height, only to produce small intervening spaces, may be avoided. A less quantity of materials, too, may be spread over, and render habitable, a much greater space.

The addition of the arch gave the Romans power not only to increase the extent, but to add to the grace and variety of their architecture. That people, excelling in almost every other accomplishment, appear to have been deficient in creative genius, and discriminating taste. With them the art of producing beauty was called into requisition by ostentation and luxury. Guided in their architectural imitation more by fashion than by a deeper and more intelligent motive, they only desired the semblance of Grecian forms, not the substance of Grecian principle. Skill in mechanics is a faculty wholly distinct from taste in the fine arts. Where the latter exists not, or lies dormant, or retrogrades, the other may even advance, and make great and rapid strides. The greater exigences of the Romans, in respect to architecture, the vaster buildings they had to raise and to cover, soon made them seek all the superior means of construction, and develope all the powers of the arch; while both the stimulus and the genius were wanting to aim at the nobler architectural achievements.

This universal adaptation of a more varied developement, gave to Roman architecture, from the first, an internal principle of construction, and an external corresponding feature, which had not been previously contemplated, and caused a departure from the elementary model of the Greek, in its essence really more important and more fundamental, than that which the style, since called Gothic, exhibited, in its departure from the style of the Romans.

Of the purposes to which the magnificent and expensive architecture of Rome was directed, the most peculiar was that of the erection of private places of residence. In the mighty and tyrannical monarchies of Egypt and of the East, power, riches, and ambition centred either in one autocrat or in a corporation of priests; and, therefore, in these extensive regions we find the remains only of temples, of royal palaces, of public edifices for plea

IV.

27

X.

sure, or for business, or of receptacles for the dead. In the republics of Greece, even this number was restricted; but wealthy and magnificent Rome possessed them all, in their utmost splendor, and added to the list an immense variety of private residences, which, for extent of building and extensive ornaments and luxuries, outvied all that Eastern power had executed, or Eastern fancy had conceived, for the abode of monarchs. If the Romans imitated the style of Grecian architecture, they prided themselves in departing from the simplicity of Grecian manners, and they looked with contempt on the humble habitations which displayed the influence of that democratic form of government, by which that ancient people were distinguished.

ELEVENTH WEEK-TUESDAY.

ARCHITECTURE.-ITS ANCIENT HISTORY AND PRACTICE-THE GOTHIC STYLE.

THE peculiar state of Europe, after the fall of the Roman empire, gave little encouragement to the arts, and architecture suffered in the general decline; but as the civil and military power of the Romans gave way, another power arose on its ruins, peculiar in its features, but not less efficient for all the purposes of dominion,-I mean the power of the Church. Here the authority was exerted over the mind rather than the body. It was not military but mental coercion, which gave to the head of the Roman hierarchy such tremendous strength, and made Papal Rome the arbitress of the European world, as Imperial Rome had been before. Among the clergy resided all the learning and much of the civil policy of the ages we are now contemplating; but what rendered their sway far more formidable, was, the spiritual weapon which they wielded. They possessed, in public estimation, the keys of heaven and of hell, and they had sufficient art to render this assumed property amply available for the consolidation of their power.

This state of society naturally gave a remarkable prominence to ecclesiastical architecture. The pompous ritual of the Latin Church required, or at least favored, peculiar forms in their cathedrals and abbeys, while the genius of that degenerate species of Christian worship, as well as the policy of its priests, demanded grand and imposing edifices, to impress the minds of men with ideas of greatness and of dignity, as connected with whatever belonged to their sacred profession. Thus, after thousands of years had passed away, the same spirit which gave rise to the imperishable temples of Egypt still remained in the world, and having been transmitted from age to age in all changes of society, and all alterations of creed, at last strangely infusing itself into the religion of Him who was "meek and lowly of heart," directed its priesthood to pursue similar measures for the aggrandizement of their order.*

The progress of architecture in religious structures, under the influence of Christianity, has been traced, with much ingenuity and research, from the basilica or courts of justice of ancient Rome, (converted in the days of Constantine into churches,) through its various changes during the Lombard ascendancy, till it merged, by some unknown steps, in what has acquired the name of the Gothic or pointed style. This consummation took place about the end of the eleventh, or beginning of the twelfth century. Hitherto the arch had been almost uniformly semicircular, as being the form of greatest durability;

* [In so partial and exclusive a view of this subject, we cannot possibly join. We cannot believe that the noble order of ecclesiastical architecture called, or miscalled, the Gothic, took its rise wholly in ecclesiastical ambition. We cannot believe that those noble cathedrals, and quiet parish-churches, were erected, from foundation to pinnacle, by spiritual pride and love of domination. We believe that a better spirit was at work in laying those stones, and pointing those arches-a spirit as little alloyed with evil, perhaps, as was the spirit which afterwards defaced them. We cannot see how a person of any feeling can enter one of those structures, without being convinced that a desire was present at the planning of them, of glorifying God by rearing glorious temples to his worship; and without joining in the exclamation of the poet Wordsworth,

"They dreamt not of a perishable home
Who thus could build !”—AM. ED.]

but at this period a new principle was introduced, which, with a view to loftiness, combined with extensive space and lightness, elongated the arch by means of two segments of a large circle meeting in a central point. What was thus lost in equality of pressure was compensated for by various resources of the art, and, among others, by what are denominated flying buttresses, which afforded countervailing inward pressure, while they were consistent with the general design of bestowing a character of majesty on the whole fabric, by reducing it to somewhat of a pyramidal form.

The power of the arch was now called forth in its utmost perfection, and the various combinations which its new form required, constituted the triumph of architectural skill. What served to modify these combinations was, that the cross, the instrument of man's redemption, which had been early adopted as the chief emblem of the Christian faith, and the very form of which, in an ignorant and superstitious age, was supposed to be a charm against evil, and a token for good, was employed in the sacred architecture of the age, not merely to ornament the exterior of their buildings, and give sacredness to the altar, but even to regulate the principle on which their ecclesiastical structures were erected. This distinctive form inferred a space where the transverse limbs of the cross should unite in a large quadrangle, and this quadrangle gave rise to lofty arches springing from massy pillars, which were abutted in the various directions of the lateral pressure, by the solid walls that enclosed the area of the cruciform building. On this arched transept stood the high tower, which gave characteristic dignity to the whole.

The history of this remarkable form of structure, its sudden rise, its universal adoption, and, after a few centuries, its equally rapid decline, forms a striking feature in the progress of the arts. It may be accounted for, chiefly, from the intercommunity which existed, over the whole bounds of the Latin Church, among ecclesiastics, and the facility with which they imparted to each other the ideas which prevailed in influential quarters. The

Gothic style, first adopted, as it would appear, in the vast empire of Germany, where the arts were at that period most successfully cultivated, was recommended by various considerations, which could not fail to weigh on the minds of the great corporation which then swayed public opinion. It was admirably adapted to the prevailing form of worship, its vast assemblies, its solemn processions, its splendid and imposing ceremonies. It awed by the magnificence of its conception, and the power and science required in its execution. It formed an enduring memorial both of the skill and the resources of those under whose auspices it flourished. Besides all this, it was consistent with the principle which the Church of Rome affected, that all the nations under its dominion should display a uniformity, not merely in their ritual, but in the very character and taste of their edifices. This passion for uniformity was increased by the intercourse established by means of the Crusades; and doubtless some of the grand conceptions which the view of conquered Constantinople, and the once mighty cities of Palestine, inspired, were embodied in this new and favorite architecture.

From Germany, the taste for Gothic architecture quickly spread into France and Italy; and, by means of the powerful fraternity of free-masons, who, if not the originators of this style, enthusiastically adopted it, was soon diffused over the whole boundaries of the Latin Church. This remarkable corporation, which was invested by the Popes with very important exclusive privileges, spread themselves throughout Europe, carrying with them at once the science and the authority that enabled them, in those dark ages, to form works of so much magnificence; and being aided, wherever they went, both by the countenance of the clergy, and by the wealth which a mistaken piety placed at their disposal, they supplied the demand which the zeal of the times had excited.

It is remarkable, that of the original designs for these mighty monuments of art, very few traces have been left, probably because the jealousy of the free-masons concealed them from the public eye. Some, however,