Under these circumstances, it will be easily understood that nothing of the sort can be attempted in this work. With only one-tenth of the requisite space available, and less than that proportion of illustration, all that can be proposed is to sketch the great leading features of the subject, to estimate the value of the practice of the English architects as compared with those on the Continent, and to point out the differences which arose between their methods and ours, in consequence of either the local or social peculiarities of the various nationalities. This compression is hardly to be regretted in the present instance, since any one may with very little trouble master the main features of the history in some of the many popular works which have been published on the subject, and all have access to the buildings themselves. It need hardly be added, that these are far better and truer exponents of the feelings and aspirations of those who erected them than all the books that ever were written. Unless a man learns to read the lessons these stone books so vividly convey, by an earnest personal investigation of the monuments themselves, of one style at least, he will hardly ever be able to understand the subject; but for the purpose of such a study, the English Mediæval architecture is perhaps the most complete and perfect. Nowhere else can all the gradations of change be so easily traced; and in no other style was there so little interference from extraneous causes. Throughout, the English sought only to erect the building then most suitable to its destination, with the best materials available for the purpose; and the result is therefore generally more satisfactory and more harmonious than in other countries where the architects were more trammelled by precedents, or more influenced by local peculiarities. CHRONOLOGY. Years’ Name duration. of style. Departure of } 400 } { Romans } } { } { Arthur { 480 to } 300 { Megalithic.—Stone { 542 } { Rude Monuments. To establishment } } { of Heptarchy } 700 } { To Conquest 366 { Early round-arched, { or Saxon Style. William I. 1066 } { William II. 1087 } { Henry I. 1100 } 109 { Round-arched style, Stephen 1135 } { Norman. Henry II. 1154 } { Henry II. 1175 } { Richard I. 1189 } 97 { Early pointed Lancet, John 1199 } { or Plantagenet style. Henry III. 1216 } { Edward I. 1272 } { Perfected pointed Edward II. 1307 } 105 { Decorated, or Edward III. 1326 } { Edwardian style. Richard II. 1377 } {