DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1457#0020
XVI K r. V i J. MILKER S
rt«fi Survey of the Antiquities of Winchester,
places this fact in anew and still clearer light,
while it shews how the successive members
and ornaments of this style of architecture
grew out of others which preceded them, and
that the adoption of the pointed arch was, as
it were, the parent germ which produced the
whole system.
The most curious and interesting fact,
however, in my opinion, for the investigation
of architectural antiquaries, is, to ascertain
the true principles of the Sublime and Beau-
tiful, as applied to those sacred fabrics which
are the undoubted masterpieces and glory of
the pointed order. It is in vain that Sir
Christopher Wren and Mr. Evelyn, who are
cited in the notes, page 106, stigmatize these
structures, as being " congestions of heavy,
dark, melancholy, monkish piles, without any
just proportion, use, or beauty/' for it is
confessedly true, that every man who has an
eye to see, and a soul to feel, on entering into
York minster and Chapter-house, or into
King's college or Windsor chapel, or into the
cathedrals of Lincoln or Winchester, is irre-
sistibly struck with mingled impressions oi
awe and pleasure, which no other buildings
are capable of producing; and however he
may approve of the Grecian architecture for
the purposes of civil and social life, yet l*e
rt«fi Survey of the Antiquities of Winchester,
places this fact in anew and still clearer light,
while it shews how the successive members
and ornaments of this style of architecture
grew out of others which preceded them, and
that the adoption of the pointed arch was, as
it were, the parent germ which produced the
whole system.
The most curious and interesting fact,
however, in my opinion, for the investigation
of architectural antiquaries, is, to ascertain
the true principles of the Sublime and Beau-
tiful, as applied to those sacred fabrics which
are the undoubted masterpieces and glory of
the pointed order. It is in vain that Sir
Christopher Wren and Mr. Evelyn, who are
cited in the notes, page 106, stigmatize these
structures, as being " congestions of heavy,
dark, melancholy, monkish piles, without any
just proportion, use, or beauty/' for it is
confessedly true, that every man who has an
eye to see, and a soul to feel, on entering into
York minster and Chapter-house, or into
King's college or Windsor chapel, or into the
cathedrals of Lincoln or Winchester, is irre-
sistibly struck with mingled impressions oi
awe and pleasure, which no other buildings
are capable of producing; and however he
may approve of the Grecian architecture for
the purposes of civil and social life, yet l*e