Page:Charles Moore--Development and Character of Gothic Architecture.djvu/86

Rh choir side are so spread out that the square abacus which carries this compound load fits it sufficiently well. But in the nave (Fig. 27), where the pier arches are of two orders on both sides, and where the vaulting shafts and the ribs of the aisle vault are smaller and more compactly grouped, the square abacus is not so well fitted to its load. Large portions of its surface, a, b, c, and d, are left unoccupied, notwithstanding that its corners are cut away in order to diminish this useless surface. But with this measure the builders appear not to have been satisfied; and in order to give the lower pier a more functional correspondence with

FIG. 27.

the superstructure, they before long did away with the device of terminating the pier by a capital at this level, and starting afresh to erect upon it the high vault supports. As a final result the true Gothic pier was produced in which all the vaulting members receive continuous support from the pavement, substantially as in the main piers of Senlis and Noyon, but superior to these by exhibiting the utmost compactness consistent with the complete discharge of their function.

The first modification in the nave of Paris occurs in the sixth pier counting from the transept. Here a smaller column, to augment the support of the vaulting shafts, is incorporated with the great round column, and corresponding additions are made to the great base and to the capital.