Page:The first report, etc., of the Lichfield Society.djvu/19

Rh considerable sums on the ornamental parts of the new edifices—but still the attempt proved a failure: and men came to acknowledge that even with the funds and the will to do what was right—they had not the necessary taste or feeling; and experience taught them that their only hope was to go back to the ancient models.

Well, now one would hope that having got so far as to acknowledge this most important principle, there would be no further obstacle to the erection of proper churches. But even yet failures were continual. One person, perhaps, would resolve to build a church in the Norman style; but when it was completed still it was nothing like the structures of our forefathers; and the disappointed church-builder would find that to put round-headed windows into a nine-inch brick wall, and a row of zig-zag ornaments round a modern door-way was not sufficient to constitute a Norman church. The characteristic of this style is massiveness and solidity of material, and unless this be given, the building must be quite unlike that, for which it is intended. It may be as well also to mention that even if the characteristics of the Norman style are preserved, it is ill-suited to a modern church, at least, for a large building: because the massive columns which divide the aisles from the nave, so much obstruct the voice and sight, that the worshippers in the aisles might almost be in another building. The old Abbey church at Malvern, or the new chapel at Leamington, are instances of this inconvenience. Our own church of St. Mary's, though not exactly a specimen of Norman Architecture, will shew the undesirableness of too massive columns. It seems now generally admitted that the Norman style is on many accounts unsuitable to modern churches; and that it is better to have recourse to the Gothic, both for the sake of beauty and convenience.

However, modern church-builders have too frequently proved equally unsuccessful in their imitation of the Gothic. A great many modern churches have been built in what was supposed the early English style: the principal feature of which is the narrow lancet window. But new edifices built on this plan have commonly a very meagre and un-churchlike appearance; the fact being that though the lancet window does not require mullions or tracery, yet that it is incomplete without a rich and deep moulding on the splays or sides. If any one wishes to know what an Early English window ought to be, let him look at the richly ornamented specimens which he will see on the left hand on entering the south door of Lichfield cathedral. In truth the Early English style if properly carried out is not at all cheaper than the