elongated proportions to be found late in the style; and in detail we may perceive an almost imperceptible merging into that style which succeeded the Norman. [Illustration: Base. Crypt, St. Peter’s, Oxford, c. 1100.] FOOTNOTES: [52-*] Defunctus autem Rex beatissimus in crastino sepultus est Londini, in Ecclesia, quam ipse novo compositionis genere construxerat, a qua post, multi Ecclesias construentes, exemplum adepti, opus illud expensis œmulabantur sumptuosis.--MATT. PARIS. [Illustration: Vesica Piscis in the tympan of the south doorway, Ely Cathedral] CHAPTER V. OF THE SEMI-NORMAN STYLE. Q. What is the Semi-Norman style? A. It is that style of transition which, without superseding the Norman style, prevailed more or less, in conjunction with it, during the latter part of the twelfth century, and probably even from an earlier period, and gradually led to the complete adoption, in the succeeding century, of the early pointed style in a pure state, and to the general disuse of the semicircular arch. Q. By what is this style chiefly denoted? A. By the intersection of semicircular arches, the frequent intermixture of the pointed arch in its incipient state with the semicircular arch, and the pointed arch with its accompaniments of features, mouldings, and ornamental accessories, exactly similar to those of the Norman style, both in its earlier and later gradations, and from which it appears to have differed only in the contour or form of the arch. [Illustration: Early specimen of intersecting Arches, St. Botolph’s Priory, Colchester. (12th cent.)] Q. Whence are we to derive the origin of the pointed arch? A. Many conjectural opinions on this much-contested question have been entertained, yet it still remains to be satisfactorily elucidated. Some would derive it from the East and ascribe its introduction to the Crusaders; some maintain that it was suggested by the intersection of semicircular arches, which intersection we frequently find in ornamental arcades; others contend that it originated from the mode of quadripartite vaulting adopted by the Normans, the segmental groins of which, crossing diagonally, produce to appearance the pointed arch; whilst some imagine it may have been derived from that mystical figure of a pointed oval form, the _Vesica Piscis_[76-*]. But whatever its origin, it appears to have been imperceptibly brought into partial use towards the middle of the twelfth century. [Illustration: Semi-Norman double Piscina, Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge.] Q. What are the characteristics of this style?