ce,
whether a given building be good Gothic or not, and, if not Gothic,
whether its architecture is of a kind which will probably reward the
pains of careful examination.

Sec. CVII. First. Look if the roof rises in a steep gable, high above the
walls. If it does not do this, there is something wrong; the building is
not quite pure Gothic, or has been altered.

Sec. CVIII. Secondly. Look if the principal windows and doors have pointed
arches with gables over them. If not pointed arches, the building is not
Gothic; if they have not any gables over them, it is either not pure, or
not first-rate.

If, however, it has the steep roof, the pointed arch, and gable all
united, it is nearly certain to be a Gothic building of a very fine
time.

Sec. CIX. Thirdly. Look if the arches are cusped, or apertures foliated.
If the building has met the first two conditions, it is sure to be
foliated somewhere; but, if not everywhere, the parts which are unfoliated
are imperfect, unless they are large bearing arches, or small and sharp
arches in groups, forming a kind of foliation by their own multiplicity,
and relieved by sculpture and rich mouldings. The upper windows, for
instance, in the east end of Westminster Abbey are imperfect for want of
foliation. If there be no foliation anywhere, the building is assuredly
imperfect Gothic.

Sec. CX. Fourthly. If the building meets all the first three conditions,
look if its arches in general, whether of windows and doors, or of minor
ornamentation, are carried on _true shafts with bases and capitals_. If
they are, then the building is assuredly of the finest Gothic style. It
may still, perhaps, be an imitation, a feeble copy, or a bad example of
a noble style; but the manner of it, having met all these four
conditions, is assuredly first-rate.

If its apertures have not shafts and capitals, look if they are plain
openings in the walls, studiously simple, and unmoulded at the sides;
as, for instance, the arch in Plate XIX. Vol. I. If so, the building may
still be of the finest Gothic, adapted to some domestic or military
service. But if the sides of the window be moulded, and yet there are no
capitals at the spring of the arch, it is assuredly of an inferior
school.

This is all that is necessary to determine whether the building be of a
fine Gothic style. The next tests to be applied are in order to discover
whether it be good architecture or not: for it may be very impure
Gothic, and