Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/875

 1869.] Architectural Influences. 707 If, therefore, these assertions are acknowledged facts, no argument to prove them is required, and the subject need only be introduced because, from its paramount importance, it cannot well be omitted. Government, likewise, so manifestly affects all the manners, habits and tastes of the governed, as scarcely to leave an}- ground for argument with regard to its influence upon Architectural Style, yet we think few persons realize the extent to which this influence is carried, and the direct bearing it has upon the external evidences of a nation's taste, as exhibited in its buildings. What is called creative genius, may here be said to cease to be creative, the result of it being but a direct reflection of the primary cause or causes. Doubtless — in cases where in- born religious sentiment comes in con- tact with the influence of the " powers that be," — the precedency must be given to the first-named cause ; but it will usually be found that these influences are co-ordinate, the tendency of both being towards the same general style, and the workings of the two being in harmonious accord. In the feudal days of England the government, or rather governments, (for the feudal system was but a series of vassalages, subject, by the laws of rank, to a centralization of power in case of national peril,) afforded so little protection to the masses of the people that they were obliged to look for pro- tection entirely to their immediate lord, whose castle became their fortress, and whose walls shielded them in return for their services in defending the same from the assaults of the common enemy. The Barons were therefore obligerl to erect castles which should answer the requirements of residences in times of peace, and of fortresses in times of feud, (we cannot call these petty quarrels war,) and in doing so created a style which, although deriving its origin from necessity, and having utility for its primary object, is by no means devoid of a certain grand beauty. Had it been possible for William of Normandy to have established a consti- tutional government, or even an absolute monarch}- founded on principles of equal protection, the relation of lord and vassal would never have existed, and as a conse- quence, the Norman castle have had no place in the history of England. Greater results, however, than the ex- istence of these castles have flowed from less important causes than the conquest of England, and such a reflection is only valuable as proving the matter under discussion. The Anglo-Norman style differs ma- terially from the original order first used in Normandy, the differences being modifications produced by an admixture with Saxon tastes, customs and ideas. In both Anglo-Norman and French- Norman, the masonry and general work- manship is rough, corresponding exactly with the prevailing manners and gov- ernment of the thnes. The aim of the architect seems here to have been the production of an edifice which should win admiration by a coup d'ceil, and carry the beholder by assault. The first impression of grand massiveness, which a Norman pile gives, is sufficient to overbalance such unfavorable impres- sions as are produced by the imperfec- tions made manifest upon a close exam- ination. Like the greatest paintings of many of the old masters, the details, taken singly, are poor, and, in many cases, lack uniformity of size and design, yet in the whole we have a noble speci- men of magnificent general effect. The chapel in the White Tower of the Tower of London is the best speci- men of the pure Norman style in England, as well as the earliest example of its use. The edifices of Canterbury, Dunferm- line and Durham, while they possess many fine points, are not nearly so pure in their style, and give evidence