number of equal stages; their canopies, and those oftheir pinnacles, are invariably richly crocheted, and haveusually the Ogee form instead of the straight pedimentalfinish.
The Cornice carries usually a row of large squarepateras of foliage, in a shallow hollow, and is often sur-mounted with a battlement, or a parapet pierced orpanelled with a flowing trefoil or a quatrefoil.
The Ball-flower which appeared at the end of theprevious Period, became a favourite ornament for a shorttime in the commencement of this Period.
Interior Compartment.
The Piers are usually disposed in plan in the form ofa diamond; and consist generally of four shafts with in-tervening hollows. The Bases and Capitals are notunfrequently octagonal in form; and the foliage of thelatter consists of crumpled leaves, not growing out of theneck of the capital, as in the earlier Periods, but ap-parently attached to it, or bound round it.
The mouldings of the Pier-arches are fewer innumber; they are shallower than those of the precedingPeriod, and often contain the double Ogee ; the wallsbeing thinner, the arches frequently carry, in this Period,as well as in the following one, only two orders ofmouldings instead of three. The small square patera,consisting of four leaves, is a common ornament of thePeriod, and all the foliage is formed of peculiar crumpledleaves, which are easily distinguished from those of thepreceding Period.
It is not uncommon in this Period to find the archmouldings continued, without the intervention of impostor capital, down to the ground; or, inversely, the mould-ings of the piers carried uninterruptedly upwards throughthe arch. This is the case as well in the arches of theGrouiul-stoiy, as in the windows and doorways.
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