fined to the simple origin of the pointed arch, (which after all is the true principle and soul of the style,) it may with little fear of error be attributed to the East--not exclusively to the Moors. The ornamentation however seems to have been derived by gradual degradation of Roman forms into a conventional pattern system, which has varied ad infinitum both in European and in Eastern countries, each following separate lines of taste, which in some few instances have by circumstances been brought together again, as in Spain, Sicily, Venice.

The merit of the Early English style is that it is so little dependent on ornament. General design, proportion, and depth of moulding, are its essentials.

These qualities, combined with the notion of its being our own most national style, will always make it a favourite in this country.

It does not the less admit the exhibition of the highest genius in works of a certain size and grandeur, while in smaller ones its

easiness of execution renders it manageable by the less aspiring class of country artificers. For these reasons it is likely to be established in the present revival of medieval architecture as a permanent English style.

EXETER CATHEDRAL.

(Visited October 1854.)

IT

T is one of the most remarkable characteristics of Gothic architecture, and also one of its chief merits, that it is, of all the styles of building, that which is the most capable of variety and adaptation.

Not only the various countries of Europe, but even the different provinces of our own country, afford abundant proofs of the correctness of this assertion. It is almost proverbial that no two Gothic buildings are found alike, and that no one of them can be quoted as an undeniable model of completeness and perfection. I have, indeed, previously adduced this observation in my former remarks on Salisbury Cathedral. Almost all of the greater

cathedrals and abbeys have been marked by some originality, some peculiarity at least, of style or ornament, which has served as a pattern for the minor churches of the diocese or district and these, in some cases, have extended themselves over larger regions, the result of which has been the formation of local and national schools of art and construction.

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Without pursuing this subject further, it is sufficient to point out the Cathedral of Exeter, as possessing many original beauties, which entitle it to a high position among the mediæval temples of England.

This church is remarkable for the peculiarity of having its transept, as it were, embodied in the two towers which constitute its boldest and most singular external feature. Such an arrangement may exist elsewhere, but it is assuredly one of very rare occurrence; and, in the present instance, it happens that these transept towers are themselves the most ancient, and perhaps the finest portion of the

entire fabric. They are, indeed, noble specimens of the Norman Romanesque of the very early part of the twelfth century; massive, lofty, and characteristically ornamented. In these towers may be observed that tendency to a castellated structure which is often pointed out by foreign critics, as belonging to so many of our churches, and contrasted by them with the lighter and more minaret-like turrets of the same period on the Continent. Without being such an enthusiast for the Norman style as to wish that we had here an entire cathedral of the same architecture, it may be safely imagined that the Nave and Choir to which these towers originally belonged, must have been no common specimens of their class.

But there are beauties of a later age, which shine pre-eminently in buildings of this Cathedral, such as it has come down to us. It is, among our English churches, one of the best models for work of the decorated period, especially in its window-tracery, and in its rich and numerous sepulchral monuments.