BOOKS.
SAXON ARCHITECTURE.* PROFESSOR BALDWIN BROWN has chosen for the purposes of research a province of knowledge hitherto but little explored. The art and history of the Saxons are not of engrossing interest to many. The domination of Rome still holds us, and there is a fascination in the records of our country from the time that the Normans began their work of civilisation. But to the general the Saxons appear barbarous, —barbarous in their names, their language, their art (or the lack of it). To demonstrate the injustice of the common view is the pmpose of Professor Baldwin Brown's erudite volumes, and it may be conceded at once that he has made out a good case.
At the same time, he has not avoided the common pitfall of historians. He is too apt to think that his geese are swans. "That the Middle Ages in Western Europe should have become one of the great artistic epochs of the world is," says he, "not a little paradoxical." "The Middle Ages " is a vague term, but if Professor Brown includes within them the Saxon period, it would be hard to accept his paradox. Nor can we agree with him that "in the mediaeval workshop the trans- formation of the thing of use into a thing of beauty proceeded without observation or comment." The creation of a thing of beauty is, we believe, always conscious, never accidental, and the curious roughness, the barbaric . enrichment, which characterised much early work in architecture and sculpture .proceeded not from want of observation or comment, but from the artist's difficulty in dealing with a stubborn and
• The Arts in Eaks England. By G. Baldwin Bioven,21.A. 2 vols. London • John Murray. [32s. int..'
untried material. However, William Morris long ago made the sentiment underlying Professor Brown's paradoxes fashionable, and it is not easily dislodged. The system of the factory is no doubt a bad system, but between the awkward- ness of the primitives and the decadence of the factory there lies a long period of artistic accomplishment, in which not even Professor Brown would assert that use passed into beauty uncommented and unobserved.
By far the more important part of the Professor's treatise is devoted to architecture, and we cannot too highly praise the method of his argument. The churches of England, whether in town or village, have for more than a thousand years been the centre of English life. Not only their remote- ness, but the sanctity of their purpose, has secured them against the rude assaults of battering times. Castles and fortresses, the last refuge of warriors, have too often been razed to the ground to make way for the dwelling-places of peace. But the churches of England have for the most part known but one enemy,—the restorer. It is an erroneous fancy of those who deplore the iniquities of their own age that restoration is a modern vice. Alas I the restorer is as old as architecture. "Wretches that we are," wrote Wulfstan of Worcester (quoted by Professor Brown), "we destroy the work of our saintly forbears because we think in our pride we could do better." In these words Wulfstan not only expressed the sentiment of respect for ancient buildings which has always been professed and always outraged, but he pays an eloquent tribute to the excellence of Saxon architecture. However, the restorer never abated his energy, and many of our cathedral churches bear upon their walls a history of all the styles. Norman was obscured by Early English, Early English was elaborated into Decorated, the broad windows of the Per- pendicular fashion let light into the obscurity of older churches. Then came the Jacobean architects, who adorned many a Gothic church with high-backed, curiously carved pews; and they after a long interval have been followed by the modern restorer, who, having nothing of his own to offer, has generally been content to undo the work of as many of his predecessors as possible; or, being pursued by a passion for one style, has attempted to give a false homogeneity to a com- posite building. But, as a rule, each restorer has left traces of what went before, and the trained eye can disengage suc- cessive styles, as geologists separate the strata of the earth. And Professor Brown has set himself the difficult task of discovering whatever traces of Saxon architecture may be left in the churches of England.
It is not strange that he has found most of his material in remote villages, which from poverty or lack of enterprise have more often escaped the restorer's pick than prosperous cities. Nor can it be said that his diligent search has been
ivadequately rewarded. Some three hundred and fifty examples "have been signalised as showing signs of Saxon origin." And what is noteworthy, the marks of Saxon archi- tecture may be detected chiefly in the Midland and Eastern
Counties of England. Moreover, it is not a mere idle pastime to discover where and how the signs of Saxon architecture are distributed. Some lessons of history may be read in the stones of churches, and Professor Brown's zeal needs no apology. If it be a "fad," it is a fad that is justified by the curiosity of its results. A piece of ancient wall is better worth " collect- ing " and ticketing than a postage-stamp, and the results registered in these two volumes are interesting to historian and architect alike. How, then, shall we discover the hand of the Saxon architect? The signs are neither few nor doubtful. If the tower rise "gaunt and smooth," broken only by a single string-course, you may be on the track of the Saxon style. Again, if the length of the nave be great in proportion to its width, the presumption is in your favour. But neither of these signs is infallible, and they are only useful for corroboration, or to stimulate a deeper inquiry. Doubtful also is the evidence afforded by the plinth. For a Saxon wall may or may not have a plinth or base-moulding. But happily for Professor Brown's thesis, there are other marks upon which we 'may rely with a firmer confidence. The corners of the wall betray its origin. What is called long-and-short work is peculiarly characteristic of Saxon quoining. Even more convincing is the "pilaster strip." The buttress, common in Norman architecture, was unknown to the Saxon builders, who broke up the plain spaces of their
walls with mere strips or pilasters, intended not to strengthen the wall, but to add variety to the design. If, therefore, you find a pilaster strip where in later architecture you would find a buttress, you may safely conclude that you are in the presence of a Saxon church. The windows of a belfry, too, will afford an important testimony. It is in these terms that Professor Brown describes their characteristics :—" Each half of the aperture is covered by a small round arch, and between these a bit of the wall would be left suspended in the air were it not held beneath by a flat stone slab of sufficient area, that is itself sustained by a single prop in the form of a stone fiblit that stands under the shaft of it." Now this prop is gener- ally a baluster, and if you find an opening thus fashioned in a belfry with a baluster shaft, the church to which it belongs is older than the Norman domination. The doorways, more- over, have their own tale to tell. The Saxons were wont to place these north and south, often opposite one to the other, at no great distance from the western end. Here some ingenuity is required to detect the ancient style, for later architects blocked up the doors which did not accord with their own scheme, and the explorer must be content with vague indications obscured within the wall of the nave. Then, again, there is the volute, which reveals the Saxon capital, and though it should be remembered that herring-bone masonry, which once was thought a clear proof of the Saxon style, is delusive, it will be seen from Pro. fessor Brown's book that the antiquarian need not despair. The church of Wing, in Buckinghamshire, for instance, would appear to the casual observer a sad result of many and too zealous restorations, but to one who has studied these two volumes the apse instantly reveals its Saxon origin ; and Professor Brown may congratulate himself that he has not only explored a rarely trod path of research, but has suggested to the intelligent traveller a new source of interest and curiosity.
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