The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland, from the Earliest Christian Times
to the Seventeenth Century. By David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross. Vol III. (David Douglas, Edinburgh. 42s. net.) —.A. very interesting and carefully written work. The authors have compiled an immense mass of information relating to the early churches and cathedrals of Scotland, and have presented it in a style which forms an agreeable contrast to the exceeding dryness of many books on this subject. Indeed, there are many details in the volume which will be of interest even to those who do not care about ecclesiastical architecture. We fancy that more than one English prelate, in these days of restoration, will wish that he were in a position to follow the example of Bishop Cheyne, of St. Machar's, who threw down the cathedral commenced by his predecessor, "because it was not glorious enough," and began to build another. The Scottish episcopate of that day seem to have been hard to please in architectural matters; for Cheyne's building, which had been finished by Robert Bruce, was in its turn demolished by Alexander Kinnimond, the next Bishop, who began a still larger edifice. The volume now before us deals with the Late Pointed period of architecture. The most remarkable specimen of this style is undoubtedly Rosalyn Church, concerning which some interesting details are given here. It has been generally imagined that the architecture of Rosalyn was copied from foreign models ; but, according to the authors, this supposition is unnecessary, as the general style does not appear to be different from that adopted in other Scottish churches of the same epoch. The legend of the foreign origin of Rosalyn seems to be mainly attributable to Father Richard Hay, the chronicler of the St. Clairs ; but the belief, no doubt, helped to give rise to the famous story of the "'Prentice Pillar." The ecclesiastical architecture of the maliteval period terminated with the Scottish Reformation. But during the latter part of the sixteenth and the greater part of the seventeenth century there was a tendency to return to mediteval models, an attempt doubtless due, in part, to the efforts made by James I. and his successors to introduce Episcopacy into Scotland. The result of this was the springing up of two distinct styles of ecclesiastical architecture, one more or less mediteval in form, and the other—patronised by the Presbyterian party—as remote as possible from the ancient type. The latter portion of the work is devoted to these. We cannot leave it without praising the excellence of the numerous engravings, which are in themselves sufficient to render it attrac- tive.
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