Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/173

Bk. VI. Ch. hi. WINDOW TRACERY. 157 of Ely, (Woodcut No. 589), or such a group as that which terminates the east end of Hereford (Woodcut No. 590). Tracery it can hardly be called, but it is as essentially one design as any of the great east windows that afterwards came into fashion ; and until painted glass became all-important, such an arrangement was constructively better than a screen of mullions, and as used in this country is capable of very beautiful combinations. OLiii. Lancet WiuUow, Heref Old Catlieural. ^Catli. Hb.) So, at least, the English architects of the 13tli century seem to have thought, for they continued to practise their lancet style, as in the much-quoted example of Salisbury Cathedral, long after the French had pel fected the geometric forms ; which may be seen from the contem- porary cathedral in Amiens. In France, as was pointed out in a previous chapter (vol. i. p. 565 et seq.)^ we can trace every step by which the geometric forms were invented. In England this cannot be done, and when we do find a rudimentary combination of two lancets