estminster Abbey (Fig. 6).

CHOIR.--The part of a church in which the services are
celebrated; usually, but not always, the east end or
chancel. In a Spanish church the choir is often at the
crossing.

CLERESTORY.--The upper story or row of windows lighting the
nave of a Gothic church.

CLOISTER.--A covered way round a quadrangle of a monastic
building.

CLUSTERED (SHAFTS).--Grouped so as to form a pier of some
mass out of several small shafts.

CORBEL.--A projecting stone (or timber) supporting, or
seeming to support, a weight (Fig. _K_).

[Illustration: FIG. _K_.--EARLY RENAISSANCE CORBEL.]

CORBELLING.--A series of mouldings doing the same duty as a
corbel; a row of corbels.

CORBEL TABLE.--A row of corbels supporting an overhanging
parapet or cornice.

CORTILE (Italian).--The internal arcaded quadrangle of a
palace, mansion, or public building.

COLUMN.--A stone or marble post, divided usually into base,
shaft, and capital; distinguished from a pier by the shaft
being cylindrical or polygonal, and in one, or at most, in
few pieces.

CORNICE.--The projecting and crowning portion of an order
(which see) or of a building, or of a stage or story of a
building.

COURSE.--A horizontal layer of stones in the masonry of a
building.

CROCKET.--A tuft of leaves arranged in a formal shape, used
to decorate ornamental gables, the ribs of spires, &c.

[Illustration: FIG. _Q_.--DECORATED CROCKET.]

[Illustration: FIG. _R_.--PERPENDICULAR CROCKET.]

CROSSING.--The intersection (which see) in a church or
cathedral.

CROSS VAULT.--A vault of which the arched surfaces intersect
one another, forming a groin (which see).

CRYPT.--The basement under a church or other building
(almost invariably vaulted).

CUSP.--The projecting point thrown out to form the
leaf-shaped forms or foliations in the heads of Gothic
windows, and in tracery and panels.

DEC. } The Gothic architecture of the fourteenth century
DECORATED. } in England. _Abbreviated_ Dec.

DETAIL.--The minuter features of a design or building,
especially its mouldings and carving.

DIAPER (Gothic).--An uniform pattern of leaves or flowers
carved or painted on the surface of a wall.

[Illustration: FIG. _S_.--DIAPER IN SPANDREL, FROM