Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/504

 472 FRENCH ARCHITECTURE. Part H nally kept as flat as possible, so as to allow the windows to be seen in every direction, and all the mechanical expedients were placed on the outside. Admirably as the Northern architects managed all this, I cannot help thinking, if we leave the painted glass out of the question, that the Southern architects had hit on the more artistic arrangement of the two ; and where, as at Alby, the lower parts of the recesses between the inter- nal buttresses were occupied by deep windowless chapels, and the upper lights were almost wholly concealed, the result was an extraordinary appear- ance of repose and mysterious gloom. This char- acter, added to its simplicity and the vastness of its vault, render Alby one of the most impressive churches in France, and a most instructive study to the philosophical inquirer into the principles of effect as being a Gothic church built on principles not only dissimilar from, but almost diametrically opjDOsed to those which we have been usually accustomed to, consider as indispensable and as inherent requisites of the style. The church of the Cordeliers at Toulouse is another remarkable example of this class, and exhib- iting its peculiarities in even a clearer light than that at Alby. Exter- nally its dimensions in plan are 273 ft. by 87. Those of King's College '~^^^^=!i^^^^ 335. Plan of Church of Cordeliers, at Toulouse. Scale 100 ft. to 1 ill. 336. Section of Church ut Cordeliers at Toulouse. 50 ft. to 1 in. (From King's " Study Book.") 337. View of Angle of Church of Cor- deliers at Toulouse. (From Kiug.) Chapel, Cambridge, Avhich is the building we possess most resembling it in 2)lan, are 310 ft. by 84. But the nave of the chapel is only