Ely Cathedral 392 Norwich Cathedral 408 Cathedrals of Great Britain THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE CATHEDRALS OF GREAT BRITAIN We are endeavouring to follow the traces of the handiwork of the great master-builders who have filled the English Isle with so many noble shrines, to mark the growth and development of the various styles and modes of building, and to endeavour to interpret their meaning. The story of the rise and fall of English Gothic art has a fascination that is all its own; and with the intention of endeavouring to realise its high aims, its strength and beauty, and to understand its true spirit, we will start on our pilgrimage to those fanes which it has reared to the honour and glory of the Most High. And as we watch the rise and progress of English Gothic art, we shall note that it is no exotic, no alien welcomed to our shores; but a true English native art, born in the brains and faith of our English forefathers, and nourished here with a nation's whole-hearted affection. French writers on architecture are accustomed to state that our English Gothic came from France, and that each stage and change were wrought by the influence of foreign masons and were borrowed from them. There could not be a greater error. The Anglo-Norman style was developed quite as much in this country as in Normandy, which was then a province of England. We shall see that English Gothic sprang into being in the choir of Lincoln. No foreign mason taught our English masons the secret of their art. Even Westminster, most French of all our buildings, and designed by a foreigner, is, in the language of Sir Gilbert Scott, "a great French thought expressed in excellent English." And while we have a style peculiarly our own, the Perpendicular of the fifteenth century, at that period the French with their Flamboyant tracery were only imitating the flowing lines of our fourteenth-century Decorated. And as we study more carefully these examples of English Gothic art, we shall admire the great unknown toilers who built so surely and so well, who put their hearts and lives, affections and religion into their work; we shall reverence the relics of their handiwork which time has spared and love them exceedingly. For the convenience of classification, mediæval architecture has been divided into four distinct styles or periods, and we must again chronicle the oft-told story of their varied peculiarities.