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were invented, or the expedient of strengthening thewall where it received the greatest pressure, becamein use, vaults were raised of great height without ap-prehension of endangering the buildings to whichthey served as ceilings ; and a new style of architec-ture was developed.

In a reference to the plans of Roman buildingswhose ceilings were vaulted, it will be seen howgreat a waste of material and labour was occasionedby the ignorance of the use of the buttress, or bythe unwillingness to permit it to form a prominentfeature. It is true, that in many instances the build-ings of this stile have niches and cavities in theirwalls, which in some measure produce the mechanicaleffect of buttresses, and diminish the quantity ofmaterial: but in consequence of the buttress notbeing permitted to form a feature, the external ar-chitecture of buildings so constructed wants thebold character, which belongs to Grecian architecturethrough its ranges of columns, and to Gothic archi-tecture through its ranges of buttresses. As the artof Grecian architecture consisted in the decorationof the column and entablature, and produced theseveral orders and varieties of them; so that ofRoman architecture consisted in the decoration ofthe wall, whence arose the pilaster architecture ofSt. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Cathedrals. In like mannerthe decoration of the buttress produced the frettedniches, canopies, statues, and pinnacles, with finialsand curling foliage from them j which characterizeGothic architecture.

The pointed arch is commonly held to designatethis kind of building; but, as it is to be found in alldescriptions of eastern architecture, either simply or

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