1328); _b_, one of the lateral porches at Abbeville;
_c_, one of the uppermost points of the great western facade of Rouen
Cathedral; both these last being, I believe, early work of the fifteenth
century. The forms of the pure early English and French Gothic are too
well known to need any notice; my reason will appear presently for
choosing, by way of example, these somewhat rare conditions.

[Illustration: Fig. X.]

Sec. LXXXVII. But, first, let us try whether we cannot get the forms of
the other great architectures of the world broadly expressed by relations
of the same lines into which we have compressed the Gothic. We may easily
do this if the reader will first allow me to remind him of the true
nature of the pointed arch, as it was expressed in Sec. X. Chap. X. of
the first volume. It was said there, that it ought to be called a "curved
gable," for, strictly speaking, an "arch" cannot be "pointed." The
so-called pointed arch ought always to be considered as a gable, with
its sides curved in order to enable them to bear pressure from without.
Thus considering it, there are but three ways in which an interval
between piers can be bridged,--the three ways represented by A, B, and
C, Fig. XI.,[70] on page 213,--A, the lintel; B, the round arch; C, the
gable. All the architects in the world will never discover any other
ways of bridging a space than these three; they may vary the curve of
the arch, or curve the sides of the gable, or break them; but in doing
this they are merely modifying or subdividing, not adding to the generic
forms.

Sec. LXXXVIII. Now there are three good architectures in the world, and
there never can be more, correspondent to each of these three simple
ways of covering in a space, which is the original function of all
architectures. And those three architectures are _pure_ exactly in
proportion to the simplicity and directness with which they express the
condition of roofing on which they are founded. They have many
interesting varieties, according to their scale, manner of decoration,
and character of the nations by whom they are practised, but all their
varieties are finally referable to the three great heads:--

A, Greek: Architecture of the Lintel.
B, Romanesque: Architecture of the Round Arch.
C, Gothic: Architecture of the Gable.

[Illustration: Fig. XI.]

The three names, Greek, Romanesque, and Gothic, are indeed inaccurate
when used in this vast sense, because they imply nati