Normandy, the first appearances of the new manner are contemporary. Normandy, as a fief of both countries, served to connect both. Arts and manners were nearly the same in all the three; and were it not for the feeling already expressed, we might possibly hint that as not more than fifty years had elapsed since the great Norman ecclesiastics are allowed to have introduced an improved style of building into England, it is not improbable, when the genius and accomplishments of that people (in the twelfth century) are considered, that the knowledge of the lancet arch might have travelled to our own country in the same direction.

Passing over the amusing dream of Bishop Warburton, that the first conception of clustered columns was formed by avenues of aged trees intertwining their branches above, we are next introduced to Mr. Smirke, who lately undertook to point out in Italy much earlier specimens of the pointed style than our northern climates afford. By the penetration, however, of Sir Henry Englefield and our author, it has been discovered that these appearances, such as crocketted pediments and pinnacles, had been engrafted at a much later period upon works of the middle of the twelfth century. Mr. Smirke's specimens, therefore, conclude either too much or nothing; for by this argument it were easy to prove many light and elegant pinnacles which adorn the angles of our own Norman churches, to be themselves Norman; or the rich and fretted vaulting of the choir at Gloucester, to be contemporary with the ponderous columns which sustain it. The crude assertion of Mr. Payne Knight, that this style was a corruption of the sacred architecture of the Greeks and Romans by a mixture of the Moorish Saracenesque, which is formed out of a combination of Egyptian, Persian, and Hindoo, wants the merit of airy and ingenious plausibility which the reverie of Warburton possesses in a high degree. But the extravagances of Warburton were ever those of a man of genius; not quite so attainable as mere absurdity.

The discovery of the pointed arch led, after no long interval, to other improvements in the art. Of these the first seems to have been that of transforming the simple lancet head by means of two cusps, as they have been styled, into a trefoil; and of this we beg leave to remind Dr. Milner, that an earlier specimen than any which he has adduced, appears in Dugdale's engraving of the transept of old St. Paul's, the work of Bishop Maurice. The addition of two other cusps converted the head into a cinque foil: and four cusps being afterwards introduced, an œil de boeuf was produced, scarcely differing, except perhaps in compass and richness, from

We should like to learn at Mr. Payne Knight's leisure, what was the sacred architecture of the Greeks and Romans, as distinct from their civil architecture.

those

those which are sometimes seen (as at Barfreston church, in Kent) on the tympana of pediments, apparently Saxon. Of the tall double light, with a small quater foil employed to fill up the interval between their heads, we know that there are specimens as early as the end of Henry II. Of the first order of pointed architecture, which immediately succeeded the plain lancet arch, distinguished by slender and numerous detached columns, by arches highly pointed, and by plain, but light and elegant groinings kuit together at their intersection by carved keystones, the specimens, in our own island, produced by Dr. Milner, are unquestionably prior to any which Mr. Whittington, with all his industry of research, has been able to exhibit. Of these the first is the choir of Canterbury, begun to be rebuilt about 1175, next to which followed Lincoln, after an interval of twenty years. After a similar interval succeeded the east end of Winchester cathedral, then the south trausept of York cathedral, 1227, which nearly coincides with the foundation of Bishop Poore's cathedral, at Salisbury. But Mr. Whittington contends, not merely for the priority of this style in France, but for superiority in the science of architecture, as it may be made out from specimens remaining in that country, and built at the same period. Accordingly he institutes a formal comparison between the contemporary cathedrals of Salisbury and Amiens, with what success we shall enable the reader to judge. -The cathedral of Amiens materially differs in its architecture and interior arrangements from the contemporary sacred edifices of this country, which proves first, that a dissimilarity existed between the architecture of England and France in the very first age of the Gothic style; and secondly, that this dissimilarity constitutes a more advanced state, and a greater perfection in the French Gothic. Again, My object is to shew, not that the French built. churches in the thirteenth, like ours of the succeeding century; but that they had added to the simple beauties of the former period many of the graces, which were not adopted by us till the latter.' We omit Mr. Whittington's specification of the points of resemblance between the two rivals; and come to their dissimilarities-1st, the disposition of the church of Amiens with the ailes to its transepts, its double ailes on each side the choir, together with its beautiful semicircular colonnade at the end'-where from the number of columns present in every point of view, an infinitely richer effect is produced than within any of our churches of the same date.-2dly, the proportions, particularly its surprizing loftiness, exceedingly dissimilar.-3dly, in the ornamental part, the chief difference exists; the west front exhibits the most gorgeous display of statuary. Once more, 'It is well known that the long, narrow, E 3

sharp

sharp-pointed window, generally decorated on the inside and outside with small marble shafts, is employed all over Salisbury cathedral these are often combined together, surmounted by a rose, and persons fond of tracing the progression of Gothic architecture are eager to point out, in these combinations, the outline of the more spacious and magnificent windows which were not adopted in the English churches till half a century afterwards.'

So far this ingenious, but partial writer. Now, on the contrary, we venture to affirm, that no part of this argument proves that any general and striking dissimilarity existed at this period between the architecture of England and France, and still less, that any appearance about the cathedral of Amiens indicates a more advanced state and greater perfection in the French Gothic. To say that of two contemporary buildings, the one is more spacious and lofty; that it is adorned with a greater profusion of statuary; that its columns are more numerous, and therefore in their effect more striking, is indeed to say that this is a work of greater magnificence and expense: but while it can be proved, that in the more simple of the two structures, the columns and capitals are precisely similar in form to those of the other; that the general proportions, notwithstanding some individual shades of difference, are nearly the same; that the same prevailing idea of lightness and airy grace directed the architects of both; in one word, that an identity of principles appears in each, we maintain that nothing is proved as to the comparative state of the art in the two countries, in which the specimens are found. One assertion indeed has been made by Mr. Whittington, which, if it could be proved, would compel us to concede the palm of superiority in the middle of the thirteenth century to the French architecture. It is that, in opposition to the simple lights of Salisbury, spacious and magnificently ramified windows, such as those of Amiens, were not introduced into the English churches till half a century after.

A Chapter House, we presume, if not a church, is at least an appendix to a church, and this point being granted, we confidently undertake to establish the proposition which Mr. Whittington has thought proper to deny. That the Chapter House of York, the windows of which are most richly and magnificently ramified, and of such extent, that, on all the open sides, they cover, like those of the fifteenth century, the whole space, excepting the buttresses,that this astonishing building is of the very period now before us, may be proved as follows:-First, the columns, together with their capitals, precisely accord with those on the tomb of Archbishop Walter Gray, who died in 1254, after having governed the church of York little less than forty years. Secondly, over the door of the Chapter House is an episcopal figure, with a crosier, around which,

the

the ensign of pastoral government, is twined a serpent, which appears to bite the bottom of it; an emblem, probably intended to represent the calumnies which the prelate had endured in consequence of the strictness of his discipline. But this individual emblem is repeated on the tomb of Walter Gray already mentioned. These particulars combined amount to little less than a demonstration, that the Chapter House is his work. Now for the credit of English architecture, and to the utter subversion of Mr. Whittington's hypothesis, it so happens that the windows of this gorgeous apartment are, at least, as highly wrought and ramified as those of the French cathedral, and are precisely in the style which he affirms not to have prevailed in England till half a century after. Nor is there any pretence for saying that these windows are later insertions.

We have been the more circumstantial in this description, because Dr. Milner has unfortunately omitted to dvail himself of so powerful a support to his system. By this induction, the chapter-house at York has been proved to be contemporary with the cathedral of Salisbury; yet, because it has the misfortune to be English, on Mr. Whittington's hypothesis, it must at least be half a century later! So little can be inferred from greater or less degrees of magnificence in the construction of two buildings, when the elementary members of the architecture of each are the same. The next gradation, namely, that which took place between the architecture of Henry the Third's reign and the earlier years of his son, night, perhaps, have been noted by Dr. Milner with greater precision. In order, therefore, to elucidate this part of the subject, and at the same time to correct the error of an author who rarely requires correction, Sir William Dugdale, we will select a specimen, which unhappily is now no more. The tower of old St. Paul's, which had tall lancet windows, is known to have been built in 1221; and the work of enlargement and restoration gradually proceeded castward. In 1240, we are assured by Dugdale that the new choir was consecrated. Yet in contradiction to his own statement, which seems to perplex him, he very ingeniously produces indulgences from several bishops for the carrying forward of that work more than thirty years after. Besides which, it is well known, that Henry de Lacy and Ralph de Baldock, who survived to the reign of Edward the Second, were benefactors to the new work at the east end, which is no way distinguishable from the rest of the choir.' Now Dugdale's embarrassment evidently arose from his having taken for granted that the choir was finished when in fact it was merely begun, and that the ceremony alluded to was a final and formal dedication; whereas it was only that species of benediction, (often indeed very magnificent,) which took place at the laying of the foun

dation-stone, a period of no less than forty years from the completion. Taking, therefore, this great and lamented work at a medium between the first and last of these dates, we have a perfect specimen of English architecture in the earlier years of Edward the First. Here then the false arches of the dado are retained; but instead of the single and slender columns of the former era, they are sustained on pillars more massy and slightly clustered, of which the capitals resemble a rose, while the cusped arch is surmounted by a sweep highly pointed; of these the spandrils are filled with quater foils, and a rose appears beneath. The triforia remain nearly the same as in the earlier period, but the windows have lost the side columns; the mullions are angular, and the three lights of those in the north ailes surmounted by rich tracery. But now crockets and finials appear in rich profusion; exhibiting a striking analogy between the progress of architecture and vegetation: for, while on the plain pinnacles of Sarum, the angles are perfectly unadorned, and the finials have the appearance of vast and turgid buds, in this part of St. Paul's, and in the course of forty years, rich crockets burst out like sprouts on every side, while the surmounting finial expanded itself likea free and waving head of colewort. On the whole, and we think with perfect justice, Dr. Milner considers the age of Edward the Third, as the acme of English architecture. In the next period, commencing with Edward the Fourth, an affectation of the gorgeous and fanciful plainly foretold that an era of second barbarism was at hand; and the pendent capitals which appear in the works of Sir Reginald de Bray, at Windsor and Westminster, and in the chapel of Bishop Alcock, at Ely, are tricks of art, which, if ever intended to excite any other feeling than surprize, have certainly failed. Yet even these, fantastic as they are, seem to have had their archetype in nature. They were probably suggested by the pendent stalactites of a cavern; and the effect is so much the same in both, that we can scarcely walk beneath them without expecting a cold petrific drop to descend upon our heads. Such are the outlines of this masterly little work; in reviewing which we have taken a liberty with which, we trust, neither the author nor the reader will be offended, namely, that of suggesting some opinions of our own. But in human opinions there is an incurable diversity;' and we must now be permitted to mention a few particulars in which we cannot wholly agree with Dr. Milner,

And first, whereas our author assures us, p. 47, that the abbey church of St. Alban's, as built under the direction of Lanfranc, was 600 feet long, we must beg leave to prefer the statement of Malmsbury, who assigns to that prelate the work only of extending the church. Abbatiam Sti. Albani in eum quo nunc est statum (Lanfrancus)