Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/601

 Bk. II. Ch. IX. BAYS. 569 where the parts are distinctly subordinated to one another, and have consequently that strength and character which it is so difficult to impart. It also exemj^lifies what was before alluded to, viz., the mode in which the lower external angles of the circle were filled up, and also in a far more jjleasing manner than usual, the mode in which the pierced triforiuui is made to form part of the decoration. Owing to the strono- transom bar here employed, there is strength enough to support the superstruc- _ ture; but as too often is ||, ' ^'^MtMS Xt^'-^^^^ ^jM^ ^^^^^^ the case, when this is subdued and kei:)t under, _=, til ere is a confusion be- tween the circular and upright parts, which is not pleasing. It is then neither a circular nor an u]>right window, but an indeterminate com- pound of two pleasing members, in which both suffer materially by jux- i. taposition. I believe it is safe to assert that out of at least a hundred first- class examples of these ' circular Avindows, which still exist in France, no two are alike. On the contrary, they present 425. West Window, St. Guen. (From Piigin.) the most striking dissimilaritv of design. There is no featui'e on Avhich the Frenc!. architects bestowed more pains, or in Avhich they were more successful. They are, indeed, the chefs-d^oeuvre of their decorative abilities, and the most pleasing individual features of their greater churches. At the same time, they completely refute the idea that the pointed form is at all necessary for the production of beauty in decorative apertures. Bays. It may be useful here to recapitulate what has been said of the sub- division of churches into bays, or, as the Fi-ench call them, travees. The two typical arrangements of these are shown in Woodcuts Nos. 382 and 383, as existing before the introduction of the pointed forms. In the first a great gallery runs over the whole of the side-aisle, introduced partly as a constructive expedient to serve the purpose for