Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/182

166 166 ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. Part U, 404 ft. Yet the Salisbury spire is among the most imi^osing objects of which Gothic architecture can boast, the other an insignificant pin- nacle that hardly suffices to relieve the monotony of the roof on which it is placed. Lichfield (Woodcut No. 599), though one of the smallest of English cathedrals, is one of the most pleasing from having all its three spires complete, and in the proportion originally designed for the building* and for each other. The height of the nave internally is only 58 ft., and of the roof externally only 80 ft. ; yet with these diminutive dimensions great dignity is obtained and great beauty of composition^ certainly at less than one-fourth the expenditure in materials and money it would have cost to produce a like effect among the tall, heavy-roofed cathedrals of the Continent. Had the octagon at Ely been completed externally,^ even in wood, it would probably have been superior to the spire at Salisbury both in height and design. As before mentioned, it was left with only a temporary lantern externally, and, as Avas always the case in England, no drawing — no written specifications of the designer have been left. The masons on the Continent were careful to preserve the drawings of unfinished parts of their designs. The gentlemen architects of England seem to have trusted to inspiration to enable them to mould their forms into beauty as they proceeded. With true Gothic feeling they believed in progress, and it never occurred to them but that their successors would sui-])ass tliem in their art, in the manner they felt they were excelling those who preceded them. The three-towered cathedrals are not less beautiful and charac- teristic of England than those with three spires. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the outline of Lincoln as it stands on its cliff looking over the Fens (Woodcut No. GOO) ; though the erection of a screen in front of the western towers cuts them off from the ground, and so far mars their effect when seen close at hand. York perhaps possesses the best facade of the class in England, both as regards proportion and detail. The height of the towers to the top of the pinnacles is under two hundred feet (196), but this is quite sufficient for the nave they terminate, or the central tower with which they group. At Amiens the western towers are respectively 224 and 205 ft. in height, but they are utterly lost under the roof of the cathedral, and fail to give any dignity to the design. For poetry of design and beauty of proportion, both in itself and in the building of which it forms a part, perhaps the Angel Tower at • A splendid chance of trying the ef- fect of this occurred a few years ago. when it was determined to restoi'e the lantern, as a memorial to Dr. Peacock. la a fit of purism, only the ugly tem- porary arrangement was made new. It looked venerable before the recent re- pairs; now that it is quite new again, it is most unpleasing.