pictures of Giotto, the 'Hora Novissima,' the 'High History of the Holy Grail,' all possess in common with the great cathedrals, and in so full a degree that they may all be called Gothic, or Mediaeval, or if you like Catholic. Singly and together they are the creation and the expression of the epoch when Catholicism interpenetrated all life to such an extent that no single portion of society, except the Jews, the Mohammedans, and the as yet unconverted tribes of Prussia, were outside its scope or beyond its influence and control. Character means for us difference in quality, and this is both material and spiritual. Saint-Georges-de-Boscherville has, for example, almost as many Gothic elements in its construction as the Cathedral of Sens, but the one is essentially Norman in character, the other just as essentially Gothic. The character of the mouldings in Cérisy is of one type, that of Noyon absolutely different, and the same is true of the scheme, the material and the detail of design. The ornament of the later Norman and Romanesque is rich and elaborate beyond Gothic comparison, until the fifteenth century, but it differs as completely from that of Chartres or Amiens or Lincoln as it does, on the other hand, from that of Greece. The placing of ornament, also, is wholly different, and a new theory of composition grows out of a new energy.'

This "character" which sets Gothic apart from all styles as the same thing marks Greek or Japanese architecture in its own way, is the thing of real value in this Christian art of north-west Europe. It was determined by the character of the peoples and the civilization of the time. It grew naturally and without the aid of professional architects, princely patrons, schools of art or professors. Byzantine art was under Imperial protection, Norman was the work of monks, and particularly of their abbots, but Gothic, after Suger, was the affair of all the people, and they made it what it Let us try to put by themselves the various factors that were at work-not an easy task, for the Middle Ages

was.

1 Cram, R. A., Substance of Gothic, Boston.

were so closely knit together that it is hard to fix lines between religion, economics, politics, sociology, philosophy, amusement, fighting or any other of the active interests of mankind. That is one reason why they were so admirable and great.

Of course religion comes first as it always does where great art is concerned. At this time there was but one religion, universally accepted and singularly beautiful in its doctrines, practices and sympathies. It was also curiously personal and omnipresent in the interests of men, women and children. Its principle of sacramentalism glorified every material thing and humanized every spiritual thing, and it demanded every art that already existed or could be invented, for its own self-expression. The second factor was the social system of the time. Feudalism had sloughed off most of its bad qualities and had become a fine scheme of corresponding rights, duties and privileges conceived in terms of human scale. There was in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries hardly a city in France or England with more than 20,000 population, and each was a closely knit community with immense civic pride, public spirit and real liberty and independence. They built more churches and greater churches than they needed, just for the sheer joy of building, in doing things beautifully, and in glorifying God, the saints and their own city. Finally there was the peculiar industrial organization. The division of capital and labour was unknown and all industry, whether mechanical, artistic or commercial, was organized under a system of guilds. These guilds were free, devout and scrupulous. They were made up of apprentices, journeymen and masters and no one could attain a higher grade except by passing through a lower and proving his ability. The first aim was to establish and maintain the highest possible standard of workmanship and personal conduct, the second to guard the interests of members in life and death, and the third was to act as a body in looking out for the welfare of the community. Of course they were all

tied up in the closest way with religious duties and observances, and with every legitimate type of amusement and merrymaking.

It was a new scheme of life altogether; nothing remotely approaching it had ever been seen before, and the nett result was liberty, self-respect and joy in work. It is probable that there was more real freedom in the years between 1050 and 1300 than ever before or since, and this liberty shows itself brilliantly in the architecture of the time. Of course it was liberty subject to law, for without this there is no liberty, but the controlling force was then law not laws, that is, custom and divine revelation, not the innumerable statutes of irresponsible parliaments. The supremacy of law is felt in all Gothic art, but while this is one, like the vivifying religion, in all the work whether French, Flemish, Spanish or English, the modes of expression are infinitely varied as between one people and another, while in the case of any single building a hundred personalities show themselves in the varied statues, capitals, window traceries, doorways and chapels. Indeed it is seldom that a great church is built with the consistency of design that shows itself in Reims or Laon or Salisbury. One master builder had scant regard for the work of his predecessor; when his time came he built after the popular mode of the day, and most of the great cathedrals are piled up of half-a-dozen different styles-and with perfect unity of result.

VIII. THE BUILDING OF THE CHURCHES

With a religion and a city and a scheme of life in which every one believed and with which he was content, wonderful things happened of course - as wonderful as Chartres. Here is a contemporary account of the building of this same cathedral.

"Who has ever seen! - Who has ever heard tell, in times past, that powerful princes of the world, that men brought

up in honour and in wealth, that nobles, men and women, have bent their proud and haughty necks to the harness of carts, and that, like beasts of burden, they have dragged to the abode of Christ these waggons, loaded with wines, grains, oil, stone, wood, and all that is necessary for the wants of life, or for the construction of the church? But while they draw these burdens, there is one thing admirable to observe; it is that often when a thousand persons and more are attached to the chariots, - so great is the difficulty, - yet they march in such silence that not a murmur is heard, and truly if one did not see the thing with one's eyes, one might believe that among such a multitude there was hardly a person present. When they halt on the road, nothing is heard but the confession of sins, and pure and suppliant prayer to God to obtain pardon. At the voice of the priests who exhort their hearts to peace, they forget all hatred, discord is thrown far aside, debts are remitted, the unity of hearts is established. But if any one is so far advanced in evil as to be unwilling to pardon an offender, or if he rejects the counsel of the priest who has piously advised him, his offering is instantly thrown from the waggon as impure, and he himself ignominiously and shamefully excluded from the society of the holy. There one sees the priests who preside over each chariot exhort every one to penitence, to confession of faults, to the resolution of better life! There one sees old people, young people, little children, calling on the Lord with a suppliant voice, and uttering to Him, from the depth of the heart, sobs and sighs with words of glory and praise! After the people, warned by the sound of trumpets and the sight of banners, have resumed their road, the march is made with such ease that no obstacle can retard it. . . . When they have reached the church they arrange the waggons about it like a spiritual camp, and during the whole night they celebrate the watch by hymns and canticles. On each waggon they light tapers and lamps; they place there the infirm and sick, and bring them the precious relics of the Saints for their re