Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/147

Rh BK. VI. Ch. hi. plans of ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 131 the longer proportion would obtain. At Canterbury and Winchester, and o-enerally in the southeastern cathedrals, as built more imme- diately under French influence, the original proportion was somewhat shorter ; but so impressed were the English architects with the feeling that length was the true mode of giving effect, that eventually the two cathedrals last named surjiassed it. Canterbury (Woodcut No, 567) attained an internal length of 518 ft. while the width of the nave is only 72, or as 7 to 1. At Win- chester (Woodcut No. 570) these dimen- sions are 525 and 82, or something less than 7 to 1, owing to the greater width of the nave. It is extremely difficult to assign a satisfactory reason for this peculiarity ^^ of English plans. It arises so suddenly, however, in the English churches of the Norman age that it must have pre- existed in those of the Saxons ; though why they should have adopted it is by no means clear. If these churches had wooden roofs, which was almost certainly the case, their naves might easily have been wider, and it can hardly have arisen from any aesthetic motive. As we now judge them, these early naves were badly proportioned for hearing an address from the bisho}) or ])rior, and as ill-adapted for a multitude to see what was passing at the altar; but for pic- torial effect they surpass everything erected on the Continent, unless with s^reatlv increased dimensions of height or width. Whether, therefore, it were hit upon by accident or by design, its beauty was immediately appreciated, and formed the governing principle in the design of all the English cathedrals. It was a discovery which has added more to the sublimity of effect which characterizes most of our cathedrals than any other principle introduced during the Middle Ao;es. All the cathedrals above enumerated, indeed most of those which were designed by Norman prelates during the first half-century after 567 Plan of Canterbury Cathedral. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.