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 Notices of glrcbaeologual PiblitaU'ons. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. (Part of a Series of Lectures delivered to the Oxford Architectural Society.) Oxford and London: John Henry Parker, 1849. 12mo. THE ECCLESIASTICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL TOPOGRAPHY OF ENGLAND. Published under the sanction of the Central Committee of the Archaeological Institute. First Volume, containing the Diocese of Oxford. John Henry Parker, 1850. 8vo. Gothic arcliitecture seems to have required, as a condition of its existence and vitality, the principle of perpetual change. It is this which invests the study of the subject with an increasing interest ; and it is this, we may add, which renders the revival of the art so difficult, if not impossible. The change is not merely from infancy to maturity, perfection, decline and decay, but from one style or standai'd of perfection to another ; each has its pecuHar beauties and characteristics. The admirers of mediaeval art may, without incurring any disparagement of his taste or judgment, give the preference to any one of these four styles enumerated by Kickman ; the architect of the present day chooses among them indiscriminately models for imitation. Which is the culminating point, and whence we are to date the commencement of the decline, is still an open question ; if we attempt to decide, it can only be by setting up some arbitrary standard. The division into four styles, which has obtained ever since the publica- tion of Rickman's work, is probably the best. Each of these has its own distinctive character, its gradual development, and its transition. Mr. Parker's statement of the periods during which they prevailed, is peculiarly liappy, as it furnishes a rule easily remembered by the student, and teaches him to affix a date, with a considerable degree of accuracy, to a large class of buildings. " The change from one style to another was not immediate, it generally took about a quarter of a century to effect the transition, and the last quarter of each of the five centuries, from the Xlth to the XVth, was such a period of change or transition. The buildings remaining in England of the period prior to the Xlth century are few and unimportant. "1. To tlie eleventh century belong the greater part of the buildings supposed to be Saxon. In the last quarter of the century, the Norman style was introduced. " 2. In the twelfth century, the buildings belong chiefly to the Norman style. In the last quarter, the transition from the Romanesque or Norman to the Early English or first Gothic style took place. "3. In the thirteenth century, the buildings belong to the style which is usually called Early English ; the last quarter is the period of transition to the Decorated style. " 4. In the fourteenth century, the general character is Decorated ; the lust quarter is the period of transition from the Decorated to the Perpen- dicular style. " 5. In the fifteenth century, the Perpendicular style prevailed, and this