Page:Suggestions on the Arrangement and Characteristics of Parish Churches.djvu/37

37 very same objections that coursing and squaring stones for the face of a wall are—needless formality and affected regularity, with useless expenditure. I have often seen a really good quoin stone, wrought at considerable expense, rejected because it wanted an inch or two of a fixed height. In quoining, the true principle is, to secure sufficient bond into the bond of the masonry. If a stone be fit for that, and has a good bed, it has all the requisites for a quoin stone.

The features of doors and windows depend, in their general outline, upon the style of architecture adopted, which, as I have already said, is regulated by several considerations. There are, however, a few proprieties connected with them to which, as they are frequently forgotten, I am desirous of calling your attention. It ought to be unnecessary to say that the use of a door is to get into and out of a building, and that it should, therefore, be in the most convenient place for that purpose. If that place chance to be on one side of a building, there is no reason for having a door on the other side, which will never be required, nor a mock door, to lead people astray. The reality of which I have spoken, as a characteristic of Christian art, forbids this unmeaning uniformity. Everything must be what it purpots to be, and nothing less. The most appropriate place for doors in Churches are the west ends of the nave and aisles, and in the lateral walls, north and south; when in this latter position they should have outside porches. As a door is for entrance and exit, it should be no larger than is necessary for its purpose; thus a lateral door may be no higher than four feet and a half to the spring of the arch, as it is to be used solely by the people going into and coming out of the Church; but the west door of the nave should be sufficiently large to allow solemn processions to pass