e
altitude of their proportion, and the general adding of refinement and
delicacy to their details.[4]

Scotland, it has been maintained by those competent to judge, can show a
continuous series of Christian structures, beginning with the primitive
cells and oratories of the early anchorites, and extending through all
the periods of mediaeval art. It exemplifies two distinctive phases of
artistic development--the first comprising the rise and decline of
Celtic Art in early Christian times, and the second allied to the
various stages of general European culture. The Celtic churches, round
towers, and sculptured monuments similar to those found in Ireland, are
followed by primitive examples of Norman work, pointing to the Saxon and
Norman influence of the eleventh century, which produced a complete
revolution in the artistic elements of the country and led to a full
development of the Romanesque or Norman style of architecture--a style
similar to the round arched architecture of other European countries in
the twelfth century. This is manifested chiefly in small parish
churches, but also in large, elaborate buildings, and one cathedral.[5]

The succeeding Gothic styles are also well represented in Scotland, and
exhibit both certain local peculiarities and a general correspondence
with the arts of the different periods in France and England. The First
Pointed style is represented in Scotland during the thirteenth century,
but owing to the disastrous situation of the country during the
fourteenth century, the number of "decorated" buildings is pronounced to
be comparatively small. On the other hand, it is maintained that during
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the "Perpendicular" style
prevailed in England and the "Flamboyant" in France, the architecture of
Scotland was distinguished by a style peculiar to the country, in which
many features derived from both the above styles may be detected.[6]
"While the mediaeval architecture of Scotland thus corresponds on the
whole with that of the rest of Europe, there exists in the ecclesiology
of the country an amount of native development sufficient to give it a
special value as one of the exponents of the art of the Middle Ages. Its
buildings further contribute largely to the illustration of the history
of the country, by showing in their remains the condition and growth of
its religious ideas and observances at different epochs, and the manner
in which its civilisatio