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There is a very obvious objection, on historical calculations, to the probable truth of this theory. Between the foundation of the above two wicker-churches, and the appearance of the pointed style, there intervened the circular, or Anglo-Saxon and AngloNorman modes of architecture. The author presents some ingenious thoughts for the removal of this argumentative obstruction, and such as may be worthy of much attention, when advanced in support of a theory. But it is not necessary to state them in the present page, as they are quite unconnected with historical deduction.

In his elaborate, yet amusing, work, Sir James Hall has satisfactorily proved that it is possible to imitate from the sinuous willow, with the aid of the axe, or knife, and the operations of nature, the most simple and the most complex constituent parts of pointed architecture. Those divisions of his work which are not more immediately devoted to the advancement of a favourite system, contain great information on the subject of the ancient architecture of England,

At the head of those who attribute the pointed style to a foreign derivation, must be noticed Sir Christopher Wren; and, as his thoughts upon this subject have had great influence with many succeeding writers, it is evidently desirable to present them, in the present place, without any material abridgment.

"He was of opinion that what we now vulgarly call Gothic, ought properly and truly to be named Saracenic architecture, refined by the Christians; which, first of all, began in the east, after the fall of the Greek empire, by the prodigious success of those people that adhered to Mahomet's doctrine, who, out of zeal to their religion, built mosques, caravanseras, and sepulchres, wherever they came.

"These they contrived of a round form, because they would not imitate the Christian figure of a cross, nor the old Greek manner, which they thought to be idolatrous; and, for that reason, all sculpture became offensive to them.

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They then fell on a new mode, of their own invention, though it might have been expected with better sense, considering the Arabians wanted not geometricians in that age, nor the Moors, who translated all the most useful old Greek books. As they propagated their religion. with great diligence, so they built mosques in all their conquered cities in haste. The quarries of great marble, by which the vanquished nations of Syria, Egypt, and all the east, had been supplied with columns, architraves, and great stones, were now deserted. The Saracens were, therefore, necessitated to accommodate their architecture to such materials, whether marble or free stone, as every country readily afforded. They thought columns and heavy cornices, impertinent, and might be omitted: and, affecting the round form for mosques, they elevated cupolas, in some instances with grace enough.

"The holy wars gave the Christians who had been there, an idea of the Saracen works, which were afterwards, by them, imitated in the west; and they refined upon it every day as they proceeded in building churches. The Italians (among whom were yet some Greek refugees,) and with them, French, Germans, and Flemings, joined into a fraternity of architects, procuring papal bulls for their encouragement, and particular privileges.”*

It is not made evident that Sir Christopher Wren had any foundation for the above opinion respecting the Saracenic origin of this style, except ingenious theoretical surmises. The architects who practised this fine order, were far from applying to it any appellation which betrayed a tradition of their having derived their prototype from the east. The pointed manner of building was by them termed simply the new work, or style.† If the testimony of some painted windows, represented by Montfaucon,

• Wren's Parentalia.-Some further remarks afforded by Sir Christopher Wren, but not immediately connected with a system respecting the origin of the pointed, or English, style, have been presented in those previous pages which treat on the fraternity of Free Masons.

+ Essay by Governor Pownall, Archæol. Vol. IX.

faucon, and noticed by Dr. Milner, be authenticated, it affords a considerable argument in favour of the idea that no such tradition existed amongst the early practitioners in this style.These painted windows occur in the church of St. Denis, near Paris; and are said, by Montfaucon, to have been executed under the direction of Abbot Suger, in 1140. "We have here," observes. Dr. Milner, "a continued series of the first orusade, in which a great number of arches are seen, but in none of them is there the least appearance of the point."*

The theory of Sir Christopher Wren (for such it must, at present, be entitled) has met with much forcible opposition from several learned quarters. Numerous writers, commencing with Mr. Bentham,† deuy, on the authority of travellers who have visited the east, that there are traces of this style to be perceived in the Holy Land, except in one church at Acre, which is thought to have been built by an European Christian; and in some casual pointed arches.

But the opinions respecting the existence of buildings in the pointed style, in other parts of the east, are more contrary; and the arguments of those on the stronger side are less decisive.

The noble editor of the posthumous work of the Rev. G. D. Whittington, asserts, that, "if a line be drawn from the north of the Euxine, through Constantinople to Egypt, we shall discover, in every country to the eastward of this boundary, frequent examples of the pointed arch, accompanied with the slender proportions of Gothic architecture. In Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia, Persia; from the neighbourhood of the Caspian, through the wilds of Tartary; in the various kingdoms, and throughout the whole extent of, India; and even to the furthest limits of China."

Ecclesiastical architecture of the Middle ages, p. 87.

+ Hist. of Ely Cathedral, p. 38.

Remarks by Lord Aberdeen, in the Preface to Whittington's Historical Survey, &c.

China." His lordship adds, that "it is true we are unable, for the most part, to ascertain the precise dates of these buildings;" but he considers this to be, in reality, "not very important, it being sufficient to state the fact of their comparative antiquity."

The same noble writer, however, admits that it is not easy to direct the enquirer to such buildings, constructed in the style under consideration, as are indubitably of a date anterior to the appearance of the pointed mode in the west.

This impediment to the reception of an opinion favouring the eastern extraction of the pointed order, his lordship accounts for by a summary of observations, condensed under three heads.

He first mentions" the scantiness of authentic record of particulars relating to these subjects amongst oriental nations, and the difficulty of attaining to a knowledge of such as may exist, by most of those who engage in this enquiry."

This remark is followed by a notice of the frequent destructive wars, and revolutions, of the east, which have frequently entailed the same fate on works of art, and utility, that attended the princes and chiefs of the states subverted. This cause "must of necessity, have greatly diminished the number of architectural specimens, especially those of early date."

In the third division of his summary, Lord Aberdeen remarks "that the people of the east, with whom we are best acquainted, sacrificed, in a considerable degree, their peculiar and less durable mode of building to that which they found adopted and established by the Greeks. Thus, after the conquest of Constantinople, every mosque was constructed in imitation of the church of Santa Sophia; and the massive pile of Justinian, with the addition of their own lofty and slender minarets, has served as a model in the exercise of the piety and magnificence of each succeeding sultan. Before the conquest of the metropolis, the same practice scems to have been prevalent; and, in their previous acquisition of many cities of the empire, the Christian edifices were converted to the purpose of Mahommedan worship.” Notwithstanding

Notwithstanding the operation of these, and other causes, he believes that there still exist facts to render the notion for which he contends, highly probable in the eyes of those who are content to view it without the mediam of prejudice, or established system."

In appreciating the tendency of the above positions, it will be first observed by the reader, that, according to the information conveyed by Pocock, Norden, Shaw, Le Bruyn, and other travellers, there are not, at present, to be discovered any positive traces of the pointed order of architecture (except the church of Acre, already cited,) in the Holy Land, or other countries frequented by the crusaders. If those writers may be depended on, the disappearance of all such buildings, if they really once existed, with the exception of the church at Acre, is scarcely accounted for, in a satisfactory way, by any arguments presented in the work so ably transmitted to the public by Lord Aberdeen:

It is the professed intention of the present undertaking, to compare the opinions of different writers, and thus to present the reader of the Beauties of England, with the result of the investigations, and speculative enquiries, of the most useful and approved antiquaries; on each chosen subject of discussion. In opposition to the remarks of Mr Whittington and his noble editor, I, therefore, place those of Dr. Milner, who observes that these ingenious writers have surveyed the architecture of the east by means of prints only; and he adds, that they inspected such illustrative documents "with different eyes from those of all former writers and travellers."

In pursuit of arguments to support this assertion, the following observations occur in different pages of his treatise on the architecture of the Middle ages.-It is difficult to conceive upon what grounds a writer asserts that frequent buildings, to the east of a line drawn from the north of the Euxine through Constantinople to Egypt, display the pointed style, "except on account of the misshapen minarets, and obelisks, which the Mahometans

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