Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/174

158 158 ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. Tart II. with a circle, it is more frequently a harking back to previous forms than stepping forwards toward a new invention. When, however, painted glass became an indispensable part of church decoration, it was impossible to resist the influence of the French invention. Like many other Continental forms, it seems first to have been systematically employed at Westminster, when the choir was rebuilt by Henry III., a. d. 1245-69, but even then it was used timidly and> unscientifically as compared with the Sainte Chapelle at 591. East End of Lincoln Cathedral. (From Wild's " Lincoln.') Paris, which was commenced 1244, and completed long before the English choir. Once, however, it was fairly introduced, the English architects employed it with great success. One of the earliest exam- ples is the beautiful circular window of the north transept at Lincoln. It, however, is still of the imperfect tracery of the early French examples. The lines do not in all instances follow one another, and flat ]>lain spaces are left, as in what is generally called plate tracery. True geometric tracery is, however, seen in perfection in the Angel