Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/139

Rh Bk. VI. Ch. I. HISTORY. 123 The French wars and the wars of the Roses seem to liave altered the original state of affairs to a very considerable extent. The Norman nobility were decimated — almost, indeed, destroyed — and another stratum of society came gradually to the surface, but this time cer- tainly not Celtic. On the walls of the churches of the Lancastrian period Ave read — faintly, it must be confessed — the great Saxon motto, " The greatest possible amount of accommodation at the least possible expenditure of money and thought." During this period, too, the cathedral and conventual hierarchies were yielding before the development of the parochial system. It may be wrong to assei't that the Reformation began as early as 1400, but it is true that the seeds were then sown which afterwards ripened into the explosion of the Commonwealth. Some very grand churches were no doubt erected during the Lancastrian period, and some beautiful additions made to existing edifices ; but they were hard and mechanical as compared with that which preceded them. They were the work of accomplished masons, not wrought out with the feelings of educated gentlemen ; and, though we may admire, we cannot quite adore even the best and noblest productions of their age. LTnder the Tudors the style went out in a blaze of glory. Nothing can be more gorgeous and fascinating than the three Royal Chapels, and other contemporary fan-roofed buildings ; but they are like the fabled dying hues of the dolphin — bright and brilliant, but unnatural and fleeting. It was the last spasmodic eff')i-t of an expiring style, and soon passed away. After the Reformation was comj'lete there was no longer any want of new churches, and the great incentive of making a house worthy of the service of God was taken away ; so that during Elizabeth's reign architecture was almost wholly occupied in prov g new and more extensive mansions for the nobility and landed genny. Spacious rooms, well-lighted galleries, comfortable chambers, and good accom- modation for servants were the demands of the time, with sufticient stateliness, but at the least possible outlay. Comfort and economy are the inherent antitheses of architectural effect ; and then, as now, brought the art down from its exalted pedestal almost to the level of a more useful art. But the Bodleian Library and other buildings in our Universities show that the art lingered even in the 17th centurv, and that men still looked upon mullions and pinnacles as objects on which a little money might be advantageously spent. But it was no longer the old art : that Avas struck down on the battlefield of Towton in 1461, only to be partially galvanized into life at Bosworth, twenty- four vears afterwards. Although Gothic architecture continued to be employed in the LTniversities and in remote corners of the land long- after it had ceased to be practised abroad, it must not therefore be assumed that the