Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/472

428 AEGHITEC T U II E [POINTED this sort of tracery had reached perfection, it was found possible to vary it indefinitely by making use of double curves (or ogee lines); and then, when these had been used for a short time, flowing lines, wandering gracefully over the space to be filled, and sometimes drawn by hand, sup planted the more formal outlines of the earlier work. The difference was great between an opening which was made (as the earlier examples were) with a sole view to the opening for glass, and one which was the accidental result only of the pretty lines and curves made by regarding the monial of the window, and not the light, as the thing to be considered. The tendency of the modification was to make men think lines of more importance than masses ; and, whether consciously or not, this was just what happened : not only window traceries but mouldings, carvings, and every other feature, were entirely changed in character. The soft gradations of the early mouldings were given up for combinations of more hardly defined and thinner lines of light and shade, and, in harmony with this change, a crisp and sharp imitation of natural foliage was devised, which supplanted the rich and round forms of the earlier sculpture. The whole practice of art was becoming more scholarly, perhaps, but at the same time it was more -con scious, and the cleverness of the architect was almost as often suggested as the noble character of his work. Merton College chapel, Oxford, the nave of York Minster, the choir of Selby, the whole of Exeter Cathedral, are a few among the many examples of this period of which this country can boast, and it will be seen that the change in character which is evident between the earliest and latest Middle Pointed works is enough to justify those who would again subdivide the nomenclature. The difficulty is that, where progress was so constant, it will be necessary, in order to be exact, to subdivide each century five or more times in order to be really definite. Towards the end of Edward the Third s reign, the last great change was made. The first example of this is seen in the western end of the nave of Winchester, followed soon after by William of Wykeham s magnificent (if somewhat cold) reconstruction of the rest of the nave. It may fairly be held that the moving cause for the change was a sense of disgust at the vagaries into which the votaries of curvi linear window traceries had been led. There was something weak and effeminate about their work, and Edyngton and Wykeham, when they built the nave of Winchester, were evidently endeavouring to return to a simpler and more dignified style of building. The first tiling they found to amend was the exuberant tracery which was ruining archi tecture. They did not return to earlier forms, but they corrected this exuberance by introducing vigorous, straight, vertical, and horizontal lines. These, combined with sub- arcuation, gave their work at first a vigour which had lat terly been wanting; and no one can look at Wykeham s great work without feeling that he succeeded in his effort to impress a sense of vigour and manliness on the whole of it. Unfortunately, the love of display and of the exhibition of skill which was so strong before was in no degree lessened, and the change in style did nothing permanently to check it. The fondness for straight in place of flowing lines was more and more developed. Doorways and arches were enclosed within well-defined square outlines, walls were divided by panelling into rectangular divisions; vertical lines were emphasised by the addition of pinnacles, and buttresses used more for ornament than strength, whilst horizontal lines were multiplied in string-courses, parapets, and transomes to windows. Groined roofs, which in the 14th century had been enriched by the multiplication of surface ribs, were now most elaborately enriched by cross ribs subdividing the simple spaces naturally produced by tlis intersection of necessary ribs in*<~> ^rnall panels ; these, again, were; filled in with tracery, and finally, the key-stones were formed into pendants, and the branching ribs so radiated as to produce the really beautiful and very English variety of groining called fan-tracery. The amount of skill shown in the construction of these vaults was very great, and most of them have proved their authors science by the perfect way in which they have endured to the present time. lu other respects the architects of the 15th century were very successful. Few things can be seen more beautiful than the steeples of Gloucester Cathedral, or of St Mary s, Taunton. The open timber roofs, as for instance that of St Peter, Mancroft, Norwich, are superb. And, finally, they left us a large number of enormous parish churches all over the country, full of interesting furniture and decoration, and also a store of interesting examples of domestic architecture which are still the ornaments, and are associated with all the most interesting historical localities, of the country. After the middle of the IGth century the practice of Gothic architecture practically died out, though traces of its influence, especially in raral districts, were hardly lost until the end of the 17th century. Good, sound, solid, and simple forms, well constructed by men who respected themselves and their work, and did not build only for the passing hour, were still popular and general, so that the vernacular architecture to a late period was often good and never absolutely uninteresting. But it presents none of the characteristics of a school, and cannot be treated of here. The history of the development of Gothic architecture in England has been gone into at rather greater length than will be desirable in the case of other national developments. And this for two reasons : the examples which illustrate it are more generally known ; and as the developments in other countries north of the Alps went through very nearly the same course of change at the same time, much has been said which need not be repeated in treating of them. A few words will suffice for the necessary notice of the progress of Gothic architecture in Scotland and Ireland. In point of fact, most of what was done in the best period that is, during the 13th and 14th centuries was done by English artists, and is in no way more distinct in character than their work was in different dioceses or counties. The Gothic of Lincolnshire, of the eastern counties, of Kent and, Sussex, of Somersetshire and South Wales, of Devon and Cornwall, and of Yorkshire, were distinct varieties of style full of local peculiarities. In the case of Scotland, the Scotland, best buildings which remain did not grow up in the same way by the efforts of local architects, but appear to have been the work of architects brought for the purpose from England, north of the II umber. There is a broad distinc tion between English art north and south of the Humber; and though it is easy to point to evidences of similarity between Scotch buildings and those north of the Humber, it is not possible to show the" same connection with any buildings to the south of it. The evidences of general similarity are to be seen everywhere; it will suffice to mention one or two examples of particular similarity. The beautiful 1 3th century transept of Hexham Abbey church has some of its most marked features repeated in the also very beautiful transept of Pluscardine Abbey near Elgin. The architect of Lanercost in Cumberland was certainly responsible also for Dry burgh Abbey, either as actual archi tect, or as having inspired the architect. The buildings generally have, on both sides of the border, the same details, the same general disposition of plan, the same traceries : and there is nothing to indicate that those to the north of the border are not English. In truth, until the end of the 14th century the two styles are identical. Then Scotch

art became more national, because it separated itself from