But Salisbury at least must find a place among the first, and is especially interesting because it is exactly contemporary as to date with Amiens in France. Architecturally both are Gothic; yet the difference in design is as great as the distance in miles between them. Low instead of lofty, with little decoration, and set in the midst of nature's grass and trees instead of in a crowded city, Salisbury's appeal is through the quiet beauty of its line, and the simplicity of its construction in contrast to the complex structure of the French cathedral. The Gothic of England was rarely the Gothic of carefully balanced thrust and pressures, of flying buttresses and huge window spaces. Here at Salisbury the walls are still quite heavy and the windows only moderately large. They have no tracery of stone; but are simple, narrow openings in the walls, with pointed heads so like a lance in shape that they have given the name of Lancet to this period of English Gothic architecture. Slow to throw off their earlier traditions, the English builders clung, even in Gothic days, to many of the characteristics of the Norman era, which had produced such masterpieces as Durham and Peterborough, Ely and Norwich, cathedrals. The result of this is especially evident in the interior of Salisbury; for here, in spite of the shafts of Purbeck marble, one for each hour in the year, and in spite of the rich moldings of the piers and arches, the lack of structural unity, and the comparative smallness of the windows and lowness of the vaulting cause Salisbury's nave to fall far short of that of Amiens in beauty of construction. Viewed from the west, the cathedral is also disappointing; for the façade is an ugly screen wall, badly decorated, and deserving of little praise. But when seen from north or south or east, with its spire rising from the very heart of the church, Salisbury is truly inspiring. In its quiet close it seems the very expression of the church at peace. CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD [Illustration: CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD _Showing the Mansard roof put on by the celebrated architect, Mansart, at the order of Louis XIV, to accommodate a large court._] [Illustration: HALL IN THE CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD _The two stairways seen in the back wind around the same central shaft and never join._]