In the general treatment of the exterior of a building the same prevailed. The walls, being thick, needed little buttressing, and this little was supplied, and the flatness of the walls at the same time relieved, by a sort of pilaster or slightly projecting pier placed at reasonable intervals, which were united under the eaves, in many cases, by a row of corbels. The walls were further relieved by projecting base-courses, and string-courses under the window cills or elsewhere; and, in buildings of a higher class, by decorative arcading or other methods of raising its architectural character. In all the foregoing particulars, it will be observed that I have stated nothing but what could be arrived at by simple and almost abstract reasoning, almost apart from anything which, strictly speaking, belongs to style of art. The results, indeed, apply equally to all the more perfect varieties of Romanesque, and follow from the mere thinking out of the subject; and if we desired to strike out some new variety of arcuated architecture, we could not do better than start from a point thus logically arrived at. To say that these are the leading characteristics of the Norman style, is saying at once too much and too little; for none of these characteristics would distinguish it from the Romanesque of Central France or Germany, which possess them equally with the Norman, while the latter certainly does possess features of its own, which would so distinguish it. These consist, however, for the most part, in the decorative details, and in the general composition of the buildings, but more particularly the latter; for, if the Rhenish, Central French, and Norman buildings were to exchange details, their composition would still distinguish them at a single glance, and each would be appropriated to its respective district in spite of any doubt about its details. The essential and logically derived elements are the same in all; the details, though united by a common bond of sentiment and feeling, differ in a certain degree,--while the customary forms of composition, though by no means contradictory, still differ so much as to leave no doubt about their being three, though evidently sister styles, or, rather, local varieties of the same great style. Two very important features which Norman possesses, in common with other varieties of Romanesque, are, first, that, when a column is used for bearing weight, its diameter is made proportionate rather to its load than to its height; and, secondly, that columns are used also in a purely decorative capacity, and their diameter, in that case, is simply such as is best proportioned to their position; and most usually to the size of the arch-order they have, apparently, or really to carry. We will now go into minor details.