Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/561

 Bk. II. Cii. VIII. CENTRAL FRANCE. 529 trusted to thcin, though they never seem to liave attempted to exercise their calling except under the guidance of some su2:»erior personage, either a bishoji or abbot, or an accomplished layman. In the time of which we are speaking, which was the great age of Gothic art, there is no instance of a mason of any grade being called upon to furnish the design as well as to execute the Avork. It may appear strange to us in the 19th century, among whom the great majority really do not know what true art means, that six cen- turies ago eminent men, not sj)ecially educated to the profession of arcliitecture, and qualified only by talent and good taste, should have l)een capable of such vast and excellent designs ; l>ut a little reflection will show how easy it is to design when art is in the right path. If, for instance, we take a cathedral, any one of a series — let us say of Paris; when completed, or nearly so, it was easy to see that though an improvement on those which preceded it, there were many things in its construction or design which might have been better. The side aisles were too low, the gallery too large, the clerestory not sufticiently spacious for the display of the painted glass, and so on. Let us next supj)ose the Bishop of Amiens at that j^eriod determined on the erec- tion of his cathedral. It was easy for him or his master-mason to make these criticisms, and also to perceive how these mistakes might l)e avoided ; they could easily see where width might be spared, especially in the nave, and where a little additional height and a little additional length would improve the effect of the whole. During the progress of the Parisian Avorks also some capitals had been designed, or some new form of piers adopted, which were improvements on preceding examples, and more confidence and skill would also have been derived from the experience gained in the construction of arches and vaults. All these, of course, would be adopted in the new cathedral; and, without making drawings, guided only by general directions as to the plan and dimen- sions, the masons might proceed with the work, and, introducing all the new improvements as it progressed, they would inevitably produce a better result than any that preceded it, without any especial skill on the part either of the master-mason or his employer. If a third cathedral were to be built after this, it would, of course, contain all the improvements made during the progress of the second, and all the corrections which its results suggested ; and thus, while the art was really progressive, it required neither great individual skill nor i)articular aptitude to build such edifices as we find. In fine arts we have no illustration of this in modern times; but all our useful arts advance on the same principles, and lead consequently to the same results. In ship-building, for instance, as mentioned in the Introduction (page 45), if we take a series of ships, from those in which Edward III. and his bold warriors crossed the channel to the great line-of-battle ships now lying at anchor in our harbors, we find VOL. I. — 34