A B C of Gothic Architecture

202 THE PEKPEITDICULAR STYLE.
"
The
Towees in this styleare frequentlyextremely
rich and elaboratelyornamented, having four or five
storeys of large windows with rich canopies,pinnacles,
and tabernacles; double buttresses at the angles,and
rich deep open parapets, with pinnaclesand crocketed
turrets at the corners, having small flyingor hanging
pinnacles attached. These very gorgeous towers are
chiefly found in Somersetshire,as at "Wrington,Taun-
Brislington,Dundry, "c. There are, however, few
which, for beauty of proportion and chasteness of composition,
can rival that of Magdalen College,Oxford.
In that example the lower storeys are extremely plain,
all the ornament being reserved for the belfry-windows^
the parapet, and pinnacles; by this judicious arrangement
the eye
takes in the whole subject at once, thus
giving to it a solemnityand a repose
by the more gorgeous specimens
which are not attained
before referred
to. This tower was originally intended to stand alone,
as a campanile, or belfryṯo wer ; the buildings which
have been erected on two sides of it are of a subsequent
period. At the time it was building,"Wolsey,
afterwards the celebrated Cardinal and Prime Minister
of Henry YIII., was a Fellow of this College,and held
the office of Bursar ; tradition gives him the credit of
the design,there is no better authorityfor this but it
is probably true he was a great builder.