a Sainte Chapelle at Paris, or the Cathedrals of
Chartres, Le Mans, Bourges, or Rheims, and he will find in these
buildings effects in colour which are nothing less than gorgeous in
their brilliancy, richness, and harmony.

[Illustration: FIG. 29.--STAINED GLASS WINDOW FROM CHARTRES
CATHEDRAL.]

The peculiar excellence of stained glass as compared with every other
sort of decoration, is that it is luminous. To some extent
fresco-painting may claim a sort of brightness; mosaic when executed
in polished materials possesses brilliancy; but in stained glass the
light which comes streaming in through the window itself gives
radiance, while the quality of the glass determines the colour, and
thus we obtain a glowing, lustre of colour which can only be compared
to the beauty of gems. In order properly to fill their place as
decorations, stained-glass windows must be something quite different
from transparent pictures, and the scenes they represent must not
detach themselves too violently from the general ground. The most
perfect effect is produced by such windows as those at Canterbury or
Chartres (Fig. 29), which recall a cluster of jewels rather than a
picture.

_Coloured Decoration._

Colour was also freely introduced by the lavish employment of coloured
materials where they were to be had, and by painting the interiors
with bright pigments. We meet with traces of rich colour on many parts
of ancient buildings, where we should hardly dare to put it now, and
we cannot doubt that painted decoration was constantly made use of
with the happiest effect.

_Sculpture._

[Illustration: FIG. 30.--SCULPTURE FROM THE ENTRANCE TO THE CHAPTER
HOUSE, WESTMINSTER ABBEY. (1250.)]

The last, perhaps the noblest ornament, is sculpture. The Gothic
architects were alive to its value, and in all their best works
statues abounded; often conventional to the last degree; sometimes to
our eyes uncouth, but always the best which those who carved them
could do at the time; always sure to contribute to architectural
effect; never without a picturesque power, sometimes rising to grace
and even grandeur, and sometimes sinking to grotesque ugliness.
Whatever the quality of the sculpture was, it was always there, and
added life to the whole. Monsters gaped and grinned from the
water-spouts, little figures or strange animals twisted in and out of
the foliage at angles and bosses and corbels. Stately effigies
occupied dignifie