circular-headed openings, combined generally with the beaded shafts and the foliage of the Early English period. The whole is used with a Doric simplicity and boldness which is very remarkable. Sometimes, it must be confessed, this independence of constraint is carried a little too far, as in the pier-arches at Jedburgh (Woodcut No. 634), which are thrown across between the circular pillars without any subordinate shaft or apparent support. This was a favorite trick of the later Gothic architects of Germany, though seldom found at this early period. Here the excessive strength of the arch in great measure excuses it.
Besides the general grandeur of their designs, a great deal of the detail of these abbeys is of the richest and best class of the age. The favorite form, as at Leuchars, is that of circular arches intersecting one another so as to form pointed sub-arches, and these are generally ornamented with all the elaborate intricacy of the period, such as is shown in Woodcut No. 635, taken from Kelso Abbey Church.
While these great abbeys were being erected in the southern extremity of the kingdom, the cathedral of St, Magnus was founded at the other extremity, at Kirkwall in the Orkneys. This building was commenced 1137, and carried on with vigor for some time. The first three arches of the choir (Woodcut No. 636) are all that can certainly be identified as belonging to that period. The arch of the tower belongs probably to the 14th century, and the vaulting can hardly be
