Gothic Architecture.*

accurately examined and considered . The great impression which these churchesj particularly their interior , make upon the mind of every unprejudiced person , on that of the intelligent ancl well-informed , as well as that of the uncultivated ancl ignorant , is truly wonderful ; they combine the simplicity and majesty of the groves of the forest with the richness ancl beauty of its flowers ancl leaves—all is variety , greatness , ancl sublimity . The golden age of this style continues from'the middle of the thirteenth to

the latter end of the fourteenth century . The desire to produce something new and still more beautifid , as it had caused the decline of the ancient Roman , and afterwards , in the seventeenth century , that of the Italian style of architecture , occasioned likewise the decay of the German style of church building . To a severe regularity of forms succeeded arbitrary petty decorations ; and whereas the best examples of the thirteenth century are ornamented with fruits and flowers , the edifices of the fifteenth were themselves frequently in the form of plants , * a freak which seems to overstep the bounds of architecture . This style of building , Living outlived its prosperity , was the more easily superseded in the sixteenth century by a more modern Italian style .

As the question has ol late been frequently started— " Whether the style of architecture of the thirteenth century , and its forms , might not be applied and used in our times , " it may not be improper to discuss it in tins place . The art which produced the Strasbiirgh minster , the cathedral of Cologne , and other masterpieces , is splendid and sublime—but it was the result of its time . The condition of public and private life at that period , the relation of the respective states and individual cities to each other , the situation of commerceanclabove allthe religious zeal which everywhere animated

, , , every order of persons , exerted a powerful influence on the origin and improvement of this style of building . The great architects of the Strasbiirgh minster , of the cathedral of Cologne , and of all the most distinguished buildings with which we are acquainted , were adapted to their own age ; they ancl their works are only the result of the time in which they lived . We may admire and imitate these works , but we cannot produce the likebecause the circumstances under which that style of building arose are now no

, longer the sanie . t If we attempt to apply their detail , their windows , gates , and ornaments , etc ., to the edifices of the present clay , we shall produce an incongruous and absurd composition , because the parts are not homogeneous with the whole ; and the disproportions aud incongruity woidd be so much the more striking as the originals from which they are borrowed are grand ancl splendid .

But though it seems unadvisable again to introduce the style of building of the thirteenth century , yet a more intimate acquaintance with it is both instructive and useful . It has already been observed , bow much architectural works are calculated to inform us respecting the earlier civil and ecclesiastical situation of nations , and how these documents of stone afford , to those who can read them , the most lively picture of centuries that are lapsed ; but , even independent of this high interest in the eyes of the philosophical historian , they oiler an abundant . harvest to artists ancl friends and patrons

° f the arts . Very few Greeks and Romans have carried technical ability ancl a strictly correct calculation of the proportions between strength ancl burthen so far as the architects of the churches of the thirteenth century . The boldness and li ghtness of their structures will long continue unrivalled . Not only were the buildings of these great masters erected with the smallest possible expenditure of building materials , ! ancl are S W 1 in excellent condition , but the arrangement of the whole , ancl the proportions of wie parts also , are so well calculated , that their edifices appear much larger than they » re in reality , whilst it is exactly the reverse with most of the works built in the anti que