to
produce an outline satisfactory to the eye; or, more
frequently, to obtain a play of light and shade, and to
produce the appearance of a line or a series of lines, broad
or narrow, and of varying intensity of lightness or shade in
the building or some of its features.

The contour which a moulding would present when cut across
in a direction at right angles to its length is called its
profile.

The profile of mouldings varied with each style of
architecture and at each period (Figs. _W_ to _Z_). When
ornaments are carved out of some of the moulded surfaces the
latter are technically termed enriched mouldings. The
enrichments in use varied with each style and each period,
as the mouldings themselves did.

MULLION.--The upright bars of stone frequently employed
(especially in Gothic architecture) to subdivide one window
into two or more lights.

NAVE.--(1) The central avenue of a church or cathedral; (2)
the western part of a church as distinguished from the
chancel or choir; (3) occasionally, any avenue in the
interior of a building which is divided by one or more rows
of columns running lengthways is called a nave.

NECKING (of a column).--The point (usually marked by a
fillet or other small projecting moulding) where the shaft
ends and the capital begins.

NEWEL POST.--The stout post at the foot of a staircase from
which the balustrade or the handrail starts.

[Illustration: FIG. _W_.--ARCH MOULDING. (Gothic, 12th
Century.)]

[Illustration: FIG. _Y_.--ARCH MOULDING. (Decorated, 14th
Century.)]

[Illustration: FIG. _Z_.--ARCH MOULDING. (Gothic, 13th
Century.)]

NICHE.--A recess in a wall for a statue, vase, or other
upright ornament.

NORMAN.--The architecture of England from the Norman
Conquest till the latter part of the twelfth century.

OGEE.--A moulding or line of part concave and part convex
curvature (see Fig. _E_, showing an ogee-shaped arch).

OGIVAL.--Ogee-shaped (see Fig. 54).

OPEN TRACERY.--Tracery in which the spaces between the bars
are neither closed by slabs of stone nor glazed.

ORDER.--(1) In Classical and Renaissance architecture a
single column or pilaster and its appropriate entablature or
superstructure; (2) a series of columns or pilasters with
their entablature