Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/324

 226 REMARKS ON THE COMPLETE GOTHIC examples of Gothic buildings, those masses nowhere disap- pear, nor is it consistent with the idea of a hiiJdincj that they should do so. Even in very ornamented buildings, these masses of wall continue to be of considerable extent ; as, for instance, in the lower part of the tower of Freiburg ; and in less ornate work they form a large part of the whole, the ornaments being confined to special portions. These blank and inorganic portions of the mass into which the principle of frame-work does not penetrate, may l)e con- sidered as maintaining a sort of struggle with the ostensible structural organization to which the most complete examples of Gothic architecture tend. And in the decline of the style the principle of frame-work becomes feebler and less per- vading in its influence, while the ambitious desire of loftiness in edifices continues in full force. In consequence of such influences, the upper parts of the building are organically detached from the lower, being connected w4th them only by wall-work ; and thus the principle of wall-work overmasters and suppresses the principle of frame-work. And thus, as the ancient structural arrangement of a building, derived from Greek architecture, was, in the transi- tion from the Romanesque, broken up, and the elements thrown into a new arrangement, by the introduction of ver- tical compartments and continuous upward lines of ostensible vertical support ; so, again, in the decline of Gothic archi- tecture, the notion of continuous lines of support was allowed to slip away. The ornamentation, though derived from the Gothic style, was, in its application, distributed into detached parts, and not connected by the principles of the style ; and thus, the life of the style was fled, while the form was still retained. But other principles also operated in thus destroying the organization and connection of Gothic structure ; or rather they operated first in forming and developing the style, and then, when they lost their vitality, they gave the direction to its decline. IV. Principle of Spire Growth. — In the Gothic style, the tendency upwards is manifested not only in the lines of support, Init also in the forms assumed by elements which tend upwards, free, supporting nothing, and being themselves the terminal portions of vertical masses ; such are pinnacles, canopies, spires, and the like. And there is a kind of