Similar tables of the duration of styles in foreign countries have been given in the section POINTED ARCHITECTURE, in Book I.

Rickman, in describing the style to which he gives the name "decorated," especially classes under that style the tracery in which "the figures such as circles, trefoils, quatrefoils, &c., are all worked with the same moulding, and do not always regularly join each other, but touch only at points; this," he says, "may be called geometrical tracery." The Rev. G. A. Poole, Ecclesiastical Architecture, 1848, remarks that a very large proportion of the buildings in which this kind of tracery is used, belongs to the previous period, called early English. The examples which might have been supposed to clear up the difficulty only make it greater. Thus, in speaking of the chapterhouse at York, which has splendid geometric tracery, he says, "The chapter-house is of decorated character;" yet the chapter-house is clearly of a character which prevailed during a considerable part of that period which Rickman assigns to the early English style. The general tendency has likewise been, of late, to range with the early English by far the greater proportion of those examples which answer to Rickman's definition of geometrical decorated; a few of the later examples only being treated as transition from early English to decorated. The mouldings, it is true, are generally of perfectly early English character, and so are the clusters of foliage, the bosses, and other ornamental appendages. Instances occur in which the simple early English lancet was used during the period of the geometrical tracery. How, then, are the two styles, if they be two, to be separated, in a system which is in part chronological? How are they to be united, in a system which is also in part founded on similarity of parts?

"It is, however, perhaps the most perfect of all the styles; for its tracery has the completeness and precision of the perpendicular, without its license and exuberance; while its minor details partake of the boldness and sharpness of the early English, which need not fear to be compared with the ornamental accessories of any subsequent style. Besides the intrinsic beauty of this style, it is important as affording the first full development of tracery and of cusping, with all their power of enriching large windows, and of bringing together several lights as one whole."

"In pursuing the study of medieval architecture, it may be held as an axiom," writes Brandon, Analysis of Gothic Architecture," that personal inspection of the old churches of England is the only means by which it can be possible now, either to appreciate the genius of our mediæval architects, or to sympathise with the spirit which animated them. But it is probable that even experienced observers may sometimes be misled by a practice of occasionally assimilating work in a later style to some already existing portion of an incomplete general design. Indeed it forms a strongly marked exception to the usual practice; for it was a general rule with the builders of the middle ages never to fall back upon a past era of their art, even when engaged in completing structures of a bygone age." He then describes the proceedings in this respect at St. Alban's Abbey Church, at Westminster Abbey, and at Fotheringay Church, Northamptonshire.

The early English character of Westminster Abbey Church has been so well preserved throughout, that in many cases it requires a close inspection before it is possible to detect the presence of decorated or of perpendicular work. Thus the windows in the aisles erected by Henry V. are very decidedly of early decorated character; the customary octagonal and moulded cap of the perpendicular period occupy the place of the corre sponding circular and foliated members, which, had the windows really been erected some hundred years earlier, would assuredly have surmounted the boltels placed in their jambs,

Fig. 1058.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY; PILLARS OF NAVE (L, EASTERN BAYS, DECORATED-M, WESTERN BAYS, PERPENDICULAR.)

In the earlier plans of the nave piers four shafts stand clearly detached from the main body of the pier, fig. 1058.; but subsequently the pier was worked with eight shafts, fig. 1059. (L); and, later still, with eight shafts, fig. 1059. (M) all attached to the central

mass, indicative of the altered fashion of the day, in which detached shafts, once such a favourite feature, were entirely discarded. In the piers they worked the bands of the 13th

century (N) with the mouldings peculiar to the 15th (O). Figures 1060, both drawn to the same scale, show how they departed both from the outline and size of the original. In the triforia, the early English design is equally apparent in the earlier and later portions of the work; but the mouldings in each are true to their styles. Although the groining is tolerably in keeping throughout, yet in the aisles and in the later portion of the vaulting, the original spring and height of the ridge rib has been preserved, while to the elegant acutely pointed lancet of the earlier groining an obtusely pointed arch has been preferred, which, consequently, it has been necessary to stilt. Brandon gives illustrations of the early English and perpendicular arcades under the windows, a feature which, though long disused and supplanted by a system of panelling, is yet followed out. "I am not aware," writes the Rev. J. L. Petit, "whether sufficient attention has been given to the attempts occasionally made by the mediaval architects to assimilate their work to the portions erected in an earlier style. In some instances, as in the choirs at Ely and Lincoln, this is done without sacrificing any of the distinctive features of the style then in use; but in Beverley Minster, and in Whitby Abbey, the case is different. In the latter, the whole of the early English arrangement of the choir, as regards its lancet windows, is continued in the transept, though the ornaments with which it is enriched show that this part clearly belongs to the decorated period. The triforium in the former is uniform throughout the whole church, for the same is continued in the decorated work, except the disuse of marble in the shafts."

The same system of using previous ideas, but working them out with later details, is exemplified in the Sketch Book of Wilars de Honecort, an architect of the middle of the 13th century. In comparing his sketches with drawings from the original works, their extreme inaccuracy and contempt of detail is evident. He sketched them because he saw there was something in the general arrangement which, with alterations, might become useful. He therefore drew each with his own improvements to it. As to the details, Wilars did not want them, for he was perfectly convinced that those of his own time were better than anything previously executed. The reader will find reviews of this work in the Builder for 1858, with some woodcuts of the illustrations.

Besides this question of assimilation of style, there arises that of similarity of work in different buildings, resulting from the superintendence or design of one master mind; but this is so extensive a subject that in our limited space we dare not do more than name it for the attention of the student or reader. Another interesting important point is that of the transition from one period into another, such as the decorated into the perpendicular. A curious example of this exists in the church at Edington, in Wiltshire, an account of which, with woodcuts, is given by Parker, in the 6th edition of Rickman's Attempt, 1862.

SECT. III.

MOULDINGS,

It will probably surprise many of our readers that even so late as 1845, the statement was made that "but little acquaintance with mouldings is evinced in the works of most modern architects." Such was the opinion expressed by F. A. Paley, when he published his very useful Manual of Gothic Mouldings. "Viewed as an inductive science," he writes, "the study of Gothic mouldings is as curious and interesting in itself as it is important in its results. Any one who engages actively in it will be amply repaid, if only by the enlarged views he will acquire of the ancient principles of effect, arrangement, and composition. But the curves, the shadows, and the blending forms, are really in themselves extremely beautiful, and will soon become the favourites of a familiar eye; though viewed without understanding they may seem only an unmeaning cluster of holes, nooks, and shapeless excrescences. Perhaps few are aware that any group can be analysed with perfect ease and certainty; that every member is cut by rule, and arranged by certain laws of combination. The best work on Gothic mouldings which could possibly be written will do no more than set him in the right way to obtain a knowledge of the subject by his own research. The look of a moulding is so very different in section, projected in a reduced size

on paper, from its appearance in perspective reality, that the same form seen in the one may scarcely be recognised in the other.

"Gothic architecture revelled in the use of mouldings;-and yet, mouldings are merely the ornamental adjuncts, not the essentials, of architecture. Some buildings of the best periods were quite devoid of them, whence it is evident that they are not necessary even to a perfect design. Boldness and simplicity produce effects, different indeed in their kind, yet not less solemn and striking than richness of detail. If the uniformity in their use had not been very strict and close, it had been a hopeless task ever to master the subject; indeed, if there had not been a system of moulding, there would have been nothing to investigate. But so little did the medieval masons depart from the fixed conventional forms, that we often find a capital, a base, or an arch mould of perfectly the same profile in an abbey or a cathedral which we had copied in our note-book from a village church at the other end of the kingdom, so that we might almost suspect that the very saine working drawing had been used for both."-Thus far we have quoted from Paley, to whose work we shall again have recourse in the further development of this section; but in so condensed a form, that it should not prevent the student from himself possessing so invaluable a work, of which a third edition was issued in 1865, with an accession of illustrations.

We must now attempt to give some idea of the nomenclature of medieval mouldings. "The most complete specimen," writes Professor Willis, in his Architectural Nomenclature of the Middle Ages, 1844, "is that preserved to us by William of Worcester, or Botoner," who was born in Bristol, in 1415, and is now best known by a manuscript note book remaining in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; it was printed in 1778 by Nasmith. Two of its pages contain lists of technical words attached to roughly drawn outlines of jamb mouldings, the one showing the north door of St. Stephen's Church, the other the west door of St. Mary's Redcliffe Church, both at Bristol. These doors are still in existence; on comparison, the former agrees perfectly with the mouldings of the south porch of the church in question, except that two little boltels have been scraped clean off. The west door of Redcliffe Church has undergone a much severer skinning. Fig. 1061. represents the outline of the former door; "the names given to the mouldings by Botoner are, A, a cors wythoute; B, a casement, C, a bowtelle; D, a felet; E, a double ressaunt;

F, a boutel; G, a felet; H, a ressant; I, a felet; K, a casement wyth Levys; L, a felet, a boutel, a felet; M, a ressant; N, a felet; O, a casment wyth trayler of Levys; P, a felet, a boutell, a filet; Q, a casement; R. a felet; S, a casement; T, a felet; U, yn the myddes of the dore a boutelle." Of these terms (which display his various modes of spelling) perhaps the only ones needing remark are K and O, which are identical, and have square leaves or flowers in them of the usual form, set at regular intervals, forming a long continuous train. "Benet le Ffremason" appears to have worked the original mouldings. The section of the mouldings of the west door of Redcliffe Church is shown in fig. 1062., to which the names were also attached, the additional terms obtained being " A, a chamfer; C, a double Ressant wyth a filet; O, a Ressant lorymer; M, a lowryng casement; and I, a grete bowtelle." "I cannot help pointing out," writes Professor Willis, "how imperfect

a nomenclature must be, which can make no stronger distinction between the combinations E and C, than by calling one a 'double ressant,' and the other a 'double ressant with a fillet.' The universal moulding O, in fig. 1062, is a 'ressant lorymer.'" Fig. 1063. is an outline of the jamb mouldings as they appear at present, engraved from a drawing made expressly for us by Mr. T. S. Pope, of Bristol, and exhibits the skinning they have undergone.

Mouldings of an arch or jamb are said to be grouped when they are placed in combination as they are generally found; but a group is a branch of mouldings or separate members, standing prominent or isolated, either on a shaft, or between two deep hollows An arch of two or more orders is one which is recessed by so many successive planes of retiring arches (see fig. 1065. &c.), each placed behind or beneath the next before it, reckoning from the outer wall line. The accompanying figures exhibit both groups and orders.

We have adopted the usual architectural system of exhibiting the mouldings in the manner of a mould or pattern, and it likewise carries out the principle of this work. It is also preferred to the popular way of engraving sections, that is, by an apparently perspective representation of a stone cut out of an arch. The several sets of figures are all drawn to scale. The examples selected are, Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, for the transition and for the early English period; Tintern Abbey, Gloucestershire, for the geometric period; Howden Church, Yorkshire, for the late decorated period; and Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster, for the perpendicular period. For those from the three first buildings, we have to express our grateful acknowledgment to E. Sharpe's Architectural Parallels, 2 vols. fol. 1845-48, a work combining technical precision, without which it would be useless to the architect, with artistic character, by which it will recommend itself to every one interested in such antiquities. The illustrations of Tintern are valuable examples of the geometric period. The work contains many geometrical plans, elevations, and sections of 14 buildings, with all the principal mouldings to a large scale (those herein are all reduced, and therefore less useful), with an additional valuable volume of the mouldings engraved full size. For the illustrations of the fourth period we are indebted to Cottingham's work on the Chapel, fol. 1822-29, perhaps the only perfect monograph of a large structure yet published in England.

One reason for selecting the illustrations in this manner has been that, with the very limited space at our disposal for so extensive a subject as the detail of Gothic architecture, we could not emulate either the very satisfactory work which now, with its useful illustrations, passes as Rickman's Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of Architecture in England, 8vo. 1865, 6th edit., or Brandon's Analysis of Gothic Architecture, which is full of examples of detail drawn to scale. Another reason was, to give the means of comparing the use of details in similar parts of edifices of nearly the same general dimensions; otherwise we could merely have given the prettiest selection that it had been possible to have made for the purpose.

"During the period in which the so-called Anglo-Saxon architecture prevailed, little decorative work was done. The very rude carvings are extremely shallow, being such as could be worked with the hammer or pick, and without the chisel. In some doors and larger arches there is a regular impost at the springing, having a rude resemblance to Roman mouldings; otherwise the jambs and arch stones are merely returned square. The tower of Sompting Church possesses early carved work, and boltels at the angles of the window openings, and also a very peculiar ornamented string course. The chancel arch at Wittering Church, Northamptonshire, is among the early attempts at moulding observed in this country, being rough and coarsely chiselled members, generally semi-cylindrical. A square-edged reveal soon became a boltel, by first chamfering, and then removing indefinitely the angles. Thus, a squareedged arch with its sub-arch or soffit rib, was either worked into rounds at each angle or into pointed rolls; or some edges were chamfered, others worked into rolls, and the sub-arch cut away into a broad semi-cylindrical rib.

"The Norman architects never got much beyond the plain semi-cylindrical roll (fig. 1064.

Fig. 1064.

FOUNTAINS ABBEY; NAVE

does not show even so much work). They paid more attention to surface sculpture

and shallow ornamental work in the archivolts and soffits. Some of the early mouldings and ornaments are illustrated in fig. 188, in Book I.

"The invention of the pointed boltel, contemporaneously with the pointed arch, opened the way to a great number of new forms, all more or less referable to this common origin, in varying the members of com

plex early English groupings. The first and by far the most important of these is the roll and fillet, as A in figs. 1065. and 1066. It is the keynote of almost all the subsequent formations. The characteristics of the mouldings of this style may be defined to be, deep undercut hollows between prominent members, which comprise a great variety of pointed and filleted boltels, clustered, isolated, and repeated at certain intervals, a great depth or extent of moulded surfaces, and the general arrangement in rectangular faces. The hollows, giving the effect of a series of detached arches or ribs, rising in succession, are seldom true circles (A, fig. 1067.); and, like the projecting parts, they assume a great number of capricious forms. They are not always arranged in exact planes; the student must be fully prepared to find great irregularity in this respect.

"Early English mouldings may be said to comprise the following members :-I. The plain boltel or edge roll; II. The pointed boltel; III. The roll and fillet; IV. The scroll moulding (rare); and V. Angular forms, consisting of chamfered ridges and intervening projections of irregular character. The other forms chiefly consist of capricious modifications of the roll and fillet. The roll and triple fillet (of which B, fig. 1067., is a modification), is much used in the more advanced buildings of the style, and was the favourite form during the reigns of Edwards I. and II. Sometimes only one side has a fillet attached, as at C, and others. Three pointed rolls, placed together somewhat in the shape of a fleur-de-lis, form

Fig. 1066.

INTERN ABBEY NAVE.

Fig. 1067.

TINTERN ABBEY; CHOIR

a combination of very frequent occurrence (as figs. 1097. and 1104.), with many minor varieties of shape. The fillet is almost always a narrow edge line. The irregular shape and the freely undulating curve of the roll and fillet moulding has been commonly preferred. Almost every conceivable modification of the plain roll, peaked, depressed, elliptical, grooved at the end, throated, isolated, and combined, might be found and catalogued by a careful observer. The scroll moulding, also called edge moulding or ressant lorymer, as O in fig. 1062. and D in the above figures was used in advanced carly English work; it is