
 bably elliptical, having the two diagonals of the 
 square for their span, and crossing over the centre. 
 Upon these open arches stands an open square lantern, 
 having its sides parallel to those of the main tower, 
 
84 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. in. and of about lialf the size. From each angle of the 
 main tower, a rod is led up with contrary flexures to 
 the corresponding angle of the lantern, in such a 
 manner as to be a tangent to both vertical lines, and 
 also to the cross arch above described, with the lower 
 part of which it coincides. In continuation upwards 
 of this last mentioned rod, a pinnacle rises from each 
 angle of the lantern. Upon the summit stands a 
 common octagonal spire, with its angles crocketed. 
 A pinnacle placed on an octagonal turret also rises 
 from each angle of the main tower, and a smaller one 
 from the middle ; each face of the main tower has two 
 windows side by side, the middle pinnacle rising over 
 the solid space which lies between them. This tower 
 terminates in a border, formed by prolonging the 
 ribs of the wattling, and cutting them unequally, 
 as seen in the Figure, Plate L., producing an effect, 
 not unlike that of battlements on a tower, but here in 
 very obvious imitation of rods. 
 
 The rods of contrary flexure, which rise between 
 the corners of the tower and of the lantern, are covered 
 with crockets, aud are meant, I conceive, to represent 
 poles, having their lower extremities planted in the 
 ground, and in a state of full vegetation. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 85 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 LITERAL IMITATIONS OF THE PROTOTYPE. 
 
 The arguments in favour of the modified imitation 
 of wicker-work, which have been maintained in the 
 course of this Essay, derive additional strength from 
 some cases which occur in stone-work, of literal 
 representations of that primitive mode of construction. 
 
 Fig. 1. Plate LI. shews a gateway of semicircular PiateLi. 
 form in the inside of the cloister of Durham Cathedral, 
 upon which we find, intermixed with various archi- 
 tectural mouldings, three distinct representations of 
 rods covered, at regular intervals, with little branches 
 lopped off, at a small distance from the stem. The 
 middle one has its little branches standing in pairs ; 
 on the other two they stand single, and point towards 
 the middle rod. 
 
 Plate LII. is copied from the drawing of a gate of Plate lh. 
 St. Michael's in the Azores, taken upon the spot by 
 my son, Lieutenant Basil Hall, R. N. It must be 
 considered as a Portuguese work ; as it is upon record, 
 that the stones employed in building it were brought, 
 ready hewn, from Portugal. It is valuable on the 
 present occasion, as exhibiting, along with other 
 specimens of the same sort existing in those islands, a 
 
&6 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. in. specimen of literal imitation, along with architectural 
 modification, by which a striking confirmation is given 
 to our views. 
 
 In Mr. Murphy's publication of the monastery of 
 Batalha, another Portuguese work, several similar ex- 
 amples, the most distinct of which is his Plate I. 
 riate li. Fig. 21. (in ours, Plate LI. Fig. 2.) Mr. Murphy calls 
 it a " window in the Arabian style of architecture 
 sketched from the Royal Palace of Cintra near Lisbon." 
 Why this work is ascribed to the Arabian style is not 
 said ; all we know is, that it exists in Portugal, and 
 that it contains those forms peculiarly belonging to 
 the Gothic style. Without paying any regard to its 
 history, we may avail ourselves of it, on the present 
 occasion, along with the last mentioned examples. 
 Upon this work, a set of boughs occur decorated with 
 little branches, exactly like those on the arch (Fig.l.) 
 in Durham Cathedral. In all these examples, we 
 have in a great measure a facsimile of wicker-work, 
 with a slight intermixture of the architectural forms 
 usual in the Gothic style. Thus in Plate LII. we 
 have cusps under the arches, and the buttresses on 
 the side are terminated upwards by decided pin- 
 nacles; also on the same building we have the literal 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 87 
 
 represehtation of branches, twisted round each other chap. hi. 
 in a spiral form. 
 
 Plate LIII. shews the window in the Church of piateLiir. 
 Dorchester representing the family tree, or the root, Dorchester, 
 as it is called, of Jesse. The tracery, when seen from 
 within, (Fig. 2.) exhibits the literal representation of 
 branches covered with leaves, springing from a 
 common stem ; and on the outside (Fig. 1 .) we see 
 the same tracery executed with the mouldings the 
 same as those of a plain Gothic window. 
 
 In Plate LIV. is a window of the chapter-house of Plate liv. 
 
 Window of 
 
 Batalha; the whole tracery of which exhibits the most Bataiha. 
 literal representation of boughs covered with leaves 
 interwoven together and bound by ropes, also repre- 
 sented in the most unequivocal manner. This window 
 stands in the midst of work decorated with all the 
 mouldings usual in Gothic architecture, which are no- 
 where more completely adhered to than in this edifice. 
 Upon the principles laid down, the architect may 
 be blamed for the execution of some of these late ex- 
 amples, as exhibiting too servile copies of the repre- 
 sentation of the prototype. The circumstance, however, 
 is of service on the present occasion, as furnishing a 
 direct proof of the position maintained in this Essay. 
 
88 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. in. That wicker-work has been imitated in some of these 
 works, cannot, I conceive, be disputed ; and these again 
 are connected by so many intermediate specimens with 
 others possessing all the usual attributes of the style, 
 that it seems not easy to say where to stop, or how to 
 deny the existence of a character in one extreme of 
 the chain, which cannot be refused to it in the other. 
 I shall conclude this descriptive part with two ex- 
 amples, in which the intermixture of art with nature 
 seems to have been most happily employed. One is a 
 piates view of York Minster, Plate LVII1. and the other of 
 Melrose Abbey, Plate LIX. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 89 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Opinions of various Authors on the origin of Gothic Architecture. Opinion of Dr. 
 Warburton; an avenue of living trees. Opinion of Mr. Gray; interlacing arches; 
 argument derived from these arches in favour of the system of wicker-work. Opinion 
 of Governor Pownal. Opinion of Mr. Murphy. Opinion of Mr. Grose. Recapitulation 
 of the Theory advanced in this Essay. 
 
 Having stated at full length my own views as to the chap. iv. 
 origin of Gothic architecture, I shall now examine the 
 various opinions that have been advanced by others 
 upon that subject. 
 
 The most popular of these opinions may be traced 
 to Dr. Warburton.* It consists in ascribing all theDr.AVarbur- 
 Gothic forms to the imitation of an alley of living trees, 
 the branches of which meet, and cross each other 
 overhead. 
 
 This theory is very far from embracing the whole 
 truth, or from affording a satisfactory solution of the 
 question at large. The branches of the living trees 
 meeting and crossing overhead, furnish some account 
 of the pointed arch ; and others meeting and rising 
 
 * See his Notes on Pope's Moral Essays, Epistle iv. V. 29. 
 
 N 
 
 ton. 
 
90 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. iv. together, may sometimes shew a form like that of the 
 Gothic door. The branches spreading out on all sides 
 from each stem, bear a certain loose resemblance to 
 the groined roof; and above all, the vegetation which 
 may be looked for any where, upon living trees, seems 
 to correspond to the crocket- work, so general in finished 
 pieces of Gothic architecture. 
 
 So far, and no farther, does this theory agree with 
 facts; but it fails when applied to other departments 
 of the style. Thus it does not at all apply to the 
 clustered column, nor to the horizontal groins, or 
 ridge-bars, as I have called them, of the roof; nor 
 does it afford any explanation of the steeples, nor of 
 the pinnacle, nor of any of the ornamental borders; 
 and it is not at all applicable to the tracery-work, 
 which constitutes so conspicuous a part of the style; 
 whether employed in the windows, or as a decoration, 
 in relief, on the surface of solid masses. Upon the 
 whole, this theory of the avenue possesses a certain 
 loose degree of plausibility, when stated in general 
 terms, but which dies away when the subject is sub- 
 mitted to a close examination. In so far as living 
 branches are concerned, there is some resemblance 
 between this theory, and that which is the subject of 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 91 
 
 the foregoing Essay; and in a superficial view, they chap. 1 v. 
 have been sometimes confounded together, but I trust 
 that the attentive reader will see, that there is a wide 
 difference between them.* 
 
 Mr.Bentham, in his History of Ely Cathedral, has in- 
 troduced an opinion concerning the origin of the Gothic 
 arch, which had been suggested to him (as he informed 
 me,) by Mr. Gray the poet, and which has been opinion of 
 adopted by many late writers on this subject, in par- 
 ticular by Dr. Milner, in his late publication on the 
 Ecclesiastical Architecture of England during the 
 middle ages. Chap. V. p. 77. 
 
 According to this theory, the Gothic arch has been 
 suggested by the construction of interlacing semi- interlacing 
 circular arches crossing each other, and resting upon 
 a set of columns, standing in a row at equal intervals; 
 aud placed against a bare wall by way of ornament, 
 and in order to decorate a flat vacant space. " Then 
 
 * Should any one, notwithstanding what has been said, be still at a loss to distinguish 
 the two, I must request of him to submit the question to the following test : Let him fix 
 his attention upon one of the groins in the roof of a church, and let him follow it with 
 his eye downwards and upwards. In following it downwards, he will be led by a rib of 
 unbroken continuity to one of the rods which constitute the stone-work of the clustered 
 column, similar to that in the wicker fabric, but of which no trace occurs in the avenue. 
 Following the same rib upwards, he will soon arrive at one of the horizontal ridge bars, 
 which bears no resemblance to any part of an alley of trees; but which, in every Gothic 
 roof, and in the wicker fabric, constitute an essential part of the structure. 
 
 arches. 
 
92 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. iv. so much of it," says Mr. Bentham in the passage just 
 alluded to, " as lies between the legs of the two neigh- 
 bouring arches, where they cross each other, is pierced 
 through the fabric, and forms a little range of sharp- 
 pointed windows." In this manner a pointed arch is 
 formed ; and has thus, it is conceived, been introduced 
 into architecture. 
 
 The explanation, here attempted, applies to no part 
 of Gothic architecture but the pointed arch. And 
 even were this theory established as firmly as its most 
 sanguine friends could desire, it could not be consi- 
 dered as affording a solution of the question, since 
 these interlacing arches would themselves still remain 
 to be accounted for. This subject, however, is well 
 deserving of attention in this place, since the form 
 under consideration is intimately connected in various 
 ways with the Gothic style, and affords a very power- 
 ful confirmation of the opinions advanced in this 
 Essay. It will appear, when we examine these 
 arcades, that they may be traced to a wicker origin 
 along with all the Gothic forms, and, in general, with 
 the same modified imitation. But some specimens of 
 this set occur, in which that modification has been 
 dispensed with, and in which circumstances are 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 93 
 
 introduced which enable us to rank them among the chap. iv. 
 literal imitations of the prototype. 
 
 Fig. 1. Plate LV. is a representation of an interlacing piateLv. 
 arcade on Kelso Abbey. The arches, which are of the 
 old Saxon form and character, spring from the same 
 line of front, Fig. 6. Plate LVI. d c g ; but at the point piateLvi. 
 of their crossing, the substance of one of the arches 
 a c advances beyond that line d c g, and that of the 
 other d b retires behind it, producing a distance be- 
 tween them, a b, of about one inch, the span of each 
 semicircle being about five feet, and where beg, the 
 continuation of d b, just mentioned, crosses the neigh- 
 bouring arch c f\ the point e is as much advanced 
 before^, as a had been before b. The consequence is, 
 that if a vertical plane were raised through d and g, 
 it would be found that the arch d b e g retired behind 
 that plane at b, and advanced before it at e, meeting 
 it at the points d and g, and crossing it at some point 
 above c, consequently that each of these semicircular 
 arches performs a waving line, being at one part, b, 
 concave to the front, and at another, e, convex to it. 
 
 To execute such a form in stone must have been 
 extremely inconvenient, and contrary to the habits of 
 persons employed to cut the usual Saxon arches, each 
 
94 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. iv. of which invariably lies in one plane. We must there- 
 fore ascribe the circumstance to some peculiar motive, 
 and that motive could only be the desire of imitating 
 a set of interlacing arches, formed of some flexible 
 substance. As nothing can be conceived less flexible 
 than a Saxon arch, we are therefore compelled to look 
 elsewhere for the model of this form. We find it in 
 a set of semicircular willow rods thrust into the 
 ground, in one straight line, and made to interlace 
 each other, as in Fig. 1. Plate LVI. which would be 
 forced to assume exactly the form already described, 
 belonging to the stone- work. This appears clearly in 
 the two projections in Figs. 2 and 3 ; Fig 2, as seen 
 by looking down ; and Fig. 3, as looking up. The 
 same letters being employed as in Fig. 6. the corre- 
 sponding convexity and concavity may be traced in all 
 of them. 
 
 I am inclined to look upon the interlacing arch as 
 a Gothic, and not as a Saxon idea, and to derive it 
 from the origin which I have ascribed to the Gothic 
 style. The same idea has frequently been adopted in 
 ornamental Gothic work, as already shewn in Figs 11. 
 and 12. Plate XXXII. among the ornamental borders, 
 only that in the stone-work, Fig. 11. the arches in 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 95 
 
 crossing each other, incorporate without overlapping, chap. iv. 
 But this again agrees with interlacing arches as they 
 are sometimes executed, for instance, on Durham 
 Minster. 
 
 Another set of interlacing arches, which occur in the 
 neighbourhood of Kelso, at the Abbey of Dryburgh, 
 Fig. 2. Plate LV. and in projection Fig. 5. Plate LVI. PiateLvi. 
 
 rr -I r» • r» i Intermixed 
 
 attorcls a very strong confirmation of this view of the 
 subject. They consist, as at Kelso, of a number of 
 semicircular arches, which interlace and overlap; but 
 here the stone-work is executed so as exactly and 
 literally to represent arches formed each of a bundle 
 of rods, like those in Fig. 4. Plate LVI. 
 
 It is not easy to conceive a stronger confirmation 
 than is here furnished of the principle advanced in 
 this Essay. The stone-work actually represents a set 
 of bundles of rods mutually interlacing each other, in 
 the very manner we have conceived them to do in 
 the original wicker edifice ; the general and modified 
 imitation of which has (according to that theory) given 
 rise to the whole system of Gothic architecture. 
 
 In a paper, published by Governor Pownal, in the opinion of 
 
 1 tt TV Gov.l'ownal 
 
 Archaeologia, Vol. IX. p. 121, the origin of Gothic 
 architecture is ascribed to the imitation of a buildinar 
 
96 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. iv. executed in timber frame-work. But this hypothesis 
 accounts for the Gothic arch alone, and that, not in a 
 very satisfactory manner, the theory being quite inap- 
 plicable to any other part of a Gothic structure. 
 opinion of Mr. Murphy, in the dissertation which accompanies 
 Urp 7 ' his views of the monastery of Batalha, gives it as his 
 opinion, that the Gothic architecture is founded essen- 
 tially on the pyramidal form so conspicuous in all 
 parts of works of this style. He says (Introduction, 
 page 3.) " Each of the buttresses and turrets are 
 crowned with a small pyramid. If niches are intro- 
 duced, they are crowned with a pyramidical canopy. 
 The arches of the doors and windows terminate in a 
 point, and every little necessary ornament, which 
 encircles the whole, has a pointed or angular ten- 
 dency. Spires, pinnacles, and pointed arches, are 
 always found to accompany each other, and clearly 
 imply a system founded on the principles of the 
 pyramid." Mr. Murphy likewise endeavours to assign 
 a cause for the general use of the pyramid, from the 
 circumstance of the spire having been introduced in 
 the 12th century about the same time that the practice 
 became general over Europe of burying in churches ; 
 for he supposes that, by the pyramidal form, it was 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 97 
 
 meant to denote that the church was used as a chap. 
 cemetery, at the same time, that its form of a cross 
 indicated its employment as a place of Christian 
 worship : And further, that this representation was 
 borrowed from the ancient Egyptians, who placed the 
 pyramid over their cemeteries as denoting the soul 
 under the emblem of a flame of fire, (whence it is 
 supposed to derive its origin) thus to testify their belief 
 of its immortality. 
 
 In favour of this ingenious view of the subject, it 
 must be acknowledged, that a great many of the Gothic 
 forms are pyramidal, and that a disposition to a 
 pointed form prevails in most branches of the art. But 
 this principle alone, goes but a little way in account- 
 ing for the Gothic forms in general, as by means of it 
 we can obtain no solution of the clustered column and 
 the branching roof, nor of any of their various pecu- 
 liarities : nor does it in any manner explain the open 
 work of the windows, and of other parts, nor any of 
 the various ornaments, which we meet in o Tea t 
 abundance in all Gothic works. Although therefore 
 we were to admit the truth of Mr. Murphy's opinion/ 
 so far as it goes, it would still be greatly defective as 
 a system. 
 
 iv. 
 
 o 
 
98 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. iv. On the other hand, it is not impossible but some 
 idea like what he has suggested, may have given rise 
 to the introduction of the steeple, the employment, of 
 which, in point of utility, as connected with the wicker 
 fabric, has not appeared distinctly, though we have 
 clearly traced its origin to a structure formed of poles 
 and twigs. Perhaps in that original state, it may have 
 served to denote a cemetery, or perhaps it may have 
 been intended by its height to serve as a guide to the 
 place of worship. 
 
 The resemblance which a Gothic building bears to 
 a house constructed of rods, is, in many cases, so 
 striking, that I am surprised the subject has not long 
 ago been viewed in this light, yet 1 have not seen any 
 hint of the kind, except in a passage of a work of the 
 
 opinion of late Mr. Grose, which I met with two or three years 
 
 Mr. Grose. 
 
 after I had carried these investigations to a consider- 
 able length, in which the author shews that he has 
 observed the resemblance in question, but without 
 being aware of the consequences to which it led. The 
 passage stands as follows. " The marks which con- 
 stitute the character of Gothic or Saracenical archi- 
 tecture, are its numerous and prominent buttresses, 
 its lofty spires and pinnacles, its large and ramified 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 99 
 
 windows, its ornamental niches and canopies, its chap. iv. 
 sculptured saints, the delicate lace-work of its fretted 
 roofs, and the profusion of ornaments lavished indis- 
 criminately over the whole building; but its peculiar 
 distinguishing characteristics, are the small clustered 
 pillars and pointed arches, formed by the segments of 
 two intersecting circles, which arches, though last 
 brought into use, are evidently of a more simple and 
 obvious construction than the semicircular ones: two 
 flat stones, with their tops inclined to each other, and 
 touching, form its rudiments; a number of boughs 
 stuck into the ground, opposite to each other, and tied 
 together at top, in order to form a bower, exactly 
 describe it: whereas a semicircular arch appears the 
 result of deeper contrivance, as consisting of more 
 parts ; and it seems less probable, chance, whence all 
 these inventions were first derived, should throw 
 several wedge-like stones between two, set perpen- 
 dicularly, so as exactly to fit and fill up the interval."* 
 Much as the authors of these various theories differ 
 from each other, they all agree in looking upon the 
 forms of Gothic architecture as derived from some 
 regular system, and not as the wild productions of 
 
 * Grose, Antiq. of England and Wales, p. 75. 
 
tion 
 
 100 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. iv. fancy. In their application to the fact, each of their 
 theories is more or less successful in explaining some 
 parts, while it fails when applied to others. Tims 
 none of them answer in speculation to unite together 
 all the different branches of the art, nor could serve 
 in practice as a guide to the artist. 
 Rec a ,.ituia- In this Essay, the same object has been aimed at. 
 The construction of the Gothic roof has been traced 
 to the imitation of a fabric made of rods in all its 
 numerous varieties, from the simplest to the most 
 complicated ; the same has been done, with respect to 
 the window, which receives no solution, even in its 
 simplest cases, from any other of the theories mentioned. 
 The steeple in all its forms has been exhibited in 
 wicker-work ; and the pinnacles, the niches, the 
 canopies, the stalls, and all the ornamental borders, 
 have been traced to decorations, formed of twigs 
 covered occasionally with buds. The cusped ornament 
 has been traced to bark in decay ; and it has been 
 shewn, with what exquisite skill, the whole has been 
 united, and subjected to the rules of architectural 
 symmetry, by the system of mouldings, arising natu- 
 rally out of the employment of stone. 
 
 Throughout the long and intricate series of compo- 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 101 
 
 sitions examined in this work, I hope to have shewn chap. iv. 
 that one simple design, founded upon the origin 
 assigned to the style, has every where guided the 
 hand of the artist ; so as to give to the whole an air of 
 the utmost harmony and consistency. And it is not a 
 little remarkable, that in the most complicated cases of 
 florid Gothic, in which the execution has been carried 
 to a pedantic degree of intricacy, the influence of the 
 same principle may be traced still more decidedly than 
 in the most simple ; proving, that even in their ex- 
 cesses these artists have never lost sight of their 
 original. Can it be conceived that such order and 
 consistency have been the work of chance ? or have 
 arisen, as some have alleged, out of thecasual corruption 
 of other styles of architecture ? Where an obvious 
 source presents itself, to which all these forms infinitely 
 varied in all other particulars, and agreeing in this 
 alone, can easily be traced, may we not presume that 
 the genuine origin of the style is discovered? 
 
 In this discussion, I beg to appeal to the judgment 
 of the reader, founded, not upon the few facts which 
 have been here brought forward ; but upon that 
 multitude, which these suggestions, I trust, will lead 
 him to discover or to recollect. 
 
102 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. iv. I shall now state very shortly what seems to have 
 been established beyond dispute, and upon the best 
 authorities, with respect to the history of Gothic 
 architecture, in whicli statement I have availed myself 
 largely of Mr. Bentham's Introduction to his Account 
 of Ely Cathedral. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 103 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 History of Gothic Architecture in successive ages. Authority of Sir Christopher Wren 
 for ascribing the Gothic style to the Free-masons. Supported by Governor Pownal,— 
 and by Mr. Walker. Sir C. Wren's opinion as to the Saracens, controverted. 
 Legendary accounts of early fabrics in wicker-work. At Durham. At Glastonbury. 
 Name of Gothic architecture not derived from the Gothic nation. Conjecture as to its 
 origin. Injustice done to the style, by ascribing it to barbarous times. 
 
 Previous to the introduction of the mode of building chap. v. 
 now in use, three different styles of architecture have, History. 
 in their turns, prevailed in this country. 
 
 The first was used by the Saxons, and seems to 
 have come by tradition from the Romans, since it 
 resembles their works in some essential particulars, 
 and was known among the Saxons themselves by the 
 name of the Roman manner; its characteristic is a 
 small semicircular arch, covered with a running zigzag 
 ornament, as may be seen in the old conventual church 
 of Ely, which is looked upon as one of the most perfect 
 monuments of this style. 
 
 The next, in point of antiquity, may be called the 
 Norman style of architecture, as it came into England 
 
104 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. v. about the time of the Norman conquest in 1066. It 
 is true, that a work of this kind was executed by the 
 Saxon Kino- Edward the Confessor, but Mr. Bentham 
 alleges, that he had brought the idea from Normandy, 
 where he had received his education. This style 
 differs from the Saxon only in size, its form being 
 the same, but executed on a colossal scale. A great 
 many vast edifices of this sort were erected in the 
 century immediately following the conquest, during 
 which period the most solid and massy part was built 
 of most of the cathedrals in England, though they 
 were finished in the following ages in Gothic style 
 producing a set of motley structures. 
 
 The third style of architecture is that, which has 
 furnished the subject of this Essay. Tt seems to have 
 made its first appearance in England towards the 
 middle of tlie 12th century, during the reigns of 
 Stephen and of Henry II. The earliest building in 
 which I have been able to trace the Gothic stvle, is 
 the western part of the Temple church in London, 
 built A. D. 1155. Here we have the pointed arch, 
 though some circular arches occur in the same build- 
 ing. Likewise a set of rods executed in stone, repre- 
 sented as passing through rings fixed in the wall, 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 105 
 
 rise from the ground along the inside of the lantern, CH ap. v. 
 and meet at top. Round the inside of the same 
 edifice, is executed a set of little columns crowned 
 with interlacing arches, which have been fully de- 
 scribed above. I have observed the same union of 
 single rods and interlacing arches in other buildings, 
 constructed about the same period, in particular upon 
 the outside of the old church of Kelso. By these 
 interlacing arches a compromise seems to have taken 
 place between the rising and the declining art, since 
 they exhibit the massy structure and peculiar orna- 
 ments belonging to the Saxon, along with circum- 
 stances strongly characteristic of a flexible material 
 indicating a connection with the Gothic, as has been 
 fully shewn in page 93 and Plate LV. 
 
 It appears bv Price's account of Salisbury cathedral, 
 that the edifice was begun early in the 13th century 
 (A.D.I 219,) and was not finally completed till towards 
 the close of it (A. D. 1280, pages 7 and 32.) During 
 that period, the art seems to have undergone a 
 material change, as the lower and most ancient part 
 of the church, though purely Gothic, is plain, having 
 neither pinnacles upon the buttresses, nor tracery work 
 in the windows, nor any of the small ornaments ; 
 
 p 
 
106 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. v. whereas upon the steeple and other parts, executed at 
 a later period, many of the refinements of the art are 
 introduced. 
 
 During the course of the 13th, 14th, and 15th cen- 
 turies, Gothic architecture seems in most parts of 
 Europe, to have superseded every other mode of con- 
 struction. In that period (as is well pointed out by 
 Mr. Warton in his observations on Spencer's Fairy 
 Queen), the art underwent a gradual progress of 
 refinement, which was carried at last to a pedantic 
 excess, producing what, by many authors, has justly 
 been called the Florid Gothic. One of the most re- 
 markable examples of which is Henry the Seventh's 
 chapel in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 In England, Gothic architecture kept its ground till 
 the Reformation ; the works of Cardinal Wolsey being 
 all executed in that style. But at the dissolution of 
 the monasteries, (A. D. 1538,) a stop was, of course, 
 put to all works of the kind. And when church 
 building began again to revive, the art had taken a 
 new direction, architects from that time to the present 
 having endeavoured to work after the manner of the 
 Greeks and Romans. 
 
 During the three centuries in which it prevailed 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 107 
 
 exclusively over the greater part of Europe, its prin- chap. v. 
 ciples remained fixed and unchanged, in passing 
 through a multitude of hands, eager to outdo their 
 predecessors and their rivals, by the novelty as well 
 as by the elegance of their compositions. Such a con- 
 formity cannot be accounted for, but by supposing 
 that the artists were guided in their work by some 
 principle known to them all, and handed down from 
 one generation to another. But that no such principle 
 has reached our knowledge, is proved by the various 
 unsuccessful attempts which have been made of late 
 to explain the forms of Gothic architecture, and to 
 reconcile them to each other; we must, therefore, 
 conclude, that if there had been any such principle, it 
 was known to the artists only, and concealed by them Secrecy. 
 from the rest of the world. In order to determine 
 this point, it is necessary to enquire by whom the art 
 was practised . In that view, I shall refer, in the first 
 place, to Sir Christopher Wren, an authority of great 
 weight. 
 
 " He was of opinion," (says his son, Mr. Wren, 
 Parentalia, page 306. folio 1750, London,) that what 
 we now vulgarly call the Gothic, ought properly and 
 truly to be named Saracenic Architecture, refined by Saracens. 
 
108 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. v. the Christians, which first of all began in the East 
 after the fall of the Greek Empire, by the prodigious 
 success of those people that adhered to Mahomet s 
 doctrine, who, out of zeal to their religion, built 
 mosques, caravansaras, and sepulchres, wherever they 
 came. 
 
 " These they contrived of a round form, because 
 they would not imitate the Christian figure of a cross, 
 nor the old Greek manner, which they thought to be 
 idolatrous ; and, for that reason, all sculpture became 
 offensive to them. 
 
 " They then fell on a new mode of their own 
 invention, though it might have been expected with 
 better sense, considering the Arabians wanted not 
 geometricians in that age, nor the Moors, who translated 
 all the most useful old Greek books. As they pro- 
 pagated their religion with great diligence, so they 
 built mosques in all their conquered cities in haste. 
 The quarries of great marble, by which the vanquished 
 nations of Syria, Egypt, and all the East had been 
 supplied with columns, architraves, and great stones, 
 were now deserted. The Saracens were, therefore, 
 necessitated to accommodate their architecture to such 
 materials, whether marble or free stone, as every 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 109 
 
 country readily afforded. They thought columns and chap. v. 
 heavy cornices, impertinent, and might be omitted : 
 and, affecting the round form for mosques, they ele- 
 vated cupolas, in some cases, with grace enough. 
 
 " The holy wars gave the Christians who had been 
 there, an idea of the Saracen works, which were 
 afterwards, by them, imitated in the West ; and they 
 refined upon it every day as they proceeded in build- 
 ing churches. The Italians, (among whom were yet 
 some Greek refugees), and with them, French, Ger- 
 mans, and Flemings, joined into a fraternity of archi- 
 tects, procuring papal bulls for their encouragement, 
 and particular privileges. They styled themselves 
 Free-masons, and ranged from one nation to another as Free-masons. 
 they found churches to build, (for very many in those 
 ages were every where in building through piety or 
 emulation.) Their government was regular; and 
 where they fixed near the building in hand, they 
 made a camp of huts. A surveyor governed in chief, 
 every tenth man was called a warden, and overlooked 
 each nine ; the gentlemen of the neighbourhood, either 
 out of charity or commutation of penance, gave the 
 materials and carriages. Those who have seen the 
 exact accounts in records of the charge of the fabrics 
 
110 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. v. of some of our cathedrals, near four hundred years 
 old, cannot but have a great esteem for their eco- 
 nomy, and admire how soon they erected such lofty 
 structures. 
 
 " Thus they made their pillars of a bundle of little 
 torus's, which divided into more when they came to 
 the roof, and then these torus's split into many small 
 ones; and, traversing one another, gave occasion to 
 the tracery work (as they call it) of which this society 
 were the inventors. They used the sharp pointed arch, 
 which would rise with little centering, required 
 lighter key-stones, and less butment, and yet would 
 bear another row of double arches, rising from the 
 key-stone ; by diversifying of which, they erected 
 eminent structures, such as the steeples of Vienna, 
 Strasbourg, and many others." 
 
 In this passage, Sir C. assigns no satisfactory reason 
 for tracing the origin of Gothic architecture to the 
 
 Eastern ori- Saracens. No inference can be derived from the 
 
 jrin little 
 
 probable, round form of their mosques, which, in the Gothic, is 
 seldom if ever to be met with ; and he seems to have 
 been led to this opinion by the circumstance of the 
 Gothic style having made its appearance about the 
 time of the Crusades. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. Ill 
 
 On the other hand, this opinion is not confirmed, chap. v. 
 but rather refuted, by the accounts of travellers. Mr. 
 Bentham says, that no Gothic work has been found in 
 the East, but in places frequented, in some period, by 
 Christians, who may have erected these buildings. 
 And, we learn with certainty, by Mr. Swinburne's 
 Travels in Spain, that the style of one race of Saracens, 
 the Moors, who possessed the southern parts of that 
 kingdom, was totally different from the Gothic. The 
 characteristic of their architecture is a horse-shoe, or 
 more than a semicircular arch, which prevails in all their 
 works, from the mosque of Cordova, built A. D. 800, 
 to the palace of Alhambra in Granada, begun about 
 the end of the 13th century, and receiving additions 
 till the end of the 15th. The ancient mosque of Cor- 
 dova has not the least resemblance to Gothic. — A 
 single glance at Mr. Swinburne's very elegant plates is 
 enough to shew that the two styles of architecture are 
 entirely different. The Moorish kingdom of Granada 
 having lasted from A. D. 712 to A. D. 1492 it is ob- 
 vious that it flourished during the three centuries in 
 which Gothic architecture prevailed in Christendom. 
 A few pointed arches occur in the Alhambra; but 
 from the date of this fabric it is probable that they 
 
112 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. v. were borrowed from the pure Gothic works which at 
 the same period were carrying on in the Christian 
 provinces of Spain. 
 
 Sir Christopher, who was Surveyor General of all 
 works of architecture carried on in the kingdom, and 
 at the same time, a man of learning and curiosity, was 
 led to examine the old records, to which he had free 
 access. Being likewise, for many years, the leading 
 
 sirChristo- man among 1 the Free-masons, and their Grand Master: 
 
 pher a strong O 
 
 fovour'of m we may consider his testimony in this question, as the 
 
 Free- 
 masons, strongest that the subject will admit of. 
 
 In an Essay written by himself (published in the 
 
 Parentalia). in which he explains the methods followed 
 
 by him in building the dome of St. Paul's, he has the 
 
 following passage still stronger in favour of this 
 
 opinion, relating to the Free-masons. After stating the 
 
 precautions taken by the ancients, to support the 
 
 roofs of their buildings, " The Free-masons," he says, 
 
 " were not very solicitous about this, because they 
 
 used buttresses on the outside of the wall, which they 
 
 extended as far as they guessed would be sufficient; 
 
 and they had yet further helps by loading the butresses 
 
 with a pinnacle, to the height of which they were not 
 
 confined."* The architecture here pointed out, as 
 
 • Parentalia, page 356. 
 
• au- 
 thors. 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. i 13 
 
 practised by the Free-masons in contradistinction to chap. v. 
 the Romans, being decidedly what we call Gothic, it "^^ 
 is quite obvious, that Sir Christopher Wren considered 
 Gothic architecture as belonging to the Free-masons 
 exclusively. 
 
 Of late, the same opinion has been maintained by sameopinion 
 Governor Pownal in the Essay, quoted above, page 95. ^e P r° rt 
 After speaking of the corporation of Free-masons, 
 established by Papal bulls about the early part of 
 Henry theThird's reign, (which date corresponds to the 
 first appearance of Gothic architecture), he says, that 
 there are good grounds for « referring the inven- 
 tion and introduction of this bold and very highly 
 scientific order of architecture, to those chosen and 
 selected artists." 
 
 Mr. Walker, in his tour through Germany, Italy, 
 and France, after speaking with great admiration of 
 the steeple of Strasbourg, says, (page 86) " How 
 much it is to be lamented, that the noble art of 
 masonry has little left among us, but its forms and 
 ceremonies ! The reason, no doubt, why these artists 
 had their lodges and secret meetings, was for the wise 
 purpose of keeping their geometry and information a 
 secret from the rest of the world." 
 
 Q 
 
114 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. v. Having thus traced Gothic architecture to the Free- 
 masons, we need not be surprised that the theory and 
 principles of this style, should at this day be a prob- 
 lem among us; although in old times they had been 
 so strictly adhered to, and so widely diffused during a 
 
 Theobscu- course of ages. We may thus too, in some measure, 
 
 rity thu* ac- ° J 
 
 counted for. account for the obscurity which covers the first intro- 
 duction of Gothic architecture, and its early history. 
 For we are informed by Preston, (page 241) " that 
 many of the fraternity's records of this, (Charles II.) 
 and the preceding reigns, were lost at the Revolution; 
 and not a few were too hastily burnt in our own times, 
 by some scrupulous brothers, from a fear of making 
 discoveries prejudicial to masonry." On this occasion, 
 many curious documents were probably lost for ever, 
 and it may be supposed that the same spirit has led 
 the masons of all times to conceal or destroy such 
 ancient records, as tended to throw light on their rules 
 of construction; which before the invention of print- 
 ing they could do with ease. 
 
 EARLY BUILDINGS IN WICKER WORK. 
 
 brictSiriy Owing to this cause, combined perhaps with others 
 
 history ot the -. , . . i ■> 
 
 church. unknown to us, every thing relating to the early 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 115 
 
 history of Gothic architecture is buried in deep chap. v. 
 obscurity; the subject being as yet untouched, and 
 open to the investigation of the curious. If the 
 theory now proposed has any foundation in truth, 
 there is reason to expect that it may contribute much 
 towards the progress of such investigations, since by 
 means of it many passages in old authors may be 
 clearly explained, which have been hitherto considered 
 as defective, or void of meaning from their obscurity. 
 Likewise facts are not wanting, which furnish the 
 grounds of some general conjecture in support of this 
 expectation ; although too many links of the chain 
 are deficient to authorise me in bringing forward any 
 of them with great confidence. 
 
 Thus I had often heard, that the first rude structures 
 of Glastonbury and of Durham, erected in the earliest 
 ages of Christianity, were formed of wicker-work ; and 
 tracing these anecdotes to their source, I have found 
 them more directly to the point than I expected. 
 
 In Simeon of Durham, I find the following account 
 of the miraculous foundation of Durham cathedral. As Foundation 
 
 of Durham. 
 
 the monks who took charge of the body of St. Cuth- 
 bert were carrying it across the country, it stood fast, 
 like a mountain, in the neighbourhood of the spot 
 
116 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. v. where Durham now stands, and could not be moved 
 by any human force. After much fasting and praying, 
 it was revealed to one of the monks in a dream, that 
 the body should be carried to a place called Dunelm, 
 now Durham, which was immediately undertaken, and 
 the body was found to move with ease. " With joy 
 and thanksgiving they immediately carried the holy 
 body to the spot pointed out by heaven, to wit 
 Dunelm, and having hastily erected a little church 
 made of rods, they placed it there in a temporary 
 deposit."* 
 
 Dugdale's book, entitled Monasticon Anglicanum, 
 begins with the following passage relative to the 
 
 Aisoof Gias- foundation of Glastonbury ; quoted from an old manu- 
 
 tonbury, ae- 
 
 script history of Glastonbury in the Cottonian library. 
 The importance of this passage is so great on this 
 occasion, that I became anxious to verify its authen- 
 ticity in every way, and prevailed upon a friend, on 
 whose accuracy I can rely, to examine the original 
 manuscript in the British Museum, and compare it 
 with Dugdale's quotation. The passage in the 
 
 • " Itaque ad locum coelitus ostensum, viz. Dunelmum, cum hetitia et laude corpus 
 sanctum ditulerunt factaque citissime de virgis ecclesiola ibidem illud ad tempus loca- 
 runt." — Sim. Dunelm, P. 27. 
 
 cording to 
 Dugdalc. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 117 
 
 note, was copied literally by Mr. Ellis, from the chap. v. 
 manuscript. 
 
 * " In the thirty-first year after the crucifixion supported 
 
 o, ty authority 
 
 twelve disciples of St. Philip the apostle, of whom^Ms. 
 Joseph of Arimathia was head, came into this land, 
 and preached the doctrines of Christianity to King 
 Arviragus, who denied them. Bat they obtained from 
 him this spot with twelve hides of land, whereon they 
 erected the first church in this kingdom, the walls of 
 which were made of twisted rods, and which Christ, 
 in honour of his Mother, and as a sepulchre for his 
 servants, personally dedicated. This church on account 
 of its antiquity, was called by the Angles Cal&CCfurcJ)^ 
 
 * " Anno post passionem Domini tricesimo primo, duodecim ex discipulis sancti 
 Philippi apostoli ex quibus Joseph ab Arimathia primus erat, in terram istam venerunt. 
 Qui regi Arvirago renuenti, Christianitatem optulerunt. Tamen locum istum cum duo- 
 decim hidis terras ab eo impetraverunt. In quo vtrgis torquatis muros perficientes, pri- 
 mam hujus regni construxerunt Ecclesiam, quam Christus in honore sue matris et locum 
 
 ad sepulturam servorum suorum presencialiter dedicavit. Hec Ecclesia pro sui 
 
 antiquitate ab anglis <32fllu£Chtrche id est vetusta Ecclesia dicebatur. Satisque constat 
 homines istius provincie nullum sanctius aut crebrius juramentum habuisse, quam per 
 veterem Ecclesiam, nihil magis vitantes metu sceleris vindicte quam perjurare. Est 
 enim omnium in Anglia Ecclesiarum prima et vetusti^sima, primo ex virgis torquatis 
 facta, ex qua virtus divine sauctitatis jam inde a principio redolevit spiravitque in omnem 
 patriam. Et quamvis ex deformi fuerat materia facta, grandis tamen habebatur reverencie 
 cultu ; et sicut locus iste multa subnixus est reverencia antiquitatis, ita magnifice pre- 
 eminet privilegio Sanctitatis ; Roma etenim secunda vocatur." Monasticon Angl. P. 1. 
 Cott. MS. Tib. A. V. fol. 1. and fol. 5. b. 
 
118 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. v. that is old church. And it is well known that the 
 inhabitants of that province make use of no more 
 solemn or more usual oath, than to swear by the old 
 church ; nor is there any which they would consider as 
 deeper perjury to violate. For it is of all the churches 
 in England the first and most ancient ; first made of 
 twisted rods, from which a divine odour of sanctity 
 spread its perfume over all the world ; and though 
 made of mean materials, was held in the highest 
 veneration for its sanctity. And this spot, so peculiarly 
 eminent by its venerable antiquity, is no less conspi- 
 cuous, by the pre-eminent privilege of its sanctity ; for 
 it was called a second Rome." 
 
 * Since this work went to press, I have met with a copy of Spelman's Concilia, pub- 
 lished in London in 1639, in which, on page 11, he has given a representation of the 
 Old Church of Glastonbury, according to the idea which lie had formed of it by con- 
 jecture, founded upon old traditions and authorities. The resemblance which this figure 
 bears to some of those employed in this Essay to illustrate the theory of Gothic architec- 
 ture, is so striking, that I am tempted to add one to the number of Plates, by introducing 
 in Plate LV1I. a facsimile of it with its letters of reference, and explanatory notes. 
 What gives particular importance to this confirmation of our statement as to the construc- 
 tion of that primitive edifice, is, that the opinions of this very respectable Antiquary, 
 were formed without any view to the theory of Gothic architecture, or to any theory 
 whatever, his wish being merely to ascertain the state of the fact. 
 
 The measures in this Plate, are taken from an inscription found upon a plate of brass, 
 formerly fixed upon a pillar at Glastonbury, and which is alluded to by the word lamina. 
 Our author states that the walls of the church were made, according to William of 
 Malmsbury, oi twisted rods, an old method which was sometimes used in building even 
 palaces. Thus, he adds, the king of all Wales, A. P. 940, Hoel Dha, built a house of 
 white rods as a hunting seat, when he came into Dcmetia; which, from that circumstance, 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 119 
 
 In addition to these passages, another occurs from chap. v. 
 William of Malmsbury. It is brought forward with Passage 
 
 quoted by Dr. 
 
 great candour, by Dr. Milner, in his late publication,* Milner - 
 at the same time that he professes his hostility^ to 
 the theory to which it furnishes no inconsiderable 
 support. It appears by this passage, that St. Paulinus, Anecdote of 
 
 Paulinus. 
 
 a bishop and missionary from Rome, in the 7th 
 century, (627,) shewed a peculiar regard and venera- 
 tion for this old church, (which notwithstanding the 
 long interval elapsed from the time of its foundation, 
 remained in its original state,) and took most effectual 
 means to preserve it. The passage is as follows : £ 
 
 was called Ty guin, or the white house, the rods having heen pealed in honour of the 
 king. Castles too were so formed. Arnuluhus de Montgomery, (according to Giraldus 
 Camhrensis,) during the reign of Henry I. of Enghnd, built the Castle of Pembroke of 
 turf and wicker. 
 
 Jn completing the design of the Old Church, the same author has represented it as 
 covered with straw or reeds, according to the British custom, for which he quotes Bede ; 
 and the passage referred to adds one to the testimonies relative to wicker houses, which is 
 not the less valuable that it occurs here incidentally. " Accenso (inquit Beda) grandi 
 igne in medio (domus) contigit volantibus in altum scintillis culmen domus, quod erat 
 virgis contextum et foeno tectum subitaneis flammis impleri." 
 
 Spelman further states, as from his own observation, (nearly 200 years ago) that such 
 wicker houses occurred every where in Ireland, and often also in England. " Virgeas 
 hujusmodi domos passim vidimus in Hibernia sfepe etiam et in Anglia." 
 
 * Page 22. t Page 75. 
 
 % " Paulinum asserit patrum traditio ecclesiam, contextam dudum ut diximus virgis, 
 ligno tabulatu induisse et plumbo, a summo usque deorsum cooperuisse. Egit namque 
 prredicabilis viri solertia ut nihil decederit sanctitati, et plurimum accederit ornatui." 
 Gul. Malm. Antiq. Glaston. apud Gale. Dr. Milner's Eccl. Hist, of Eng. during the 
 Middle Ages, p. 127 • 
 
120 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. v. " Tradition asserts, that St. Paul id us encased this 
 church, which, as we have said above, had hitherto 
 consisted of rods, with a frame of timber, and covered 
 it from top to bottom with lead. For this worthy man 
 provided that nothing should be lost of its sanctity, 
 and that much should be added to its ornament." 
 
 Thcimita- These passages prove beyond a doubt, that the first 
 
 tion of these 
 
 relicsinstone apostles of Christianity in this island did actually 
 
 may have JT J J 
 
 to Gothic ar- perform divine service in oratories made of wicker- 
 
 chitecture. , i r 1 1 r 
 
 work ; a mode or construction the most natural tor 
 men to have recourse to, in a wooded state of the 
 country, who were devoid of the tools and of the skill 
 required to construct more substantial fabrics. Now 
 it is well known with what veneration any vestige of 
 those persons who introduced Christianity was re- 
 garded in after ages ; the more so, if it bore evidence 
 of the sufferings and poverty of these holy persons. 
 It is to be expected, then, that a wicker edifice, which 
 was looked upon as the meanest of any, having been 
 thus honoured, should be venerated as a sacred relic ; 
 and that the same disposition which led men, as we 
 have just seen, to cover a wicker fabric with lead, 
 should induce them to preserve its peculiar forms by 
 representing them in stone; and this attempt, when 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 121 
 
 carried into execution, being found to produce a chap. v. 
 beautiful effect, it is not unreasonable to suppose that 
 the idea should become a favourite one, and being: 
 followed out by successive refinements, might give 
 birth to a new style of architecture. 
 
 The late appearance of the Gothic style has been objection 
 
 ■ 1 • • l • l i urged from 
 
 urged as an objection to these views, upon the ground, iatea PP ear- 
 
 ance of 
 
 that if this mode of construction originated from the Gothic style 
 
 ° answered. 
 
 woods, or arose out of the practice of the first founders 
 of Christianity, it ought to have made its appearance 
 earlier than any other style in this country, whereas 
 it is known to have been preceded both by the Saxon 
 and by the Norman styles. 
 
 In answering this objection, I must admit that some 
 parts of the subject are involved in obscurity which I 
 cannot pretend to penetrate. 
 
 Though the earliest works of the Gothic style that 
 are known to us, belong to the middle of the 12th 
 century, there is no direct evidence that this was 
 the period of its first introduction. Buildings of this 
 sort may have been erected at far earlier periods, 
 without having been preserved ; or Gothic works may 
 exist at this hour, the antiquity of which is far greater 
 than has been supposed, though no circumstance has 
 
 it 
 
122 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. v. hitherto occurred fit to ascertain the real date of their 
 construction.* 
 
 * Since this work went to press I have seen Mr.Haggitt's two letters, just published, in 
 the second of which he endeavours to vindicate Sir C. Wren's opinion as to the Oriental 
 origin of Gohtic architecture. I must own that he has given more weight to this view 
 than I conceived to have belonged to it ; particularly by those cases in which he brings 
 forward the pointed arch, as found in company with inscriptions in the Cuphic character, 
 which is understood to have been disused since the tenth century ; shewing that these 
 arches had been constructed long before the period of the Crusades. 
 
 But how is this to be reconciled, it may be asked, with the origin of the Gothic 
 style traced, in this Essay, from the primitive wattled oratories of Glastonbury and 
 Durham ? 
 
 In answer, I maintain that these rival origins do not exclude each other ; and the facts 
 seem to authorise a belief, that the same course had, in some respects, been followed in 
 both cases ; that the original wattled oratories of Joseph of Arimathia had been represented 
 in stone by the early Christians in the East, as well as by those in theWest; the peculiar 
 form of the pointed arch, thus invented, having been borrowed at an after period by the 
 Mahometans. 
 
 If this really happened, it is natural to expect that the inhabitants of these western 
 countries, who flocked to the Holy Land at the time of the Crusades, finding the same 
 architectural ideas to prevail among the old Eastern Christians which belonged to them 
 selves, and which in Great Britain, they had put into execution in the form of interlacing 
 arches, would enter eagerly into the same views, and adopt whatever advances had been 
 made in the same line. They would, therefore, encourage the Free masons to return 
 with them, as Sir C Wren has pointed out, and employ them in the erection of churches 
 in all quarters, conformably to these ideas common to all parties, but concealed under the 
 ban of Masonic secrecy. 
 
 I should be unwilling to advance a theory in which so much conjecture is involved, if 
 it did not lead very directly to the observation of facts, by which all these difficulties may 
 be cleared away ; and I have already contributed, I trust effectually, towards the accom- 
 plishment of these observations. Sir C Wren has represented the Gothic style as having 
 been invented by the Saracens and afterwards refined upon by the Christians. But surely 
 the Gothic works of the good times possess too much consistency to have been produced 
 by successive hands ; the founders and the refiners, whether Christians or Saracens, must 
 have been animated by one principle ; and if the Gothic style did originate in the East, 
 we may expect to find in the Eastern works those same characters which distinguish it 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 123 
 
 But the system which has been advanced in this chap. v. 
 Essay is not the less probable, though a great interval 
 of time should have elapsed between the actual use of 
 willow fabrics, and their imitation in stone. It is not 
 when men have recently escaped from poverty and 
 oppression, that they feel any affection for the me- 
 morials of that state ; they are then, on the contrary, 
 disposed to take delight in what is new and splendid ; 
 nor is it until time has obliterated all anxiety and 
 irritation, that the circumstances connected with past 
 
 among us, and which may serve as guides in all future researches. These characters 
 have never yet been properly looked for ; nothing having been attended to but the pointed 
 arch, which, though one important feature is, as we have seen, only one among a great 
 number of others, by each of which the style is not less distinctly indicated. 
 
 The statement in this Essay will be found, I trust, clearly to point out these various 
 objects, and will enable a traveller, without being an accomplished draftsman, and simply 
 by naming these objects, to communicate his observations to the public. I have looked 
 for them in Mr. Haggitt's plates, and I find something like the clustered column in one, 
 and something like a cusp in another ; but engravings ought not to be trusted. Since an 
 artist must often be greatly tempted to improve his effect by some small touch which he 
 may consider as of no consequence, but upon which the merit of the whole may depend. 
 
 Much reliance may be had upon drawings done on the spot, by travellers not aware of 
 such questions ; but actual observations alone can be trusted, made by persons previously 
 masters of the subject under discussion. I beg leave earnestly to recommend to such 
 observers, when they meet, in the East, with those edifices in which the pointed arch 
 occurs, that they will also search for the groinings of the roof, the tracery of the windows 
 the clustered columns, the mouldings, the cusps, the crockets, the steeples, the pinnacles; 
 in short, for that multitude of peculiar forms which have all conspired, as shewn in this 
 Essay, in demonstrating the imitation of wicker-work in stone ; which method, wherever 
 it first arose, seems unquestionably to have guided the execution of the architects in this 
 quarter of the globe during the 13th, Mth, aud 15th centuries. 
 
124 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. v. sufferings begin to interest the feelings, and acquire a 
 veneration character of veneration. Then every object which 
 
 derived from 
 
 , o h f'tE e <luity recals that primitive state, and every memorial of what 
 was then suffered, is traced out and regarded with the 
 utmost enthusiasm. 
 
 The anecdote of Paulinus shews the veneration 
 which was paid to these fabrics in the 7th century ; 
 an intermediate period between the first undoubted 
 appearance of Gothic work in stone, and the legen- 
 dary date of the supposed prototype. 
 
 It is remarkable, that the complete establishment of 
 the Gothic style took place at the period of the 
 Crusades ; when an enthusiastic veneration for relics 
 pervaded Europe. The wicker fabrics of the primitive 
 Christians would at no period be so likely to become 
 an object of imitation to the artist, as then ; when 
 time had obliterated all impressions but of the sanctity 
 of those who constructed them. Under the influence 
 of such feelings, it is not wonderful that the idea 
 should occur of so far modifying the stone-work of 
 the Saxon style, as to recal the memory of those pri- 
 mitive churches,* without causing any very great 
 
 * The willow fabric, a drawing of which I have given in the frontispiece, was not 
 intended to represent a primitive place of worship, but rather a bower, such as the Free- 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 125 
 
 alteration in the general forms already established; chap. v. 
 thus the Gothic style may have been first introduced 
 as at Kelso,* through the intermediate form of inter- 
 lacing arches. 
 
 masons might be supposed to construct as an exercise of taste and invention, or as a 
 model of any new and ornamental device which it was intended to submit to the approba- 
 tion of the brotherhood. 
 
 It is not likely that the early Christians would bestow much pains on decoraring their 
 places of retreat; but when, in after ages, the primitive church of wattles was assumed 
 as the prototype of a cathedral, we cannot doubt that the architect would feel justified in 
 adopting every elegance of which he found wicker-work susceptible. 
 
 * In Dr.Milner's work, (Eccl. Hist. p. 84.) the following passage occurs. " If we may 
 " give implicit credit to the drawings and authorities of Grose, the Scotch were not long 
 " in adopting the new style of the English, which was probably introduced among them 
 " by David their king, who came into England to command the army of his niece, the 
 " Empress Maud, against King Stephen. Thus much is certain, that Kelso Abbey, 
 " founded by him before he came into this country, namely in 1128, affords no specimen 
 " of the pointed arch, whilst other abbeys and churches in Scotland, built soon after his 
 " return home, present much the same mixture of round and pointed arches, as occurs in 
 " all the sacred edifices of that period in England." 
 
 But Kelso Abbey does exhibit as perfect an example of interlacing arches, as any of 
 those at Winchester, shewn in Dr. Milner's book ; though I find that they are omitted in 
 Mr. Grose's view, or rather rendered invisible by the smallness of the scale. I have, how- 
 ever, frequently examined and drawn them with care, and I can answer for the fidelity of 
 their representation by Mr. Blore, in Plate LV. of this work. The date of Kelso is 1 1 28, 
 whilst none of the similar works at Winchester, or any where in England, is reckoned 
 earlier than 1132. David's expedition to England did not take place till after the death 
 of Henry the First in 1135, though it is true that he had been there during the lifetime 
 of that prince. These facts are far from favouring Dr. Milner's conclusion, that David 
 had brought the pointed arch back with him from England; since, of the two nations, it 
 seems to have appeared earliest in Scotland. Were this point to be eagerly contested 
 much light would soon be thrown on the subject; already the consideration bestowed 
 upon it leads to this curious inference, which I shall beg leave to express conformably to 
 the views advanced in this Essay; That the desire of doing homage to the primitive 
 wicker oratories, by representing their forms in stone, was felt and acted upon nearly 
 about the same time, in parts of this island very remote from each other. 
 
126 ESSAY ON 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 f^ NAME OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 One consequence of the mysterious state of the 
 history of this style, and which contributes much to 
 perpetuate that embarrassment, is the want of any 
 rational name by which it may be distinguished. In 
 the times when the art prevailed, it seems to have had 
 no peculiar name, at least on this side of the Alps, 
 but exclusively to have possessed that of architecture. 
 When it fell into disrepute, a name became necessary 
 to distinguish it from the style which began to prevail. 
 The term employed for that purpose seems to have 
 Thenameof been borrowed from a mere expression of obloquy, as 
 
 Gothic used r T. •/ » 
 
 ^ n e f xpre8 " at this day we call a thing Gothic, which we mean 
 to reprobate as barbarous. It is thus thatVasari says it 
 was invented by the Goths, by which I conceive he 
 means no more than to express his hatred, by ascribing 
 it to a set of barbarians, for, in the outset of that 
 passage, he calls it German, (Javori chi si chiamano 
 Tedeschi.) Perhaps this very expression may have 
 given rise to the name of Gothic, since Vasari's book 
 was in the hands of all the artists. I am convinced, 
 that it has not arisen from any real connexion with 
 the Gothic uation ; and, in confirmation of this idea, 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 127 
 
 I have learned from Mr. Byres, that, chiefly with that chap. 
 view he spent ten days at Ravenna, the principal seat 
 of the Goths in Italy, without having been able to 
 discover one example of this style. 
 
 Various authors being convinced of the impropriety 
 of this name, have endeavoured to distinguish the 
 style in different ways, each according to the particular 
 hypothesis which he entertained respecting its history. 
 Sir Christopher Wren (as expressed in the passage 
 quoted above, in page 107,) has led the way in calling 
 it Saracenical, and has been followed, as we have also 
 seen, (page 98,) by Mr. Grose, and I believe by several 
 others. But, for reasons which I have stated above, 
 I am satisfied that this name would only tend to 
 mislead. Others have proposed to call it modern 
 Norman Gothic, which I look upon as equally faulty; 
 for the art not having come into England till a century 
 after the Norman conquest, there is no reason for 
 fixing it upon the Normans; the less so, that their 
 coming was accompanied, as we have already pointed 
 out, by the introduction of a new mode of construc- 
 tion quite different from the Gothic style. 
 
 In the present unsettled state of public opinion, 
 both with respect to the origin and the history of this 
 
biirbarous 
 times 
 
 128 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. v. style, I have judged best to attempt no innovation in 
 this matter, and have made use of the name of Gothic 
 architecture ; which though certainly no less objec- 
 tionable than many of those that have been offered to 
 the public, has the advantage of being universally 
 known and understood among us. 
 
 Gothic architecture has met with great injustice, 
 from an opinion that it was the production of barbarous 
 
 The style times; but this is certainly a mistake, for, notwith- 
 
 does not 
 
 belong to standing the wretched state of architecture in Italy, 
 
 h:irh:irnnq O J 
 
 during the ages in which the Gothic prevailed among 
 us, the sister arts of painting and sculpture were, in 
 the same period, carried to a high degree of perfection 
 by a succession of artists from Cimabue, who was 
 born in 1240, to Raphael who died in 1537-* Now 
 Cardinal Wolsey, whose works were all Gothic, was 
 
 • From the earliest of these periods, until the regular mode of copying the ancients, 
 and adhering to their orders and proportions, was introduced, early in the 15th century, by 
 Brunelleschi, all the architects, according to Vasari, followed what he calls the " Maniera 
 Tedesca," which seems to have partaken, to a certain degree, of what we call Gothic, 
 though it differed from it, in many respects, very widely, as we may judge by the account 
 which the sameVasari gives of the practice of those early masters. " Perche nelle colonne 
 non osservarono quella misura e proporzione die richiedeva 1' arte ; ne distinsero online, 
 che fusse piu Dorico, che Corinto, o Ionico, o Toscano; ma alia mescolata con una loro 
 regola senza regola : facendole grosse grosse, o sotille sotille, come tornava lor meglio. 
 E le invenzione furono tutte parte di lor cervello, parte del resto delle anticagiie vedute 
 da loro." 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 129 
 
 not disgraced till 1529; so that it appears beyond a chap. v. 
 doubt, that the Gothic prevailed exclusively in England 
 during the lifetime of Raphael ; a period at which the 
 fine arts attained to higher perfection than they have 
 ever reached since. 
 
 Nor were these arts confined to Italy ; for we find 
 upon the Gothic edifices constructed in the latter times, 
 numberless statues of kings and saints executed in an 
 excellent style of sculpture. Upon Waltham cross are 
 several female figures of the greatest beauty, strongly 
 marked with that air of truth and simplicity, which 
 is the characteristic of the early Florentine school, and 
 of the first manner of Raphael. 
 
130 ESSAY ON 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Comparison between the Greek and the Gothic styles. Each of them founded on a 
 peculiar system of Imitation. Contrasted in many respects. This contrast peculiarly 
 marked in the s icred edifices. Consequences produced by that contrast. Difficulty of 
 applying the Grecian sty'e, to modern purposes; Q ies'i>m if t'<e Gothic would not be 
 more applicable. Importance of returning to the principle of I.nitation. Single 
 example of its employment in modern times. Advice to the young artist. 
 
 chap. vi. J_x opening the subject of this Essay, I pointed out 
 the great injustice of contrasting the architecture of 
 the ancients with the spurious Gothic of Italy. But I 
 
 comparison maintained, that a fair comparison between the Greek 
 
 between the 
 
 the C GoThir d ailc ^ Gothic styles would lead to an opposite conclu- 
 sion ; and I ventured to promise, that in the course of 
 this Essay I should be able to show, that, under 
 forms entirely different, the same spirit pervades both. 
 I trust, that much has been already done towards the 
 fulfilment of that promise, in its first and most essen- 
 tial point. In the foregoing pages, proofs have been 
 brought forward in various shapes, which evince, in a 
 manner, I conceive, very little short of absolute 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 131 
 
 demonstration, that the Gothic architects, had per- chap. vr. 
 petually in view, in the course of their execution, the 
 imitation of a rustic prototype ; which, notwithstand- 
 ing various modifications, arising out of the circum- 
 stances of the case, can be recognized in every part of 
 their works. 
 
 In this essential circumstance, then, the two styles 
 are exactly on a par; and under forms entirely 
 different, the same spirit pervades them both ; since 
 both are thus invested with a character, and a set ofEachhasit* 
 
 # prototype. 
 
 proportions peculiar to itself. This view furnishes a 
 complete answer to the common objection made to the 
 Gothic style of wanting proportions, for that accusa- 
 tion has always been the consequence of judging the 
 Gothic by Grecian rules, in which case it could not 
 fail to appear absurd and disproportioned, whereas 
 when tried by its own laws it will be found completely 
 consistent, and harmonious in all its parts. 
 
 The rustic original of Grecian architecture, when in Grecian ori- 
 ginal very 
 its simplest state, could suggest few ideas to an archi- de- 
 tect either of beauty or variety ; for being made of 
 square beams of timber supported by round posts, or 
 stems of trees, its form would be heavy and abrupt, 
 and at the same time dully uniform. But in the 
 
132 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. vi. course of practice carried on during a long succession 
 of ages, a number of ornamental finishings and elegant 
 appendages have been introduced, first by the car- 
 penters and afterwards by the architects, which have 
 raised the style to the highest pitch of excellence 
 among the fine arts. 
 Gothic ori- On the other hand, the Gothic original being pos- 
 eiegant. sessed, even in its rudest state, of a considerable share 
 of elegance, and lightness, and being susceptible of 
 high decorations by a well judged choice of its own 
 forms, would furnish abundant variety ; so that the 
 artist would never be tempted, either when working 
 in wicker or stone, to introduce any extraneous forms, 
 but would be able to accomplish every purpose, either 
 of use or ornament, with the assistance of wicker-work 
 alone. 
 
 Thus the Gothic style is in all its parts nearly 
 connected with nature, and has borrowed its forms 
 from that genuine source of beauty ; whereas the 
 Grecian is more indebted to art, but to art guided by 
 taste so sublime and so pure, that, by a happy selec- 
 tion and combination of the scattered graces of nature, 
 it has produced works superior in beauty to any 
 individual natural object. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 133 
 
 The judicious employment of small ornaments has chap. vi. 
 greatly assisted the artists in both styles, in producing Smalloraa - 
 distinctness, by characterizing particular parts in a 
 manner that is perceived at the first glance. This has 
 been accomplished in a different manner in the two 
 styles, though with equal success in both. 
 
 The Grecian ornaments, some connected with the 
 original structure, some appended to it, are originally 
 both numerous and varied. Those of the Gothic style 
 when reduced to their simplest state, onlv amount 
 to two, the bud and the cusp ; but we have seen 
 them when combined with that multitude of forms of 
 which wands and hoops are susceptible, and reduced 
 to architectural symmetry by means of the mouldings, 
 exhibit a degree of variety, not inferior to what we . 
 meet with in the works of the Greeks. 
 
 The Grecian ornaments are local, that is to say, 
 each of them is inseparably connected with some main 
 part of the structure so as always to denote it. Thus 
 the volute always occurs upon the capital, and the 
 triglyph upon the freeze. This circumstance gives 
 great distinctness to the whole, by enabling a spectator 
 accustomed to such works, at first glance to observe 
 and distinguish every part. 
 
134 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. vi. The Gothic ornaments, on the contrary, are of 
 universal application ; they may be placed anywhere, 
 or occasionally omitted, according to the taste of the 
 artist; and this liberty when properly used, has given 
 rise to a means of producing distinctness, no less 
 effectual than that derived from the locality of the 
 Grecian ornaments. For by employing or leaving 
 out a particular ornament, the artist could characterise 
 any set of forms throughout the whole work, so as to 
 distinguish it in a particular manner from all the rest. 
 Thus in the spire of Newark, the rods of the windows 
 are budded, and those of the spire are left plain; which 
 enables the spectators at a glance to distinguish the 
 two classes. 
 
 These devices were greatly favourable likewise to 
 the boldness of the Gothic designs ; for by means of 
 them the artist was enabled to assimilate to the rest 
 of his work, many forms which would otherwise have 
 been quite incongruous to it, and thus to give to the 
 whole an appearance of truth and consistency ; as we 
 have seen in the case of the buttress. 
 0ri „ inal The Greeks of the purest times having scrupulously 
 
 fo'msTetain- maintained in all their temples, the original form 
 
 ad. 
 
 peculiar to the first rude structure of timber, which by 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 135 
 
 the nature of its construction, could admit of little or chap, vi 
 no variety, nearly the same general plan, and dis- 
 tribution of parts is to be met with, in all of them; 
 whilst the varieties of the art, and those in particular 
 which characterize the five orders, reside entirely in 
 the details of execution ; in the form and proportion 
 of the columns, and in the selection and execution of 
 the ornaments. Thus Grecian architecture, though 
 rich in ornamental details, was susceptible of little 
 variety in the general plan. It has therefore failed 
 when applied to our purposes, though in the hands of 
 the old Greek masters, and employed in the construc- 
 tion of works suited to the wants of that people, it has 
 far surpassed any other style. 
 
 Gothic architecture, on the other hand, with great Gothic 
 variety in ornamental details, admitting of the greatest 
 latitude in the general plan and distribution of the 
 parts ; and being susceptible of almost any shape, is 
 applicable to every purpose, and might be suited to 
 the manners of every nation. 
 
 The principal difference between what we require, contrast of 
 
 sacred edi- 
 
 and what suited the wants of the Greeks, lies in the fices - 
 sacred edifices. Among the ancients a temple was 
 looked upon as the habitation of the God ; few people 
 
 more 
 varied. 
 
136 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. vi. entered it, and that upon the most solemn occasions 
 only ; while the worshippers remained in the open air. 
 With us a church is intended to accommodate the 
 whole congregation, and therefore requires much room 
 within, and a great deal of light, whereas a temple 
 had little need of either; accordingly we find, by the 
 remains of antiquity, that the inside or cell of the 
 most magnificent temples, was dark, that is to say, 
 receiving no light but by the door, and was so small 
 as scarcely to be fit to accommodate one of our 
 country parishes. 
 
 In order therefore to apply Grecian architecture to 
 our purposes, it has been found necessary very much to 
 alter the old Greek plan ; but this having little variety, 
 could not easily admit of any change. And a Grecian 
 colonnade being in itself a most perfect form, we 
 
 Greek style cannot well conceive how anything should be taken 
 
 applied with 
 
 difficulty to f rom [t or added to it without iniurv ; at least to do 
 
 the construe- J J ' 
 
 churches, so would require a hand no less dextrous than that by 
 which it was originally designed. It is not, therefore, 
 wonderful that our artists, employing Grecian archi- 
 tecture for new purposes, and introducing without 
 ceremony forms unknown to the Greeks, should pro- 
 duce works devoid of those beauties for which theirs 
 are so highly distinguished. 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 137 
 
 The greatest detriment seems to have been occa- chap. vi. 
 sioned by the introduction of windows, for which the introduction 
 
 of windows 
 
 old Greek masters had made no regular provision h f occasion - 
 
 O r ' en much de- 
 
 but which are indispensible in most of our buildings. SSfct 
 For by thus obtruding a new form upon the old style, 
 its unity of design must be violated. The more so, that 
 a set of windows partake, by their form and arrange- 
 ment, of the regularity of a colonnade, and consequently 
 occasion more disturbance of the general effect, than 
 if there had been no resemblance between them. It 
 is thus that, in a concert, we can listen to a piece of 
 music with some degree of patience, notwithstanding 
 the noise of coaches in the street, or the flapping of 
 doors; but were a person present to take up an 
 instrument and begin to play any tune at random, the 
 interruption would be altogether intolerable. No 
 less impertinent is the introduction of a regular set of 
 windows into the intercolumniations of a front. It is 
 probably owing to this, that many temples and other 
 monuments of antiquity, maintain, in a great measure 
 their air of grandeur and purity, although their inter- 
 columniations are filled up by mean and irregular 
 houses; while numberless modern palaces, executed 
 in imitation of them, and formed of great colonnades 
 
 T 
 
138 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. vi. with regular windows in the intercolumniations, pro- 
 duce the most paltry effect. 
 
 In most modern buildings of great size, the windows 
 have occasioned a fault of a different kind, by violating 
 their unity of plan, as in the senate-house of Cam- 
 bridge, one of the simplest of modern works, consisting 
 of a handsome Greek colonnade, which indicates, as is 
 indeed the fact, one colossal room within ; but where 
 the indication of the columns is contradicted by two 
 rows of windows, one above the other, the habitual 
 mark of two stories. 
 
 The necessity among the moderns of forming edifices 
 spacious within, has been a source of great confusion; 
 for the old Greek masters not having need of room, 
 have left us no good examples of the kind ; and our 
 own artists in pursuit of that object, have piled order 
 upon order, and have joined together various parts in 
 the same building, which, though each be beautiful 
 in itself, have no connection together, and can only 
 deserve the name of more or less elegant pieces of 
 patch-work. 
 Modems Although the moderns have taken the architecture 
 
 lowed the of the Greeks for their model, they have followed it in 
 
 Greeks in 
 
 a partial a confined and partial manner, their whole attention 
 
 manner. J 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 139 
 
 being engrossed by its ornaments and proportions ; chap. vi. 
 with a view to acquire which, they have studied and 
 measured the remains of antiquity with infinite pains, 
 a work doubtless of great importance in itself; but 
 they have quite overlooked the advantages to be 
 derived from those rules and principles, by which the 
 ancients themselves were guided, in connecting under 
 one system of imitation the various parts of the same 
 edifice. 
 
 This neglect began among the Romans, who in This neglect 
 
 began among 
 
 their latter works, seem quite to have lost sight of this the Romans. 
 principle. Be that as it may, it is certain, that in the 
 reign of Doinitian, that is about a century after the 
 Augustan age, the broken entablature made its ap- 
 pearance in the temple of Pallas, and in the triumphal 
 arches of that time, and the admission of this barbar- 
 ous novelty, incompatible with the Grecian original 
 proves, that the principle of imitation had then ceased 
 to be adhered to. From that time forward, greater 
 and greater innovations crept into the practice of the 
 architects, till the arts were lost in total barbarism. In 
 the course of the 16th century, when architects began 
 to look for models among the ancients, Sir C.Wren 
 says, " that, like the grammarians, they studied the 
 
140 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. tl productions of the Augustan ago and that century. 
 l>ut in my opinion, this has by no moans boon tho 
 praotioo of tho architects, who. satisfied with the mere 
 oame of antiquity, have never looked high enough for 
 their models, hut havo condescended to copy into 
 ilu ir works the barbarous innovations ot lower timet 
 Of this wo moot with numberless examples in tho 
 
 nwhraba modern edifices of Rome, in which tho broken enta- 
 
 entablature. 
 
 blature prevails verv generally, ami in whioli most oi 
 
 I O 
 
 tho ancient rules of composition are set at defiance. 
 In order to illustrate this, wo may compare together 
 
 tho front of St. Peter s at Rome, a work of the greab - 
 fame among tho moderns, with tho MaisoH Qmarrii of 
 Niuu-s. a Corinthian temple oi the Augustan age. In 
 the front of St. Peter's no two pair of columns stand 
 upon tho same lino of Grout, nor at equal intervals 
 asumlor: tho entablature partakes of tho confusion ot 
 the columns, ami is broken in a number of projecting 
 ami entering parts; the columns are divided in the 
 middle of their height bv a solid gallery v\ stone; 
 and the whole is frittered b\ the introduction ot 
 several rows of windows, and crowned with an attic 
 story. 
 
 In tho Maison Quarrie the entablature is unbroken ; 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, m 
 
 the columns stand at equal intervals and in the sain' vj. 
 
 line of front ; and the ornaments of the capita!- and of 
 the entablature are so well adjusted to each other, that 
 they contribute greatly towards the distinctness, as 
 ■well as elegance of the whole. In Si Peter's tl 
 ornaments occur, and are executed in the same pro- 
 portions; but they only serve to mark the incon icy, 
 and to point out in every part the violation of those 
 rules which the old Greek masters considej 
 sacred. 
 
 In the works of Boromini and other- at Rome, the 
 violation of the ancient rule- oi iposition is i 
 
 to a still greater excess, and the ancient form- are 
 intermixed with so many fanl figures, and in- 
 
 terrupted in so extravagant a manner, that to jndge of 
 such buildings by the principle- of the Greeks, tl 
 would seem to have been the production of a I 
 imagination. 
 
 But a modern architect may say, " vl bat have 
 to do with the rules of ancient ( [f 
 
 fine buildings, our rub . eirs Give 
 
 them their temples, leave our churches to as, and 
 us all live in peace." This would be nnansweral 
 were it true either that the modern architecture w< 
 
142 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. vi. founded on independent inventions, brought forward 
 for the first time by the moderns, or that the ancient 
 Greeks had worked upon no connected system : for 
 in either case, chance or mere taste might favour us 
 as well as them. But in adopting into his practice the 
 forms, ornaments, and proportions of the old Greeks, 
 the modern architect has irrevocably signed and sealed 
 his submission to their laws; and he will struggle in 
 vain to shake off the yoke. For every thing in a 
 Grecian work making part of one consistent whole, 
 when any part occurs it naturally suggests to the 
 spectator's imagination, some idea of the whole edifice; 
 as we form some notion of what a statue has been, 
 by finding one of its limbs Were a building to be 
 produced, by combining the forms belonging to diffe- 
 rent ancient works, the result would be an assemblage 
 no less ridiculous, than a human figure formed by 
 putting together the scattered limbs of many different 
 statues. 
 
 Mixture of Where no regular system is followed, by which the 
 
 styles. 
 
 various parts of an edifice may be connected together, 
 and where nothing is attended to, but ornaments and 
 proportions separately considered, such blunders can- 
 not easily be avoided ; we see, accordingly, but too 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 143 
 
 many examples of the kind in modern works. Nay, chap. vi. 
 the extreme case just stated, has actually been realized 
 in all those buildings, in which the Gothic is blended 
 with other styles of architecture. This we have 
 already pointed out in many cathedrals built during 
 the first introduction of the Gothic art; and the 
 same fatality has attended its downfall : As the build- 
 ings executed during a certain period after the Gothic 
 fell into disrepute, exhibit a motley jumble of Greek 
 and Gothic ideas. We see an example of this kind in 
 a work said to have been designed by Inigo Jones, in 
 which we have a Gothic window placed between 
 Ionic pilasters, each of which is crowned with a 
 pinnacle.* 
 
 From such monsters, a person accustomed to see Perpetual 
 
 struggle be- 
 
 the pure works of antiquity turns with disgust; but a" e 7 e " t tll , e r in- 
 their absurdity is such as to strike even those who modem dis- 
 
 i . . . tinctions of 
 
 have paid but a very slight attention to the subject, thealt - 
 and who have happened to see some engravings of 
 ancient temples. For we often carry on long and 
 deep trains of reflection, particularly in judging of 
 the fine arts, without being conscious of reasoning at 
 all ; thus a person who views a picture, may be pleased 
 
 * Tron Church of Edinburgh. 
 
144 ESSAY ON 
 
 chai\ vi with the effect produced by the observance of the 
 rules of perspective, or shocked at their violation, 
 though he be ignorant of those rules, or perhaps never 
 heard of any such. 
 
 The practice of modern architects thus exhibits a 
 constant and inveterate struggle between the principles 
 of ancient Greece, and the present destination of the 
 art; and we often see the most elegant taste perish in 
 the contest; for in the midst of all the absurdities that 
 have been exposed, parts very frequently occur, which 
 sufficiently prove the skill of the artist; and which 
 shew, that if his genius had not been crushed by the 
 incompatible exertions which his situation required, he 
 might have produced works, fit to rival the best per- 
 formances of antiquity. 
 
 To reconcile the forms of Grecian architecture to 
 our purposes, is certainly no easy task; it would be 
 rash, however, to pronounce it impracticable, as no 
 attempt of the kind seems to have been made in the 
 only way likely to succeed, namely, by recurring to 
 the origin of the style, and by attending to those first 
 principles which the old. Greek masters considered as 
 indispensable. 
 
 It is worthy of consideration, on the other hand, 
 
with ad van- 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 145 
 
 whether the Gothic style has not been rashly thrown chap, vl 
 aside in modern times, and whether great advantages Q^ion, » 
 
 . 1 , » the Gothic 
 
 nngnt not be derived from its revival, in the construe- S££i 
 tion of our churches and other public buildings. We ££' 
 stand, with respect to Gothic buildings, on the same 
 footing as the Romans did to those of the Greeks. 
 For the religion of the Greeks and Romans being the 
 same, and their manners not very different, the same 
 buildings would answer the purposes of both nations; 
 and thus the edifices of the Greeks served as complete 
 models for those of the Romans. With us, in like 
 manner, a number of beautiful Gothic edifices are still 
 entire, and still continue to answer the end for which 
 they were built. 
 
 A Gothic edifice receives and accommodates an 
 immense multitude of people, and furnishes an un- 
 bounded supply of light, in a manner which constitutes 
 one of its principal ornaments. And this advantage 
 seems to belong to the Gothic exclusively; for it does 
 not appear, that in any other style of architecture, a 
 provision has been made for the admission of light in 
 an ornamental manner. It possesses, in the highest 
 degree, several different and seemingly incompatible 
 qualities. When entire in all its parts, every where 
 
 u 
 
146 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. vi. clean and fresh, and enlightened by a bright sunshine, 
 we admire its airy lightness, and lively elegance; but 
 when clothed in a majestic veil of obscurity, or 
 reduced to ruins and overgrown with moss and 
 ivy, we are struck with awe by its solemn grandeur. 
 In order to do justice to a building of the Grecian 
 style, it is necessary to look at it from a moderate 
 distance; so far off, that the whole may be taken in 
 at one view, and so near, as to allow all the parts to 
 be distinctly seen. Such a view is the most trying for 
 the Gothic, as in that manner the buttresses, which 
 the Gothic architects have in vain endeavoured alto- 
 gether to disguise, appear heavy and awkward. The 
 fault too with which Sir C. Wren reproaches the Free- 
 masons of overloading their abutments, in this view 
 occasions a detriment to the general effect of the 
 edifice ; for the side aisles being made large, and their 
 windows approaching to an equality with those of the 
 nave, the height of the building is to the view divided 
 into two, and its unity of plan destroyed. 
 
 The beauty and variety of the Grecian style, which 
 reside in the details of execution, are lost in the dis- 
 tant view; and the edifice then exhibits the dull and 
 abrupt appearance of its timber original, in its rude 
 
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. M7 
 
 and u noma merited state. This I found to be true chap. vi. 
 with respect to the magnificent ruins of Agrigentum 
 in Sicily ; which I first saw from a distance of two 
 miles; where they looked like large barns; though 
 upon a nearer inspection, they struck me as decidedly 
 superior to all other works of architecture. 
 
 A distant view is most favourable to the Gothic 
 style ; for its form being boldly varied and strongly 
 characterized in the general plan, produces its full 
 effect, as far as the eye can reach. The fault above 
 mentioned is not observable at a distance, the whole 
 being united in one grand effect; and the spire, a 
 very principal ornament of the style, thus presents its 
 best appearance, as it rises from every village, and 
 diversifies the uniformity of a fertile plain. 
 
 It results from this comparison, that the Grecian 
 style excels in all those qualities of elegance and grace, 
 which depend upon the nice adjustment and masterly 
 execution of details. Whereas the Gothic style, 
 which, with great truth, has been compared to the The Gothic 
 
 has been well 
 
 genius of Shakespeare, is lively, picturesque, and j£™ par ? d t£ 
 sublime, qualities which are derived from the bold Shakes P eare - 
 variety, and often from the wild irregularity of its 
 forms. 
 
tion is most 
 desirable 
 
 148 ESSAY ON 
 
 chap. vi. Since then we have found, that Gothic architecture, 
 as an object of taste, is not disgraced by a comparison 
 with ihe first works of antiquity; and since, in point 
 of application to our manners, it greatly surpasses the 
 Grecian ; we have very strong inducements, in the 
 construction of our churches, and other public build- 
 ings, to revive * it in its purity ; and thus to raise from 
 its ashes that beautiful and much injured style. 
 
 Restoration But without confining ourselves to Gothic architec- 
 
 of the princi- 
 ple of inula- ture . W ere the principle of imitation, which, in old 
 
 tinn is most 1 T 
 
 times, has produced such happy effects, again to be 
 resumed among us, we might take advantage of every 
 style according as it suited our purpose, and adapt it 
 to our use without destroying its effect. Or, like 
 Callimachus of old, we might avail ourselves of any- 
 accidental occurrence, by which a good effect was 
 produced, and which might be transferred to our 
 works in stone. 
 
 * It may be said that this is already done ; that the Gothic style is already revived 
 among us, and that vast sums have been already expended in our days in the construction 
 of Gothic works. I admit, that great sums have heen spent upon what has been called 
 Gothic work; but I have not met with any such that seemed worthy of being classed with 
 our old buildings bearing that name. And the principal expense has been bestowed on a 
 species of work, which, to my feelings, is more disgusting than I can find terms to 
 express : I mean the operation of chipping, by which when part of an old building has 
 yielded to time, the whole is destroyed. And a white new face of the nineteenth century, 
 is substituted for the venerable countenance of the fourteenth. 
 
. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 149 
 
 I have met with but one example of this practice chap. vi. 
 since the downfall of the Gothic style. I mean the ° neonlvex - 
 
 ■' ample of this. 
 
 Eddystone Light-house, built by the late Mr. Smeaton, 
 in imitation, as he informs us, of the stem of an oak, 
 which, as it rises from the ground, diminishes rapidly 
 at first and then slowly. Were architects to reason 
 and act in this manner, the art being restored to its 
 ancient dignity in theory, might resume its ancient 
 splendour in practice. 
 
 A noble career is thus opened to the ambition of a Advketothe 
 
 young artist. 
 
 young artist, whose mind is yet untainted by the 
 vices of any school. After studying the works of 
 genius produced in various ages, and formiug his hand 
 to practice by the example of the best masters, let him, 
 in each of his compositions, steadily adhere to one 
 object of imitation, which may regulate all his orna- 
 mental inventions; and let him anxiously reject what- 
 ever is inconsistent with that original. His works will, 
 by this means, be impressed with a character of truth 
 and consistency, unknown in the productions of our 
 times. And whether boldly venturing on original 
 conceptions, he introduces into architecture forms 
 hitherto unknown ; or following some old system of 
 execution, he endeavours to rival in their own arts the 
 
150 ESSAY, <$c 
 
 chap. vi. Greeks or the Free-masons ; his works being founded 
 on nature and reason, will, like theirs, excite the 
 admiration of successive ages, and his fame will stand 
 like a rock amidst the waves of fashion. 
 
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