s
succeeded by the following interpretation of the spirit of the two
styles:--

* * *

"Comparing, apart from enthusiasm, the two styles of Lombard and Pointed
Architecture, they will strike you, I think, as the expression,
respectively, of that alternate repose and activity which characterize
the Christian life, exhibited in perfect harmony in Christ alone, who,
on earth, spent His night in prayer to God, His day in doing good to
man--in heaven, as we know by His own testimony, 'worketh hitherto,'
conjointly with the Father--forever, at the same time, reposing on the
infinity of His wisdom and of His power. Each, then, of these styles has
its peculiar significance, each is perfect in its way. The Lombard
Architecture, with its horizontal lines, its circular arches and
expanding cupola, soothes and calms one; the Gothic, with its pointed
arches, aspiring vaults and intricate tracery, rouses and excites--and
why? Because the one symbolizes an infinity of Rest, the other of
Action, in the adoration and service of God. And this consideration will
enable us to advance a step farther:--The aim of the one style is
definite, of the other indefinite; we look up to the dome of heaven and
calmly acquiesce in the abstract idea of infinity; but we only realize
the impossibility of conceiving it by the flight of imagination from
star to star, from firmament to firmament. Even so Lombard Architecture
attained perfection, expressed its idea, accomplished its purpose--but
Gothic never; the Ideal is unapproachable."--Vol. ii., p. 23.

* * *

36. This idea occurs not only in this passage:--it is carried out
through the following chapters;--at page 38, the pointed arch associated
with the cupola is spoken of as a "fop interrupting the meditations of a
philosopher"; at page 65, the "earlier contemplative style of the
Lombards" is spoken of; at page 114, Giottesque art is "the expression
of that Activity of the Imagination which produced Gothic Architecture";
and, throughout, the analogy is prettily expressed, and ably supported;
yet it is one of those against which we must warn the reader: it is
altogether superficial, and extends not to the minds of those whose
works it accidentally, and we think disputably, characterizes. The
transition from Romanesque (we prefer using the generic term) to Gothic
is natural and straightforward, in many points traceable to mechanical
and local necessities (of whi