1050

rilACTICE OF
ARCHITECTURE. 111.
St.
George's Chapel, Windsor.
If we sup-
pose a line on the plan to pass through the
centre of the buttresses and piers, and one
severy of the nave to be defined, we shall
have a width of 12 feet, and a length of
84 feet, the area of which is 1008 feet
:
after
this we shall find the area of the walls and
piers comprised
within this severy to be
168 feet, or
one-sixth of the whole
;
such are
the
proportions of mass and void found in
tliis chapel. The clear width of the side
aisles between the columns is 11 feet 9
inches;
that of the nave 34 feet 10 inches, and be-
tween the outer walls 69 feet 2 inches :
the
height of the top of the vaulting of the nave
is 54 feet 2 inches. The height up to the
springing line of the great vault over the
nave being equal to half the entire width,
it is evident that two squares must comprise
within them the entire building beneath this
line; upon setting them out we find the nave
and its pillars occupy one, whilst the other
is given to the side aisles, external walls, and
buttresses.
The Rev. John IMilner, in his admirable
treatise on the Ecclesiastical Architecture
of England, which has been the text-book
for all modern
writers, states that
"
its rise,
progress, and decline, occupy little more
than four centuries in the chronology of the
world : as its characteristic perfection con-
sisted in the due elevation of the arch, so its
decline commenced by an undue depression
of it. This took place in the latter part of
the 15th century, and is to be seen, amongst
other instances, in parts of St. George's Chapel,
Windsor, commenced by Edward I V. in 1 482
;
in King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and in
the Chapel of Henry VII. at Westminster.
It is undoubtedly true that the architects of
these splendid and justly admired erections,
Bishop Cloose, Sir Reginald de Bray, &c.
displayed more ait and more professional
science than their predecessors had done; but
they did this at the expense of the character-
istic excellence of the style itself which they
built in."
"
In St. George's Chapel we have the
work covered with tracery and carvings of
the most exquisite design and execution, but
which fatigue the eye, and cloy the mind by
their redundancy
:
" but we have also a
building constructed with one-half the ina-
terials that would have been employed had
the style practised in the chapter-house of
Wells been adopted. The admirers of the
Pointed style have not sought for the true
principles which mark its several changes
;
they have not examined into its constructive
arrangements; had they done so, they would
have perceived that, as the skill of the free-
masons advanced, and their workmanship im-
proved, they economised material, con-
structed more solidly, and produced a richer
and more harmonious effect, without sacri-
ficing any of the principles which governed
their practice
;
the improvements they made
Mrere as great as those noticed when the
ST. ceokoe's chapel, WlMlSOa.