Page:Charles Moore--Development and Character of Gothic Architecture.djvu/163

Rh rest upon these capitals and capitals at the springing of the vaults. But while at Canterbury (B in the same figure) the bases and capitals are of purely French type—the capitals having square abaci and Corinthianesque foliage, and the bases square plinths, those of Lincoln are of the newly introduced Anglo-Norman form—with round abaci, and what English writers call "stiff-leaved" foliage, and round plinths. The influence of Canterbury is shown also by the single vaulting shafts of the choir vaults; but in the use made of them the want of a fine sense of structural consistency on the part of the Anglo-Norman builders is obvious. At Canterbury, where the vaults are sexpartite, the single vaulting shaft is only employed at the intermediate pier, where it has but a single rib to sustain; while in the quadripartite vaults of the choir of Lincoln it is employed at every pier, and has to support three ribs.

The ground-story arches are obtusely pointed and of two orders. The triforium openings consist of coupled pointed arches, each arch embracing a sub-order of two lesser pointed arches carried on clustered shafts. These arches are not screened off by a thin wall of masonry from the triforium, as are the arches of Malmesbury, but they open into it, exposing to view the timbers of the aisle roofs. This exposure, as I have before remarked, is common in English churches. The clerestory is of the same type as that of Canterbury—a type which is peculiarly Norman and may be seen not only in Durham Cathedral, but even in the Abbaye-aux-Dames at Caen, where the two planes of masonry with triple openings in the inner plane occur, the only difference being that the Norman examples have but one opening in the outer plane, are more ponderous in construction, and have round arches and short thick shafts. Fig. 78. A and B, elevations of the clerestories of the Abbaye-aux-Dames and of the choir of Lincoln respectively, will illustrate this relationship.

The effect of this choir was doubtless greatly damaged by the destruction of the original chevet. The much over-praised angel choir is not an appropriate termination for the design, and affords no adequate compensation for the loss of the apse of Geoffrey de Noyers.

The choir of Lincoln is considered by English writers as