Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/315

 C!)e 9[ri:f)aeoIo(j:iraI Bountal* SEPTEMBER, 1850. REMARKS ON THE COMPLETE GOTHIC AND AFTER-GOTHIC STYLES IN GERMANY. BY V. WHEWELL, D.D. To determine the succession of the architectural styles which have prevailed in any country, is a problem which can be solved only by an extensive and careful examination of the historical and documentary proofs of the dates of build- ings, as well as by a survey of the edifices themselves. The Ccvternal evidence, as we may call it, of architectural chrono- logy must be compared with the internal evidence of style. Such a task cannot be performed in the course of a rapid tour, nor superseded by any views, however ingenious and persuasive, of the effects which, as we conceive, must have been produced by necessities of construction, or princijDles of harmony, or tendencies and ideas which have governed and moulded the fabrics of different ages. Such theoretical and imaginative views always require to be substantiated and con- firmed by actual history. But though such general speculations are not of themselves sufficient, they may still be not ^^^thout their value. The architecture with pointed arches, commonly called Gothic, which succeeded the architecture of round arches, called Romanesque, may be supposed to have grown out of its predecessor by certain needs of construction, and to have been unfolded to its complete form by the tendencies and connexions thus brought into view. Such a theory of Gothic architecture, as it may be called, I formerly put forward as illustrated by the churches of Germany, especially those of the neighbourhood of the Rhine ; and the doctrine thus proposed has been regarded with favour by eminent architectural authorities. M. Boisseree has spoken of this VOL. VII. G