Anomalous state of things in Western Europe after the destruction of the Roman Empire--Art almost extinct--Saved by the Western Church and the Eastern Empire--Architectural elements of the new races--Charlemagne’s attempts to revive art--Primitive art in England and the north of France--Dawn of better things--Architecture of the tenth century--Schools of art and science--Bishop Bernward’s works--Origin of early styles in France and Germany--Early architecture of Rome--The arcuated and the trabeated systems--Development of Romanesque--Its leading characteristics--Romanesque and Pointed architecture not TWO styles, but ONE--Barrel vaults--Groined vaults--Oblong bays--Main arches of groined vaulting changed from the semicircle to the pointed arch--Flying buttresses--Groin ribs--The pointed arch arose from statical not geometrical or æsthetical motives--Wall ribs remain round long after the wider arches become pointed--Two modes adopted to avoid the difficulty of oblong groining over naves--Sexpartite vaulting. In the introductory lecture which I had the honour of reading before you last year, I endeavoured to give an outline of the varied claims of the architecture which was developed in our own and neighbouring countries during the Middle Ages, upon the study both of architects and lovers of art at the present day. I will not recapitulate what I then said; but, presuming that by honouring me with your presence this evening you admit the subject to be well worthy of your attention, will crave your indulgence while I endeavour, at the risk of appearing to be going over a trite and almost exhausted subject, to give a brief outline of the rise and development of the architecture whose claims upon your study I then attempted to advocate. My object is rather to trace out the re-awakening of art in the eleventh and following centuries from the slumber in which it had so long lain, than to chronicle its changes during the chaotic ages which followed the final catastrophe of the ancient world. Like the contemporary fable of the Seven Sleepers at Ephesus, its changes during this dreamy interval were but the turnings of the slumberer from the right side to the left, and little need is there to investigate such sluggish and disconnected movements. Our concern is rather with _living_ and _energetic_ art; and if we stop at all to inquire into its semi-dormant condition, it is rather for the sake of judging what were the elements of life which it retained, than from any really practical interest which attaches to its productions.