Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/353

 THE ABBEY CHURCH OF DOllCHESTEIJ. 277 The last instalineut of tlic Decorated enlargement consisted of that eastern addition to the choir, which constitutes the Presbytery of the church, and forms one of its most magnificent ])ortions. I have already commented on the sesthetical grounds, both of internal and external cflect, to Avhich this great change Yas probably due. No such extension of the church in this direction could have been contemplated during the earlier Decorated changes, as a piscina of that date (/) marks the original site of the high altar just against the old east wall. A presbytery perha])s existed screened off within the choir, as appears from marks against the base of the first pillar. A screen in a similar position still remains in »St. David's Cathedral. There is probably no existing building which shows a greater number of singularities crowded together in a small compass than this eastern bay. The large windows by which it is lighted are all of a very singular character ; each has its own peculiarities, but two remarkable characteristics extend through all three : one is a tendency to carry the tracery through the whole window, instead of confining it as usual to the head ; the other to mix up with the actual tracery sculptured figures and other details which cannot bo considered as forming any real part of its design. Neither of these tendencies is unparalleled elsewhere,^ but I am not aware of any other development of them nearly so extensive. With regard to the tendency to extend the tracery lower in the window than usual, I need only remind you that, whenever the window-arch is of the simple-pointed form, the tracery should spring from a point level with the impost of the arch. Windows with square and other flat heads form a legitimate class of exceptions, but with the usual form any difference sufficient to catch the eye always produces awkwardness. As an instance, I may refer to the elaborate window in the small chapel attached to the south transept of Oxford Cathedral. This is a sort of half-measure, and is consequently unsuccessful ; at Dorchester the same notion is more fully carried out with much better effect. For here each side of the east window is one expanse of tracery ; the design for the head indeed commences at the usual point, but below that the mulhons are crossed by two ranges of ^ For examples of the latter, I may men- and Merlon Chapel.— Essay on Tratvry, tion the east windows of Barnack Church pp. 46, 4/. VOL. IX. O O