The characteristics of the first or early pointed style in France and England are as distinct and apparent as those of the Norman. The general effect of the exterior (Fig. 22) is lighter than in the latter style, though still solid. The buttresses have greater projection and less breadth than the Norman ones, and are often lightened by having the outer angles chamfered. The water tables of the set-offs are also steeper, the pinnacles are thinner and loftier, and the buttresses are crowned with gablets and finials. In late examples the flying buttress is introduced. The windows are invariably pointed. They are narrow and lofty, and from their acute shape are known as “lancet” windows. Each single window is distinct, but sometimes two or three are brought close together and are included within one arch head, so as to form a group. As the style advanced the arch head of such a group was perforated with a trefoil or quatrefoil figure. Circular windows are also common, and these came to be filled with [Illustration: FIG. 21.--Salisbury Cathedral. (From Britton’s _Antiquities_.)] radiating shafts and trefoiled arch heads. Out of these two forms there gradually arose a simple kind of tracery towards the close of the period. The trefoiled head of the lancet is also a distinct evidence of early pointed work. The doorways are deeply recessed, and have generally free shafts in the jambs, with mouldings between. The arch mouldings are usually in square orders and boldly cut. In the interior the piers of the arches are much less massive than the Norman piers, and are often composed of clustered shafts standing free, and set round a circular or octagonal pillar. The Norman square abacus continued to [Illustration: FIG. 22.--Lincoln Cathedral. Compartment of the Nave, Exterior and Interior. (From Britton’s _Chronological History of English Architecture_.)] be used in transition and early first pointed work; but later, in England, the caps of each shaft have a round abacus, and the cap itself usually consists of mouldings, with a bell-shaped form beneath. When foliage is employed it is invariably of the conventional form above referred to; but in France the cap-à-crochet is almost universal. The arch mouldings are deeply cut, and their lighter form is easily distinguished from the heavy Norman rolls. The ornaments of the mouldings are also very distinctly marked, the dog-tooth being conspicuous in all early pointed work. Tall towers and spires supersede the more massive and lower towers of the Normans. In the vaults, the ribs are simple--only the cross springers and diagonal ribs being used--a longitudinal and transverse ridge rib is, however, occasionally employed. FIRST POINTED STYLE IN SCOTLAND.