ise of individual expression--such, in fact, would have been
strongly resented--whereas the early Christian craftsman, revelling in
his freedom, seized every opportunity of expressing in his work his joy,
fear and hope of immortality.

This is made apparent in the study of an old church, whereof every
portion--door, window, bench-end, carving, gargoyle--has hidden about it
some suggestion of beautiful thought, or some distinct and appropriate
symbolism. The fact that symbolism underlies almost every such
indication of mediaeval thought is made abundantly manifest in the study
of mediaeval literature. Open any 12th century treatise on morals,
science or history, and you become aware of the fact at once. The
main-spring of this symbolism, of all Christian symbolism, turns on the
parabolic meaning in the scheme of Creation. The early writers were far
less concerned with recording the plain objective facts of history, than
in pursuing the allegory and the love of the marvellous, and showing
all those characteristics of what we now term an unscientific attitude
of mind.

[Illustration: The Various Forms of Arches.

Norman. Stilted. Horse Shoe.
Equilateral. Lancet. Drop.
Trefoil. Trefoil. Cinquefoil.
Ogee. Four Centered. Tudor.]

In its widest sense, symbolism means the expression of belief, and if we
would interpret history aright, we must grasp the fact that the key to
the character and disposition of peoples of all ages lies in the
knowledge of their beliefs; for out of the beliefs of one age most
surely grow the beliefs of its successors, and in no work of man's hand
are the beliefs held by various peoples in past ages more clearly
defined than in our cathedrals and churches, which noble buildings in
every civilized country indicate principles as well as facts, influences
as well as results; and while presenting the finest materials for
aesthetic study, are no less useful as indicating the psychological
peculiarities of those builders of old to whose condition they bear
witness.

In our grand specimens of ecclesiastical architecture, we may read the
world's later history, and to-day they breathe the sombre reverential
influence of a faith which sought to satisfy itself with the visible
symbolizing of those half-poetical, half-superstitious conceptions with
which the religion of the Middle Ages was so deeply imbued.

An early development of decorative