DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6914#0034
2
INTRODUCTION.
pursued with a single and undeviating determination to ascertain truth : but when
employed in the cause of theory, superstition, or any sectarian dogma, it is repug-
nant to reason, and hostile to good sense. The . stately colonnade and decorated
frieze of a Grecian temple, or the rude and ponderous circles of Druidical customs,
can only be properly appreciated and understood by those who have diligently
and scrupulously analyzed the history of the refined people who elevated the
former to excite our admiration, or of the mysterious beings who reared the
enormous masses of the latter to awaken astonishment.
The ecclesiastical edifices of Great Britain, and of Europe, are alike interesting
to the antiquary and to the artist; for they afford permanent evidences of the pro-
gressive changes and improvements in an important branch of art; and also shew
the power and influence of religion on mankind. They tend likewise to indicate
the march of civilization, and to exemplify many of the customs, manners, and
pursuits of the people. Without occupying our pages with theories and con-
troversies, many of which display more of the ingenuity than the good sense
of the writers ; without diverging into the regions of romance, or placing much
credit in the fictions of monkish chroniclers, with their irrational interventions of
miraculous agency, we shall have ample materials for an extensive essay on
the subject now under notice. The greatest difficulty indeed will be to concentrate
the scattered rays of fact and probability into a clear focus, and to separate the
reasonable and genuine from the improbable and the false.
The ensuing narrative will be founded on the best and most approved
authorities ; and in no instance will implicit credit be given to any single writer,
when others of equal credibility can be found, either to confirm or strengthen the
most rational evidence. It will also be regulated by a very scrupulous attention to
names, dates, and passages referred to; and with a ceaseless endeavour to give
both the spirit and the letter of all the citations adduced.
The number and variety of religious edifices that were raised in England
between the fifth and fifteenth centuries, serve in a material degree to mark the
character and arts of the people. The history of religion and of science in our
country we shall therefore find to be intimately blended. It presents in its long
and eventful course an amazing variety of doctrines, creeds, opinions, establish-
ments, usurpations, and revolutions, which, pitiable or ridiculous as many of them
may appear, when separately considered, yet harmonize in retrospection, into
a general display of the gradual, but slow improvement of the human mind.
INTRODUCTION.
pursued with a single and undeviating determination to ascertain truth : but when
employed in the cause of theory, superstition, or any sectarian dogma, it is repug-
nant to reason, and hostile to good sense. The . stately colonnade and decorated
frieze of a Grecian temple, or the rude and ponderous circles of Druidical customs,
can only be properly appreciated and understood by those who have diligently
and scrupulously analyzed the history of the refined people who elevated the
former to excite our admiration, or of the mysterious beings who reared the
enormous masses of the latter to awaken astonishment.
The ecclesiastical edifices of Great Britain, and of Europe, are alike interesting
to the antiquary and to the artist; for they afford permanent evidences of the pro-
gressive changes and improvements in an important branch of art; and also shew
the power and influence of religion on mankind. They tend likewise to indicate
the march of civilization, and to exemplify many of the customs, manners, and
pursuits of the people. Without occupying our pages with theories and con-
troversies, many of which display more of the ingenuity than the good sense
of the writers ; without diverging into the regions of romance, or placing much
credit in the fictions of monkish chroniclers, with their irrational interventions of
miraculous agency, we shall have ample materials for an extensive essay on
the subject now under notice. The greatest difficulty indeed will be to concentrate
the scattered rays of fact and probability into a clear focus, and to separate the
reasonable and genuine from the improbable and the false.
The ensuing narrative will be founded on the best and most approved
authorities ; and in no instance will implicit credit be given to any single writer,
when others of equal credibility can be found, either to confirm or strengthen the
most rational evidence. It will also be regulated by a very scrupulous attention to
names, dates, and passages referred to; and with a ceaseless endeavour to give
both the spirit and the letter of all the citations adduced.
The number and variety of religious edifices that were raised in England
between the fifth and fifteenth centuries, serve in a material degree to mark the
character and arts of the people. The history of religion and of science in our
country we shall therefore find to be intimately blended. It presents in its long
and eventful course an amazing variety of doctrines, creeds, opinions, establish-
ments, usurpations, and revolutions, which, pitiable or ridiculous as many of them
may appear, when separately considered, yet harmonize in retrospection, into
a general display of the gradual, but slow improvement of the human mind.