Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/170

154 154 ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. Part II. in the world which can vie with this part of the choir of Ely for poetry of design or beauty of detail. The perfection of ])roportion, as of many other things, was reached in Westminster Abbey (1245-1269). Here the whole height is divided into two equal parts, and the iipl)er subdivided into three, of which one is allotted to the tri- foriuni, and two to the clerestory. It is true this involves the neces- sity of springing the vault from a point half-way down the clere- story windows, and thus the lines of the severeys do not quite accord with those of the lights ; but at best it is a choice of diffi- culties, and the happy medium 586. Two Bays of the Nave of Westminster Abbey. Scale 25 ft. to 1 in. 587. OiR' l!;iv ot Catbe<lral at Exeter .Scale 25 ft. to 1 in. seems to have been reached here more successfully than elsewhere. The proportion of the width of a bay to its height is here also most pleasing ; it is as 1 to 5^.^ Sometimes, as at Exeter, it sinks as low as 1 in 3, but the whole effect of the building is very much destroyed bv the chanoe. ' In Woodcut No. 586 the right-hand bay is that of the nave generally, the left-hand bay is adapted to the greater width of the aisle of the transept, and is less pleasingly proportioned in con- sequence. Woodcuts Nos. 586 and 587 are drawn to the scale of 25 feet to 1 inch, or double that usually employed for elevations in this work.