ance with its principles. The study should not be
looked upon as pertaining exclusively to the functions of an architect,
nor as having only an accidental connection with particular crafts. It
must be remembered that in the old days mason and carpenter were both
craftsmen and architects, and the sculptor and wood-carver had an equal
share in creating every feature which gives any distinction of style to
the buildings that were the outcome of their united efforts. So,
instead of looking upon the subject as only a study of dates for the
antiquary, and rules of construction for the architect, the carver
should take his own view, and regard architecture for the time being as
what in some sense it really is: a very large kind of carving, which
includes and gives reason for his own particular branch. The importance
of the subject is proved by the experience of centuries; history showing
plainly how the two arts grew in strength and beauty only when closely
associated, and shared each other's fate in proportion to their
estrangement.

In this place I can say but very little upon such a vast subject; all I
can do is to call your attention to one or two examples of carved work
combined with structural carpentry, in order that you may see for
yourselves what a power of effect lies in that union, and how by
contrast it enhances the value and interest of both. I do this in the
hope that it may possibly lead you to a more complete study of
architecture, for which there is no lack of opportunity in books and
museums, but more especially in what remains of the old buildings
themselves, with which a familiar and personal acquaintance will be
much better than a theoretical or second-hand one.

No carver with a healthy ambition can long continue to make designs and
produce them in wood without feeling intensely the want of some
architectural occasion for his efforts. Had he only a barge-board to
carve, or the canopy of a porch, it would be such a relief to turn to
its large and general treatment after a course of the panels and
ornaments peculiar to domestic furniture. Look, for instance, at the
carved beams of the aisle roof in Mildenhall Church given in Plate III,
and think what a fund of powerful suggestion lay in the bare timbers
before they were embellished by the carver with lion, dragon, and
knight. Even the carpenter became inspired with a desire to make
something ornamental of his own department, and has shaped and carved
(lit