e uniformity in corresponding parts;
the capitals are very generally composed of plain mouldings, and the
divisions of the windows consist chiefly of horizontal and perpendicular
lines, with few of the beautiful and difficult combinations of curves
which are found in the preceding style. The general principle of
decoration is to leave no plain surface, but to divide the whole into a
series of pannelling; by which is produced an extraordinary richness of
effect, though the parts, when examined separately, are generally of
simple forms and such as will admit of an easy and mechanical execution.
The introduction of the four-centred arch enlarged the powers of design,
enabled architects in many instances to proportion better the vault to
the upright, and even to introduce vaults where they would have been
inapplicable in the former style, on account of the want of elevation in
rooms; as in the divinity school at Oxford. Without concurring in the
ignorant wonder which has raised the vaulted ceilings of this style to
the rank of mysteries, we may admire the ingenuity which has rendered
real simplicity of construction the foundation of beautiful forms and of
the most elaborate decoration. The most celebrated examples of this
style are so highly finished, so exuberant in ornament, that the term
_florid_ has been applied as a characteristic epithet for the style; but
there are many instances of very simple and unornamented buildings of
the same period agreeing in all the essential principles of construction
and design; and a late writer has with more propriety adopted the term
_perpendicular_ for this mode of architecture. This later Gothic, easy
of construction and possessing a variety of character applicable to
every kind of building, is well adapted for modern imitation.

But the power of mutability was at work, and Gothic architecture was
doomed to fall. The first step towards its decline was pursuing to
excess the principle of simplification and retrenching the most
essential ornaments. The large windows of houses were merely divided by
horizontal and upright bars, and, deprived of tracery and feathering,
were as void of beauty in the details as in the general proportions;
buttresses and battlements were generally omitted. A great deterioration
took place in the decorative part; the ornamental pannels and freizes
of the Gothic style, consisting of geometrical combinations of circles
and straight lines, had always a distinct