Gothic Architecture.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE .

IN order to assist our reading and student brethren hi the laudable study of church architecture , a A'ery healthy ancl interesting pursuit in itself , ancl one Avhich links us as speculative Masons to our operative brethren , AA'e haA'e thought it Avell to reprint a translation of Dr . George Moller ' s celebrated little essay , Avhich , not much known in England , has great merit , and is Avell worth careful perusal .

CHAPTI 3 I . OS THE AGE 01 ? THE BTJIEDISrGS , OE THE MIDDLE AGE , T 1 IEIB DIEEEKEST STYLES 0 E ABCHITECOTKE , AXD THEIR MEBITS . To fix the age of ancient buildings is the first indispensable requisite in the history of architecturesince it is the only Avay of obtaining a correct vieAV of its progress . But

, the great number of contradictory hypotheses Avhich have been hitherto advanced on the origin and impiwement of ancient architecture in general , and on the churches of the Middle' Age in particular , are evident proofs that to ascertain the age of an ancient edifice is usually attended with considerable difficulties . On a perusal of the accounts of the erection of ancient buildings , AA'e frequently diseoA'er that the assigned period of their foundation does not agree with the style of

their architecture , Avhich is either of an earlier or more recent period . In all the descriptions of the Strasburgh minster , for instance , it is stated that the naA'e of this church was built by Bishop Werner , in the year 1015 , ancl finished hi thirteen years . * On this eiddence , the identity of the nave supposed to haA'e been built by Bishop Werner AA'ith . the existing nave of the cathedral of Strasburgh has been assumed as unquestionablethough the style of its architecture clearlbelongs to the thirteenth century . Ancl

, y this fully corresponds with a statement of Schetde , AA'hich has , I suspect , been hitherto overlooked . He says : " The church , AA'hich is UOAV called the minster , AA'as finished only in the year 1275 " ( page 13 ); and Avhen he speaks ( page 15 ) of the great fire of the minster in the year 1208 , he says : " The fire consumed all the wood-work of the minster , particularly the covering ( the roof ) , AA'hich at that time AA'as not vaulted . The heat Avas so great that much of the stone-work AA'as cracked . It therefore became

necessary to build aneAV , and to repair at a great expense the parts which AA'ere damaged by the conflagration , and the AA'hole AA'as made much more beautiful than it had formerly been . It was at this time that the upper AvincloAvs AA'ith their ornaments Avere executed . " Similar errors are so frequent , ancl repeatedly , made , that a frnv obserA'ations on the princi ples to be adopted in such inquiries Avill not be deemed unimportant .

There are tAvo species of proof of the historical truth of statements concerning the history of any art ; one direct , from documents—the other indirect , from arguments . Whenever the authors of the former AA'ere contemporary , Avhen they AA'ere notoriously in a situation to knoAV the truth , —and it cannot be presumed that they made their statements on li ght grounds , or that in a giA'en case they could have a particular bias to deviate from truth—the eAudence of such contemporaryAvell-informcdaud impartial

, , , historians has A'ery great weight . Among the documents of this kind , inscriptions hold the first rank , although they are frequently of much later date than the events Avhich they record : many tombs on Avhich inscriptions or epitaphs are found haA'e been erected & long time , and frequently some centuries after the death of the individuals whose