sle, though set north and south, to be a desecrated
church. If he be an expert in such matters, he will remark a sort of
classical harmony in its broad, very simple proportions, with a certain
suppression of Gothic emphasis, more especially in that peculiarly
Gothic feature, the buttresses, scarcely marking the unbroken,
windowless walls, which rise very straight, taking the sun placidly.
The silver-grey stone, cut, if it came from this neighbourhood at all,
from some now forgotten quarry, has the fine, close-grained texture of
antique marble. The great northern gable is almost a classic pediment.
The horizontal lines of plinth and ridge and cornice are kept unbroken,
the roof of sea-grey slates being pitched less angularly than is usual
in this rainy clime. A welcome contrast, the Prior thought it, to the
sort of architectural nightmare he came from. He found the structure
already more than half- [153] way up, the low squat pillars ready for
their capitals.

Yes! it must have so happened often in the Middle Age, as you feel
convinced, in looking sometimes at medieval building. Style must have
changed under the very hands of men who were no wilful innovators.
Thus it was here, in the later work of Prior Saint-Jean, all
unconsciously. The mysterious harper sat there always, at the topmost
point achieved; played, idly enough it might seem, on his precious
instrument, but kept in fact the hard taxed workmen literally in tune,
working for once with a ready will, and, so to speak, with really
inventive hands--working expeditiously, in this favourable weather,
till far into the night, as they joined unbidden in a chorus, which
hushed, or rather turned to music, the noise of their chipping. It was
hardly noise at all, even in the night-time. Now and again Brother
Apollyon descended nimbly to surprise them, at an opportune moment, by
the display of an immense strength. A great cheer exploded suddenly,
as single-handed he heaved a massive stone into its place. He seemed
to have no sense of weight: "Put there by the devil!" the modern
villager assures you.

With a change then, not so much of style as of temper, of management,
in the application of acknowledged rules, Prior Saint-Jean shaping
only, adapting, simplifying, partly with a view [154] to economy, not
the heavy stones only, but the heavy manner of using them, turned
light. With no pronounced ornamentation, it is as if in the upper
story ponderous root and ste