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THE

SEVEN PERIODS

OF

ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE.




THE
SEVEN PERIODS
OF
ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE
DEFINED AND ILLUSTRATED.

BY
EDMUND SHARPE, M.A.,
ARCHITECT.

_TWENTY STEEL ENGRAVINGS AND WOODCUTS._

THIRD EDITION.

[Illustration]

E. & F. N. SPON, 125, STRAND, LONDON.
NEW YORK: 12, CORTLANDT STREET.
1888.




PREFACE.


"We have been so long accustomed to speak of our National Architecture
in the terms, and according to the classification bequeathed to us by
Mr. Rickman, and those terms and that classification are so well
understood and have been so universally adopted, that any proposal to
supersede the one, or to modify the other, requires somewhat more than
a mere apology. To disturb a Nomenclature of long standing, to set
aside terms in familiar use, and to set up others in their place which
are strange, and therefore at first unintelligible, involves an
interruption of that facility with which we are accustomed to
communicate with one another on any given subject, that is only to be
justified by reasons of a cogent and satisfactory nature.

"The sufficiency of Mr. Rickman's Nomenclature and Divisions, and their
suitableness at the time and for the purpose for which they were made,
are best evidenced by the fact that, although the attempts to supersede
them have been both numerous and persevering, they have remained for
nearly half a century the principal guide to the Architectural Student;
and Mr. Rickman's 'Attempt to discriminate the Styles of Architecture
in England,' is still the Text-book from which the greater part of the
popular works of the present day have been compiled.

"In referring, however, to these attempts to supersede Mr. Rickman's
system, it is proper to remark that one observation applies to the
whole of them;--although they propose to change the Nomenclature of his
different styles, or to subdivide them, his main division of English
Architecture into four great Periods or Styles, is adopted by all, and
still remains undisturbed. No point, therefore, has been hitherto
proposed to be gained by these alterations, beyond a change of name;
and this may be taken as a sufficient reason why none of these attempts
have been successful: men are not willing to