of which are very fine, but it was in
Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, King's College Chapel, Cambridge,
and St. George's Chapel, Windsor, with those of Holyrood and Roslyn in
Scotland, that the style reached its fullest development. That
development was, alas, however, all too soon followed by a decadence
that was ushered in by an employment of too lavish and often meaningless
ornamentation which had nothing to do with structural necessities.

[Illustration: Hammer Beam Roof]

[Illustration: Perpendicular Roofing]

[Illustration: Perpendicular Window]

[Illustration: Perpendicular Niche]

Westminster Chapel, in addition to the characteristic fan-tracery roof
already referred to, has an exceptionally beautiful chevet with five
apsidal chapels, a finely vaulted nave, aisles, and cloisters, in which
Decorated and Perpendicular details are harmoniously combined. King's
College Chapel, Cambridge, and St. George's, Windsor, are both entirely
in the Perpendicular style, whilst the Scotch examples quoted above are
specially noticeable for the contrast their massive pillars and arcades
present to the airy lightness of their vaulting.

Less important Perpendicular ecclesiastical buildings are the parish
churches of Blakeney and Cley in Norfolk, the former with a specially
fine east window, the latter unfortunately almost in ruins, but notable
on account of the beauty of the decorative carving; the parish church of
Fairford, Gloucestershire, the stained glass windows of which are
amongst the finest in England; and Christ Church College, Oxford, in
which town, by the way, Gothic traditions lingered longer than anywhere
else in England.

[Illustration: Corbel]

Notable secular buildings in the latest phase of English Gothic are
Westminster Hall, and the earlier portions of Hampton Court Palace,
whilst Longleat Palace, Wiltshire, and Christ Church Hall, Oxford, with
a fine open timber roof, are good examples of the transition from the
Gothic to the Renaissance styles, the general plans belonging to the
former and the decorative details being Italian in feeling.

CHAPTER X

RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE

The term Renaissance, signifying revival, has been given to the style
which succeeded the Gothic. It was, to a great extent, a reversion to
classic ideals modified to suit modern requirements. Its leading
characteristics are simplicity of plan, symmetry of proportion, and
massive grandeur of general