Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/238

 178 ON THE GEOMETRICAL PERIOD OF presbytery and cloisters of Lincoln Cathedral ; the south aisle of Gloucester Cathedral ; the Lady-chapel of Chichester Cathedral ; as well as detached parts in Chester, Carlisle, and some other Cathedrals ; the remains of Bridlington Priory, and those of Newstead, Thornton, and Guisborough Abbey Churches ; the whole of Tintern, and the greater part of Netley Abbey Churches ; the nave and transepts of llowden Collegiate Church ; the eastern portions of St. Alban's and Romsey Abbey Churches ; the central towers of Salisbury, Hereford, and Lincoln Cathedrals ; the gate- way of St. Augustin's, at Canterbury ; and Queen Eleanor's Crosses, together with numerous fine examples amongst numerous parish churches, constitute a splendid series of buildings, which may be said to surpass that of any other period of our national architecture ; and compared with which, the buildings of the so-called Decorated Period, reduced to those of true Curvilinear character, become almost insignifi- cant, Ely and Carlisle being the only cathedrals which exhibit even any considerable detached portions of work in this style, its principal representatives being the fine parish churches, of which so large a number, and such beautiful examples, exist in this county. If we turn for a moment from the buildings of our own country to those of the Con- tinent, we shall at once see that what has been said with reference to the necessity of acknowledging this Geometrical style in England, applies with much greater force to foreign buildino;s. Here we have two distinct and well-defined periods, preceding and following that in which circular tracery prevailed. Abroad, the transition from plain Romanesque to pure Gothic architecture was so rapid, that lancet windows hardly appear at all ; and no sooner was the circle abandoned in traceried windows than flamboyant outlines almost at once superseded all othei* descriptions of Curvilinear tracery. During the reign of the circle, however, what a noble series of buildings sprang up in the centre of Europe ! Amiens, Beauvais, Abbeville, Tours, Orleans, the aisles of Notre Dame and St. Denis ; Metz, Rheims, Strasburg, — and, to crown all, matchless Cologne, owe all their glories to this Geometrical Period. I do not propose, however, to travel so far from the county of Lincoln to illustrate the leading points of difference between these three periods of church architecture, possessing, as