peculiarly beautiful,--it is acknowledged to be beautiful by the most
careless observer. And why beautiful? Look at it (_fig._ 7). Simply
because in its great contours it has the form of a forest leaf, and
because in its decoration it has used nothing but forest leaves. The
sharp and expressive molding which surrounds it is a very interesting
example of one used to an enormous extent by the builders of the early
English Gothic, usually in the form seen in _fig._ 2, Plate II.,
composed of clusters of four sharp leaves each, originally produced by
sculpturing the sides of a four-sided pyramid, and afterwards brought
more or less into a true image of leaves, but deriving all its beauty
from the botanical form. In the present instance only two leaves are set
in each cluster; and the architect has been determined that the
naturalism should be perfect. For he was no common man who designed that
cathedral of Dunblane. I know not anything so perfect in its simplicity,
and so beautiful, as far as it reaches, in all the Gothic with which I
am acquainted. And just in proportion to his power of mind, that man was
content to work under Nature's teaching; and instead of putting a merely
formal dogtooth, as everybody else did at the time, he went down to the
woody bank of the sweet river beneath the rocks on which he was
building, and he took up a few of the fallen leaves that lay by it, and
he set them in his arch, side by side, forever. And, look--that he might
show you he had done this,--he has made them all of different sizes,
just as they lay; and that you might not by any chance miss noticing the
variety, he has put a great broad one at the top, and then a little one
turned the wrong way, next to it, so that you must be blind indeed if
you do not understand his meaning. And the healthy change and
playfulness of this just does in the stone-work what it does on the tree
boughs, and is a perpetual refreshment and invigoration; so that,
however long you gaze at this simple ornament--and none can be simpler,
a village mason could carve it all round the window in a few hours--you
are never weary of it, it seems always new.

15. It is true that oval windows of this form are comparatively rare in
Gothic work, but, as you well know, circular or wheel windows are used
constantly, and in most traceries the apertures are curved and pointed
as much at the bottom as the top. So that I believe you will now allow
me to proceed upon the assumpti