Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/98

82 82 POINTED STYLE IN GERMANY. Paut II. are ricli, they are seldom of good design. The two at Naumberg are perha]s as good as any of their class in Germany. Generally they Avere used as the lertorunn — virtually the pulpit — of the churches. In most instances, however, the detached pul])it in the nave was substi- tuted for these, and there are numerous ex- amples of richly-carved pulpits, but none of Ijeautiful design. In most instances they are overloaded with ornament, and many of them disfigured with quirks and quibbles, and all the vagaries of later German art. The fonts are seldom good or deserving of attention, and the original altars have almost all been removed, either from having fallen to decay, or to make way for some more favorite arrangement of modern times. The " Sacraments Hauslein " (the receptacle for the sacred elements of the communion) is a peculiar nrticle of furniture frequently found in German churches, and in some of those of Belgium, though very rare in France and un- known in England, but on which the German artists seem to have lavished more pains than on almost any other article of cliurch decora- tion. Those in St. Lawrence's churcli at Nuremberg and at Ulm are perhaps the most extraordinary pieces of elaborate architecture ever executed in stone, and have always been looked on by the Germans as chefs-d'oeuvre of art. Had they been able, they would have delighted in introducing the same extra:i- gances into external art : fortunately the ele- ments forced them to confine them to their interiors. Nothing, however, can show more clearly Avhat was the tendency of their art, and to what they aspired, than these singular erections, which, notwithstanding their ab- surdity, considering their materials, must excite our wonder, like the concentric balls of the Chinese. To some extent also they claim our admiration for the lightness and the elegance of their structure. Simplicity is not the characteristic of the German mind. A difficulty conquered is what it glories in, and patient toil is not a means only but an end, and its expression often excites in Germany more admira- tion than either loftier or purer art. ,1 It can scarcely be doubted but that much of the extravagance^ ^ La 527, Sacraments Hausleiu at Nuremberg. (From Ohapuy.)
 * in(l thoug-li some of the screens that seimrate the choirs of the churches