Documenta Latomica Inedita.

this nature . 'Patternes in paper , ' ' portraictures , ' ' paiternes in timber , ' are referred to in the contract for the Beauchamp Chapel at Warwick , in 1439 ; but during the earlier centuries of our architecture we suspect that models in wood , or drawings upon wooden tablets , were in general adopted as specifications by the contracting parties , and referred to during the progress of the work . Admitting this to have been the case , length of time and the nature

of the material may account for the present non-existence o f records which would have been so interesting . A mutilated figure in stone , some years ago removed from a niche or housing on the Tower of Durham Cathedral , holds in its hands a Church carved in the same material , upon a small scale , and of the Norman period . This figure may either represent the Bishop who planned the work , or the mason who carried it into execution . We suspect the latter ; but

in either case we have here a proof that our ancestors practised the art of modelling upon a small scale , the point for which we are contending . Again what is still more important to our object , there is in Worcester Cathedral , according to Mr . Carter ( 'Ancient Architecture , ' ) i ., p . 54 ) , inthespandrilof an arch , a representation in stone , of an architect presenting the design of a building to a superior personage , who is examining it with attention . We fully

agree with Mr , Carter as to the general purport of this valuable memorial , but we differ from him in his explanation ; and we believe it , besides , to contain an important fact , which he has entirely overlooked . The drawing , on tablets , is in the hands of an ecclesiastic , but instead of having just received it for his approbation from the builder who is sitting near him , we believe him , after having designed ii himself—for we could easily prove that our early architects

were , in general , ecclesiastics—to be in the act of proposing it to the builder , as the pattern to be imitated in the contemplated work . At all events , the drawing is on tablets—another proof of our general theory , that wood , or some such material , was preferred to parchment . *

" To return to Catterick . ' It is generall y supposed , ' says Dr . Whitaker , ' that public works of this nature were executed by companies of Freemasons , who travelled from place to place for employment , furnished models , and executed them with a degree of skill far superior to that of country workmen ; but Cracall was a country mason [ from Crakehall , near Bedale , as his name implies ] , and his work bears no marks of inferiority to the workmanship of (

other Parish Churches . ' We think it does . His work is countrified , ' to use the most expressive word which presents itself . We refer more especially to the niches in the choir , and the windows at the west end of the aisles ; and although the execution of the large windows is in much better character , yet their effect is diminished by a defect in their proportions . The great east window , for instance , is too broad for its height . The same remark may be

made upon some other parts of the fabric . " By the contract , Cracall was at liberty to use the materials of the old Church . The Church was doutless of a mixed character of Norman ( for we know that there was a Church here at the compilation of Doomsday Book ) and of early English additions at a later period . An accurate examination of the present fabric will prove that the mason did more than remove entire the window at the east end of the north aisle ( not now in existence ) , to which the contract bound him . The porch-arch must have belonged to the old fabric . The capitals of the piers , too , appear either to have been removed from the