1630
THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ENGINEERING.
Book II.
St George's Chapel , Windsor . — If we sup-pose a line on the plan to pass through thecentre of the buttresses and piers, and onesevery of the nave to be defined, we shallhave a width of 12 feet, and a length of84 feet, the area of which is 1008 feet: afterthis we shall find the area of the walls andpiers comprised within this severy to be168 feet, or one-sixth of the whole ; such arethe proportions of mass and void found inthis chapel. The clear width of the sideaisles between the columns is 11 feet 9 inches;that of the nave 34 feet 10 inches, and be-tween the outer walls 69 feet 2 inches : theheight of the top of the vaulting of the naveis 54 feet 2 inches. The height up to thespringing line of the great vault over thenave being equal to half the entire width,it is evident that two squares must comprisewithin them the entire building beneath thisline; upon setting them out we find the naveand its pillars occupy one, whilst the otheris given to the side aisles, external walls, andbuttresses.
The Rev. John Milner, in his admirabletreatise on the Ecclesiastical Architectureof England, which has been the text-bookfor all modern writers, states that “its rise,progress, and decline, occupy little morethan four centuries in the chronology of theworld: as its characteristic perfection con-sisted in the due elevation of the arch, so itsdecline commenced by an undue depressionof it. This took place in the latter part ofthe 15th century, and is to be seen, amongstother instances, in parts of St. George’s Chapel,Windsor, commenced by Edward IV. in 1482;in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge , and inthe Chapel of Henry VII. at Westminster.It is undoubtedly true that the architects ofthese splendid and justly admired erections,Bishop Cloose, Sir Reginald de Bray, &c.displayed more art and more professionalscience than their predecessors had done; butthey did this at the expense of the character-istic excellence of the style itself which theybuilt in.”
“ In St. George’s Chapel we have thework covered with tracery and carvings ofthe most exquisite design and execution, butwhich fatigue the eye, and cloy the mind bytheir redundancy: ” but we have also abuilding constructed with one-half the ma-terials that would have been employed hadthe style practised in the chapter-house ofWells been adopted. The admirers of thePointed style have not sought for the trueprinciples which mark its several changes;they have not examined into its constructivearrangements; had they done so, they wouldhave perceived that, as the skill of the free-masons advanced, and their workmanship im-proved, they economised material, con-structed more solidly, and produced a richerand more harmonious effect, without sacri-ficing any of the principles which governedt eir practice ; the improvements they madewere as great as those noticed when the
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