another theory is the poetical idea
that it was copied from an avenue of trees. Whether or not either of
these theories holds good, it is quite certain that this form of arch
was known in the East for centuries before it reached Europe, being
found in cisterns and tombs in Egypt and Arabia dating from long before
the Christian era.

It has also been suggested that it was introduced from the East by the
Crusaders, in which case we should have found it making its first
appearance in Hungary, Poland, Bohemia and Russia, but it so happens
that these were the very last countries in Europe to adopt the pointed
arch.

[Side note: The Transitional Period.]

The first form of the pointed arch, known as the Early English, was used
from about 1180 to 1300, including part of the reigns of Henry II.,
Richard I., John, Henry III. and Edward I. "Nothing," says the Rev. J.
M. Hutchinson, "could be more striking than the change from Norman to
Early English. The two styles were the complete opposites of each other;
the round arch was replaced by the pointed, often by the acute, lancet;
the massive piers by graceful clustered shafts; the grotesque and
rudely-sculptured capitals by foliage of the most exquisite character;
and the heavy cylindrical mouldings by bands of deeply undercut
members."

[Illustration: Arcading showing the junction of the Norman
and Early English Masonry. Dunstable Priory Church.
_Photograph H. A. Strange._]

Gothic architecture differs from all previous forms in the economical
use of material, and the small size of the stones used. Whereas in both
Roman and Norman buildings the arrangement of the materials depended
upon their strength in masses, the Gothic masons employed stones of
small size in the construction of edifices of equal strength and of far
greater magnificence; while in constructive properties the Gothic style
was a great advance on anything that had gone before, as the buildings
in this style did not depend for their stability on the vertical
pressure of columns, but on the correct adjustment of the bearings and
thrusts of different arches operating in various directions. Owing to
the fact, then, that each portion of a Gothic Church helps to support
something besides itself, it is obvious that such buildings could be
erected with a far smaller quantity of material than was previously
necessary. The various little shafts or columns are so disposed as to
distribute the weight of the superst