Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/611

 Bk. II. Ch. X. SPIRES. 579 of St. Pierre at Caen (Woodcut No. 431), uniting in itself all the properties of a good design without either poverty or extravagance. The little lantern of Ste. Marie de I'Epine (Woodcut No. 410), though small, is as graceful an object as can well be designed ; and the new spire at Chartres (Woodcut No. 393), as before remarked, is, except as regards the defects inherent in its age, one of the most beautiful in Europe. This feature is nevertheless, it must be confessed, rarer in France than might be expected. This is perhaps owing to many spires having been of wood, to their having been allowed to decay, and to their removal ; while, in other instances, it is certain that tlie design of erecting them has been abandoned in consequence of the tower, when finished, having been found insufficient to bear their weight. The ruined church of St. John at Soissons has two, which are still of great beauty. At Bayeux are two others, not very beautiful in themselves, but which group pleasingly with a central lantern of the Renaissance age. And at Coittances there are two others of the best age (Woodcut No. 400), which combined with a central octagonal lantern make one of the most beautiful groups of towers in France. Here the ]>itcli of the roof is very low, and altogether the external design of the building is much more in accordance with the canons of art prevalent on this side of the Channel than with those which found favor in France. Of the earlier French lanterns, this at Coutances is perhaps the best specimen to be found : of the latter class there is none finer than that of St. Ouen (Woodcut No. 432) ; and had the western towers been completed in the same character, in accordance with the original design, the towers of this church Avould probably be unrivalled. Even alone the lantern is a very noble architectural feature, and appropriate to its position, though some of the details mark the lateness of the age in which it was erected. Notwithstanding the beauty of these examples, it must be con- fessed that the French architects were not so happy in their designs of spires and lanterns as they were in many other features. It would be in vain to attempt to enumerate all the smaller decorative features that crowd every part of the Gothic churches of France, many of which, indeed, belong more to the department of the sculptor than to that of the architect, though the two are so intimately interwoven that it is impossible to draw the line between them. It is, however, to the extreme care bestowed on these details and their extraordinary elaboration that the Gothic churches of the best age owe at least half their effect. There are many churches in Italy of the Gothic and Renaissance ages, larger and grander in their proportions than some of the best French examples, but they fail to