doctrine of the Trinity: we find this now carried down to the parts of the fabric, especially to the windows, in which the number three begins to prevail, especially at the east end, or the part where whatever is mystical most delights to dwell. We have also far more frequently, (and indeed it soon becomes all but universal,) the octagonal form for the font. In the early Decorated, the geometric forms in the windows afford occasion to an almost indefinite use of the symbolism of numbers. We give a few examples from the Essay on Sacramentality, with the interpretations there suggested, but with some hesitation in admitting the more recondite meanings.

"The south transept of Chichester Cathedral is a glorious specimen of Decorated symbolism. In the gable is a Marygold, containing two intersecting equilateral tri-angles: the six apices of these are sex-foiled: the interior hexagon is beautifully worked in six leaves. The lower window seven lights: in the head is an equilateral spherical tri-angle, containing a large tre-foil, intersected by a smaller tre-foil. Here we have the HOLY TRINITY, the Divine Attributes, the perfection of the DEITY.

"The next element introduced was the consideration of the six attributes of the DEITY. One of the simplest examples was to be found in the west window of the north aisle of S. Nicolas, at Guildford: a plain circle, containing six tre-foils: these are arranged in two tri-angles, each containing three tre-foils, and the two sets are varied.

"The east end of Chichester is rather earlier, but introduces yet another element. Here we have a triplet: and at some height above it, a wheelwindow of seven circles: symbolizing therefore eternity and perfection.

“We are now in a purely Decorated age. And as one of its earliest windows we may mention that in the Bishop of Winchester's Palace at Southwark. It was a wheel and contained two intersecting equilateral triangles: around them were six sex-foiled triangles, the hexagon in the centre containing a star of six great and six smaller rays. Here of course, [!] the Blessed Trinity and the Divine and Human Natures were set forth.

"The east window of Bristol Cathedral is of seven lights, but so much prominence is given to the three central ones, as strongly to set forth the MOST HOLY TRINITY: over them is a crown of six leaves and by the numerous winged foliations around them, the Heavenly Hierarchy may, very probably, be understood.”2

1 Essay on Sacramentality, pp. lxlii.

et seq.

2 This form is symbolical, according to the ancient method of spiritualizing numbers, of the new birth in Baptism for the seven days' creation

of the natural world is symbolized by the number seven; and the new creation by CHRIST JESUS, by the number eight, in allusion to the eighth day, on which He rose again from the dead. And this reason S. Ambrose, more than

After this time, as the authors now quoted justly observe, there was no addition made to the structure, and but little to the vocabulary of the language of symbols; but we may close this chapter with an instance in which the voice of after ages has consecrated a beautiful character of Gothic architecture, into the symbolical expression of certain glorious characteristics of the Christian faith and people, by which it was unconsciously developed.

Struck by its peculiar character, Coleridge calls a Gothic church "the petrifaction of our religion," and the same possessor of many gifts compares Pagan and Gothic architecture in such terms as these: "The Greek art is beautiful. When I enter a Greek church, my eye is charmed, and my mind elated: I feel exalted and proud that I am a man. But the Gothic art is sublime. On entering a cathedral, I am filled with devotion and with awe; I am lost to the actualities that surround me, and my whole being expands into the infinite; earth and air, nature and art, all swell up into eternity, and the only sensible impression left is, that I am nothing."

That character which has called forth such testimonies may well be admitted among the recognized symbolisms of church architecture and to descend to particular features, the taper spire "that points to heaven," cannot be without its recognized meaning, since it has inspired Wordsworth to say that spires "point as with silent finger to the sky and stars, and sometimes, when they reflect the brazen light of a rich, though rainy sunset, appear like a pyramid of flame burning heavenward;" and to sing,

"Watching, with upturned eye, the tall tower grow,

And mount, at every step, with living wiles
Instinct to rouse the heart and lead the will,
By a bright ladder to the world above.”

Such developements of the awfulness and verticality of Gothic art are now no longer without a soul of symbolical meaning: they have shot forth into holy life, like the budding rod of Aaron, which was ever after religiously preserved in the ark of the Covenant, as a testimony.

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CHAPTER X.

THE ROUND CHURCHES IN ENGLAND.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE AT JERUSALEM.-S. SEPULCHRE'S, CAMBRIDGE:-S. SEPULCHRE'S, NORTHAMPTON. THE TEMPLE.-LITTLE MAPLESted.

BOTH from their date and from their importance as instances of symbolical arrangements, an account of the round churches in England ought to follow the two last chapters.

Of these memorials of the sufferings and achievements of pilgrims, and of a religious chivalry in the Holy Land, four still remain in England: the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Cambridge, the church of the same name and dedication at Northampton, the Temple church in London, and the church of Little Maplested in Essex, and to these perhaps may be added the chapel in the castle of Ludlow.

From the time of our SAVIOUR'S Ascension, and of the descent of the HOLY GHOST at Pentecost, the city of Jerusalem contained its Christian Church; and its succession of bishops, with whatever else is essential to the well-being of a Church, was never interrupted, except during the short, though cruel intervals of siege and persecution, to which Jerusalem has been so frequently subjected. Nor were the sacred places of which the mother of all Churches could boast interesting to her more immediate children only. From all parts of Christendom pilgrims came to worship at the Holy Sepulchre, and in many other places within and around the Holy City, consecrated by our SAVIOUR'S presence. That the immediate disciples of our LORD should forget the spots so hallowed to their affections, would be impossible; and almost equally so, that they should neglect to point them out to their children, and their children's children. Among these, none received greater regard than the place of

our LORD's burial; and in this instance, the heathens, in their determination to rob the Christians of their spiritual title in the sacred spot, unwittingly assisted in perpetuating its remembrance. A temple of Venus was built over the Holy Sepulchre, and it was thenceforth a matter of history, no longer subjected to the less tangible evidence of tradition, that on that spot the tomb of our SAVIOUR was to be found.

The piety of Constantine the first Christian emperor, and of his mother Helena, hastened, so soon as it was in their power, to cleanse the sacred spot from this pollution, and to crown the Holy Mount with a better temple, open to the devout worshippers of JESUS CHRIST. The temple of Venus was destroyed; the ground was cleared; the Holy Sepulchre was found undestroyed, beneath many feet of soil, and soon a beautiful church was erected over it. This church, called the Church of the Resurrection, was circular, enshrining the Holy Sepulchre around which it was built; and from this circular form of Constantine's Church of the Resurrection, the round churches of which we are about to speak were imitated.

But the munificence of Constantine did not cease here. The death of our LORD, as well as His resurrection, was to be commemorated; and eastward of the round church already mentioned, but connected with it by a court open to the heavens, and surrounded by a corridor, he built a much larger church, called the Martyrium; and of this also we shall find a counterpart in the four round churches in England.

The Church of the Resurrection, however, after having been visited by pilgrims for three centuries, was destroyed by fire at the sacking of Jerusalem by Cosroes II. The emperor Heraclius rescued the holy city from the Persians; and though it fell soon after into the hands of the Arabian followers of Mahomet, the resort of Christians to the Holy Sepulchre can scarcely be said to have been checked by the Moslem lords of Jerusalem. The Khalif Harun el Rashid even sent to Charlemagne the keys of the church, in token of the free admission which he granted to the Christians, "to that sacred and salutary place."

But the rule of the Egyptians was more adverse to Christian pilgrims. By the orders of Hakem, who commenced his reign. in 996, the Church of the Resurrection was utterly destroyed,