DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7595#0103
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
91
the foregoing Essay; and in a superficial view, they chap. iv.
have been sometimes confounded together, but I trust
that the attentive reader will see, that there is a wide
difference between them.*
Mr. Bentham, in his History of Ely Cathedral, has in-
troduced an opinion concerning the origin of the Gothic
arch, which had been suggested to him (as he informed
me,) by Mr. Gray the poet, and which has been opinion of
y J . . Mr. Gray.
adopted by many late writers on this subject, in par-
ticular by Dr. Milner, in his late publication on the
Ecclesiastical Architecture of England during the
middle ages. Chap. V. p. 77«
According to this theory, the Gothic arch has been
suggested by the construction of interlacing semi- interlacing
arches.
circular arches crossing each other, and resting upon
a set of columns, standing in a row at equal intervals;
and placed against a bare wall by way of ornament,
and in order to decorate a flat vacant space. " Then
* Should any one, notwithstanding what has been said, be still at a loss to distinguish
the two, I must request of him to submit the question to the following test: Let him fix
his attention upon one of the groins in the roof of a church, and let him follow it with
his eye downwards and upwards. In following it downwards, he will be led by a rib of
unbroken continuity to one of the rods which constitute the stone-work of the clustered
column, similar to that in the wicker fabric, but of which no trace occurs in the avenue.
Following the same rib upwards, he will soon arrive at one of the horizontal ridge bars,
which bears no resemblance to any part of an alley of trees; but which, in every Gothic
roof, and in the wicker fabric, constitute an essential part of the structure.
91
the foregoing Essay; and in a superficial view, they chap. iv.
have been sometimes confounded together, but I trust
that the attentive reader will see, that there is a wide
difference between them.*
Mr. Bentham, in his History of Ely Cathedral, has in-
troduced an opinion concerning the origin of the Gothic
arch, which had been suggested to him (as he informed
me,) by Mr. Gray the poet, and which has been opinion of
y J . . Mr. Gray.
adopted by many late writers on this subject, in par-
ticular by Dr. Milner, in his late publication on the
Ecclesiastical Architecture of England during the
middle ages. Chap. V. p. 77«
According to this theory, the Gothic arch has been
suggested by the construction of interlacing semi- interlacing
arches.
circular arches crossing each other, and resting upon
a set of columns, standing in a row at equal intervals;
and placed against a bare wall by way of ornament,
and in order to decorate a flat vacant space. " Then
* Should any one, notwithstanding what has been said, be still at a loss to distinguish
the two, I must request of him to submit the question to the following test: Let him fix
his attention upon one of the groins in the roof of a church, and let him follow it with
his eye downwards and upwards. In following it downwards, he will be led by a rib of
unbroken continuity to one of the rods which constitute the stone-work of the clustered
column, similar to that in the wicker fabric, but of which no trace occurs in the avenue.
Following the same rib upwards, he will soon arrive at one of the horizontal ridge bars,
which bears no resemblance to any part of an alley of trees; but which, in every Gothic
roof, and in the wicker fabric, constitute an essential part of the structure.