VII. GOTHIC PALACES 323

pointed arch occurs earlier, and much oftener, in doorways than in window-heads; lastly, that the entrance itself, if small, is nearly always square-headed in the earliest examples, without any arch above, but afterwards the arch is thrown across above the lintel. The interval between the two, or tympanum, is filled with sculpture, or closed by iron bars, with sometimes a projecting gable, to form a porch, thrown over the whole, as in the perfect example, 7 a, Plate 14 above. The other examples in the two lower lines 6 and 7 of that Plate are each characteristic of an enormous number of doors, variously decorated, from the thirteenth to the close of the fifteenth century. The particulars of their mouldings are given in the final Appendix.¹

§ 55. It was useless, on the small scale of this Plate, to attempt any delineation of the richer sculptures with which the arches are filled; so that I have chosen for it the simplest examples I could find of the forms to be illustrated: but, in all the more important instances, the door-head is charged either with delicate ornaments and inlaid patterns in variously coloured brick, or with sculptures, consisting always of the shield or crest of the family, protected by an angel. Of these more perfect doorways I have given three examples carefully, in my folio work;² but I must repeat here one part of the account of their subjects given in its text, for the convenience of those to whom the larger work may not be accessible.

§ 56. “In the earlier ages, all agree thus far, that the name of the family is told, and together with it there is always an intimation that they have placed their defence and their prosperity in God’s hands; frequently accompanied with some general expression of benediction to the person passing over the threshold. This is the general theory of an old Venetian doorway;-the theory of modern doorways remains to be explained: it may be studied to advantage in our rows of new-built houses, or rather of

¹ [See in the next volume, Appendix 10 (ii.).]

² [See Plates 11, 12, and 13 in the Examples (Vol. XI.). The following passage is from the letterpress to Plate 11.]

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