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much light as possible, and at the same time to chasten and subdue it; which purpose they accom-plished, although by a Comparative impoverishment of effect, which fell far short of the exceeding rich-ness of the preceding styles, and this was in a great measure owing to the white glass of the whole ofthis period being less tinted, and not of that greenish tone which was so universal in the earlier windows.
All the glass of this epoch is of a much thinner substance, and more fragile in kind, than is tobe found in any earlier time, (much of it is even less thick than that used at the present day,) whichsudden change, for it differed little in this respect from first to last, is difficult to account for, unlessthe artists had previously been accustomed to obtain it from “ beyond seas,” * and then resorted tohome manufacture. Whether such be the case or not, it is certain that the glass used in connexion withPerpendicular architecture in general, is somewhat poor and feeble as compared to that of the twelfth,thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, not only in substance, but also in quality and colours. It is notimprobable, from its differing so entirely in substance and colouring, that glass for artistic purposeswas now either only first made or again revived in this country. Indeed, the glass of the Perpen-dicular period, though thinner, was more equal in substance than the preceding; and, as a merearticle for general use, a vast improvement in its manufacture. The over-thickness of glass must atall times have been a great disadvantage in modelling windows, (which, in fact, were never madesound,) from its intractability; and it is not to be doubted, that, mechanically speaking, later worksare much more compact, from the more equal substance of the glass and the lead, and it being,therefore, more perfectly moulded together. At an after period the glass was clearly manufacturedof a substance calculated to meet the powers of the diamond upon it.
The mode of constructing the designs for this style in no respect resembled those of the pre-ceding, for, as the windows had become enlarged and elongated, transoms were introduced to subdivideand support them ; and yet, although the area for glazing was more spacious, and so gave more scopefor display and effect, the minuteness of design which was generally adopted was incompatible withgrand effects; the object apparently being more to amuse the eye with the study of the parts, than todelight the mind by the impression of the whole. But, having once departed from the geometricaland medallioned principle, by the introduction of figures and canopies, it was natural to pursue thenew idea to excess, and so to cover the whole surface with scenery and figures, where before theback-ground was the real design of the window, and the medallions only so many ornaments andenrichments upon it.
The earliest kind of Perpendicular design was generally composed by placing square com-partments, each in itself a complete subject, successively surmounting each other, by which means theseveral lights of each window were filled. A good example of this kind, of a rich character in colour-ing, is in Morley church, Derbyshire . This is a legendary history of Saint Robert in many com-partments. It was brought hither from Dale Abbey at its dissolution, and is of the same date as thatin the east window of York Minster . Some fine examples of pictorial glass of this style also existin the church of St. Neot ’s, Cornwall , and in St. Peter’s Mancroft, Norwich , which will come underour notice in the course of our remarks on this style.
Figures canopied were also much in vogue at this time, and the application of them to thisstyle is very nearly if not quite coeval with subjects in compartments, for even these were accom-panied by small figures and canopies in the tracery parts; nevertheless, the width of the main open-ings seems to have had some influence over the designs in these respects, for it will be generallyfound that when their width exceeded two feet, panel subjects were resorted to, and when they werefrom one foot upwards, they adopted figures and canopies. There may be exceptions to this rule,but these are for the most part windows of a great elevation, in which larger figures than are common
* “ John Prudde, of Westminster, called simply Glazier , appears to have painted the windows in the chapel, (Beauchamp Chapel,Warwick,) and it was particularly stipulated that ‘he should employ no glass of England, but with glass beyond the seas, and that in thefinest wise, with the best, cleanest, and strongest glasse of beyond sea that may be had in England, and of the finest colours of blew, &c.’ ”—Vide Walpole’s “Anecdotes of Painting,” vol. i. p. 66, 4th edit., 1786.—From the above we may conclude that the glass then made in Eng-land was thinner in substance and inferior in colour to that manufactured abroad.