the
chisel and to time--has entirely governed the character of the
architecture; and, while it has precluded lightness and decoration, has
given opportunities for a certain gloomy dignity. About the porch, one
or two niches and other small details, have been decorated; but as if
the artist had abandoned the task of chiselling his obdurate materials
as a vain one, ornament goes no farther, and all the architectural
effects are the fruit of bold design. Such, for instance, is the great
west window--not mullioned, but divided by long massive stone shafts
into seven arched compartments; such, too, is the low-browed doorway
beneath, with its heavy semicircular arch. The upper tier of
windows--here called _storm_ windows, perhaps as a corruption of
_dormer_--are the plain, unmoulded arch, such as one sometimes sees it
in unadorned buildings of the earlier Norman period. Indeed, though the
building dates from the second age of the Pointed style, it associates
itself in some of its features, very closely with the relics of the
Norman age, especially in the short, massive round pillars which support
the clerestory. The roof, with its carving, gilding, and bright heraldic
colors, is in thorough contrast with the rest of the architecture, and
the eye gratefully relieves itself from the gloom below, by wandering
over its quaint devices and gaudy hues. It is divided into three
longitudinal departments, panelled with richly-carved oak; and at each
intersection of the divisions of the compartments with the cross-beams,
there is emblazoned a shield armorial, with an inscription.

"It is an uncommon thing to find, as in this instance we do, the nave
only of a church remaining, for the chancel was generally the part first
erected, and sometimes the only part. The remains of the central and
eastern portions of St. Machar's tell how the western compartment braved
the causes of destruction which to them had been fatal: they were built
of freestone. Incrusted, as it were, in the eastern wall, are the
clustered freestone pillars, with richly-flowered capitals, which of old
supported the central square tower; and on either side are the vestiges
of the transept, with the remains of the richly-sculptured tombs,
represented in the accompanying plate, embedded in the wall. In
Slezer's, and some other representations of this building in the
seventeenth century, the tower--a simple square mass, with a
roof--appears to have been still standing, but