Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/760

 618 The Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal. [April, tracery, though not complicated, is yet elegant. It is divided into twenty-four large and fourteen small compartments, by two principal and four inferior mul- lions, and four transoms. All these di- visions are filled with painted glass, of brilliant coloring. On each side are three compartments of paneled tracery, and over the window is a very heavy cornice. The frieze is thus inscribed, in reference to its front : " A. R. Georgii II. VIII. MDCCXXXV." In the gable of the roof is a small triangular window, with tracery. The piers, adjoining the entrance porch, which partly sustain the towers, are supported by massive buttresses, the several stages are orna- mented with canopied niches. The flanking towers may be described as being each divided into two nearly equal parts by a Tuscan cornice. In the lower division are painted windows, with blank arches over them, including quatre-foils and circles ; and above the latter is a second range of pointed win- dows, latticed, which ascend to the cor- nice. Immediately over the cornice, on each side, is a Roman pediment, with enrichments, below which, in the north tower, are the_ black dials. Latticed windows, of a mixed character, rise above the pediments, and, with their surmounting scroll-work and paneling, extend to the cornices beneath the para- pets, which are pierced and embattled. The pinnacles, which crown the whole at the angles, are octagonal, and ter- minate in tinials wrought like fir-apples ; at their bases are ornamental trusses inverted. The side divisions of each face, in both towers, project beyond the central parts, and are sculptured into successive ranges of paneling. It must be obvious to every one, that there is a discord here, the presence of which is attributable to Sir Christopher Wren, who completed the towers; and, ever anxious to bring in his favorite ideas of classicism, perpetrated this glaring blunder. On entering the venerable edifice from the west, the interior produces a most striking and impressive effect ; the view from that point being more extended and unbroken ; and the architectural character of the design more apparent, than from any other. The lights, too, are so happily introduced, and the ar- rangements and proportions of the col- umns so nicely adjusted to the forms and magnitude of the arches, and to the aerial loftiness of the vaulting, that the whole combines into one harmonious perfection ; and, for a time, the specta- tor feels a stronger inclination to con- template the picture, than to examine the building. Decidedly the most superb feature of this holy edifice is the main vaulting, which has been truty characterized as a prodigy of art ; profound geometrical knowledge being here combined with the utmost practical science, and the power of gravity effectually counter- acted by professional skill. It consists of two principal divisions, viz. : that of the nave, and that of the east end. The tracery, pendent decorations, and other ornaments are without a single parallel in architecture. It is entirely of stone, and of great solidity, though appearing to hang in air with graceful lightness, being overspread with sculpture, like a web of exuberantly and elegantly wrought network. The histoiy of this exquisite temple of Christian worship, and vast mauso- leum of the mighty dead, is one well worthy of its surprising beautjr and grandeur. As the kingly oak springs from the humble acorn, so this princely pile grew up to its greatness from the diminutive monastery on Thorney Island, as Westminster was then called, it hav- ing been ■' overgrown with thorns, and environed with water." Until the time of Edward the Confessor, it was very inconsiderable; but that monarch, taking a fancy to have himself buried there, bestowed all his ro3'al patronage upon it. The cause, it is said, of King Ed- ward thus patronizing this little monas-