The figures are about six inches in height, very rude
in their construction, and seem to be of an earlier
character than the doorway. Another remarkable
feature of Norman Architecture i^the buttress, which
is a mere pilaster (as at St. Mary Major's, Exeter),
with little projection from the face of the wall, addii^
nothing to its strength, and little to its ornament, and
singularly inferior to the buttress of pointed architec-
ture, which is often as remarkable for beauty as i
adapted for mechanical strength. The naves of large
Konnan churches are very magnificent, from the
solemn grandeur of the -massive pillars, the plainnesJ
of which is taken oif by the exquisite variety of
mouldings. But the Norman style seems ill adapted
for modem buildings ; and, as it is now a fashion to
build in what is called the Anglo-Norman style, whidi
is otl«n little more than a square meeting-house pierced
with a few round holes, it may be well briefly to
state the reason for thinking it inappropriate. Wliere
the chief part of an old church is already Norman,
Uiere of course it may be desirable to retain the
teatures of the original fabric, as it it tv^jt ^rohable
that an/ invention of the ninBtee'aftv'ien.\.\nr^ -^r^^iKLiti
goodaa the old; but in new diMTcVes -LV&twfcSiSsi



21



1

I



otherwise. Norman walls are never less than three
feet six inches or four feet thick ; the ornaments
(without which the building from its extreme mas-
siveneas will probably look heavy and ugly)) though
very beautiful, require an elaborate nicety of e:
tion which it is difficult to attain, especially as coun-
try masons are unused to that sort of work ; and a I
handsome doorway (without which the building i
not Norman) would, according to our modem notions |
of econoniyj be extravagantly expensive. If persona
are prepared to build Norman churches as Norman
churches were, well and good ; but if they are to be
built on the modern plan, and called by a name
which does not really belong to them, they were bet-
ter let alone.
