APPENDIX III.
GENERAL PLAN OF ' OUR FATHERS HAVE TOLD US.[1]
The first part of 'Our Fathers have told us,' now submitted to the public, is enough to show the proposed character and tendencies of the work, to which, contrary to my usual custom, I now invite subscription, because the degree in which I can increase its usefulness by engraved illustration must greatly depend on the known number of its supporters.
I do not recognize, in the present state of my health, any reason to fear more loss of general power, whether in conception or industry, than is the proper and appointed check of an old man's enthusiasm: of which, however, enough remains in me to warrant my readers against the abandonment of a purpose entertained already for twenty years.
The work, if I live to complete it, will consist of ten parts, each taking up some local division of Christian history, and gathering, towards their close, into united illustration of the power of the Church in the Thirteenth Century.
The present volume completes the first part, descriptive of the early Frank power, and of its final skill, in the Cathedral of Amiens.
The second part, "Ponte della Pietra," will, I hope, do more for Theodoric and Verona than I have been able to do for Clovis and the first capital of France.
The third, "Ara Celi," will trace the foundations of the Papal power.
The fourth, "Ponte-a-Mare," and fifth, "Ponte Vecchio," will only with much difficulty gather into brief form what I have by me of scattered materials respecting Pisa and Florence.
The sixth, "Valle Crucis," will be occupied with the monastic architecture of England and Wales.
The seventh, "The Springs of Eure," will be wholly given to the cathedral of Chartres.
The eighth, "Domremy," to that of Rouen and the schools of architecture which it represents.
The ninth, "The Bay of Uri," to the Pastoral forms of Catholicism, reaching to our own times.
And the tenth, "The Bells of Cluse," to the pastoral Protestantism of Savoy, Geneva, and the Scottish border.
Each part will consist of four sections only; and one of them, the fourth, will usually be descriptive of some monumental city or cathedral, the resultant and remnant of the religious power examined in the preparatory chapters.
One illustration at least will be given with each chapter, and drawings made for others, which will be placed at once in the Sheffield museum for public reference, and engraved as I find support, or opportunity for binding with the completed work.
As in the instance of Chapter IV. of this first part, a smaller edition of the descriptive chapters will commonly be printed in reduced form for travellers and non-subscribers; but otherwise, I intend this work to be furnished to subscribers only.
- ↑ Reprinted from the " Advice," issued with Chap. III. (March, 1882).