Shorter Notices
English Church Architecture. By W. H. Riley. (Hodder and Stoughton. 73. 6d.)
THE study of mediaeval churches involves the appreciation of a whole civilisation, so that no one book on them can cover more than one aspect of the topic. This short work professedly confines itself, by question and answer, to making clear the differences between the successive styles of building and adornment found in nine centuries of church art in this country. Within the limitations of his approach Mr. Riley has written helpfully, greatly aided by photo- graphs and by his own excellent drawings to guide the inexpert visitor through the succes- sion from Saxon Romanesque to mid-Tudor Perpendicular. The author's approach is stylistic rather than functional, and he is more at home with the details of architec- ture and carving than with the corporate or liturgical life that mediaeval churches were built to enshrine ; he says nothing, for instance, on chantries which are important features of many major churches and need their explanation. Nor, in so short a book, can he touch on the comparison between our own British Gothic and the styles and designs prevalent abroad. Mr. Riley per- haps adheres a little closer than modem studies justify to Rickman's century-old allocation of styles to dynasties, but he gives good material for judging such matters as the differences between the three " pointed ", phases ; here he can be of help to many' more than the inexpert. It is curious, how- ever, that he surveys the main points of Norman without reference either to the pioneering rib-vaults .or to any other
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