English lancet window has a unique significance in the
development of Gothic architecture this side of the Channel, for it
inaugurated an important structural change, its constantly increasing
length aiding greatly in the breaking up of the triple division of
walls--supposed by some to have been emblematic of the Holy
Trinity--with arcading, triforium, and clerestory. By slow degrees the
triforium was first reduced to a mere decorative feature, and then
eliminated altogether, whilst the clerestory usurped its place in
addition to its own.

[Illustration: Early English Capital]

[Illustration: Early English Capital]

[Illustration: Base of Early English Pillar]

[Illustration: Capitals of Early English Clustered Pillar]

In Decorated buildings the windows are larger and divided into a greater
number of lights than in Early English, the heads being filled with
tracery of geometrical design; the facades are more complicated and at
the same time less effective, the towers and spires are loftier and
supplemented by many pinnacles and finials, flying buttresses are
multiplied; parapets with pierced openings, canopied niches containing
figures and other purely decorative features give to the exteriors a
great richness of general appearance. In the interiors the simple Early
English vaulting is superseded by roofs divided into a great number of
different compartments, the points of intersection being marked by stone
bosses or masses of carving, whilst increased lavishness of decoration
characterises every portion of the building, mouldings of a great
variety, amongst which the ballflower is of frequent occurrence, being
introduced wherever possible.

[Illustration: Early English Ornaments]

[Illustration: Early English Ornaments]

In Perpendicular Gothic, as its name implies, the vertical tendency
became ever more and more marked; towers, spires, and pinnacles became
more and more numerous, all decreasing in bulk and increasing in height.
Turrets with many airy finials, springing from flying buttresses that
were adorned with figures of lions, dragons, and other symbolic
creatures, rise above equally ornate parapets, the dignified
single-centred arch was replaced by a four-centred form, and rectilinear
lines superseded the beautifully flowing tracery of earlier windows. It
was, however, the complex and exquisitely delicate groined roofing that
chiefly characterised the Perpendicular style, lending to the interior
of th