CwiV. II. HYZAXTINE AND ROMANESQUE.

i\H
exterior of its base semicircular headed windows are introduced, eacli of whlcli is subdivided
into two apertures of similar forms. Between every two piers Iiemicylindrica! recesses are
formed, each covered by a semidome, whose vertex is 48 ft. from the pavement, and each
of them contains two wind')ws subdivided into three spaces by two columns of tlie Corin-
thian order, supporting semicircular-headed arches. Ik'tween the piers and tlie external
walls are two corridors, which surround the wl'.v)le building, in two stories, one above the
other, each covered by hcmicylindrical vaulting. Tlie uijjier corridor above the vault
is covered with a sloping or leanto roof We have before noticed the introduction of vases
in the spandrels at the Circus of Caracalla ; and we cannot help being struck with the
similarity of construction in the instance above cited. It fully bears out tiie observation of
IMilller (Deiiknialilcr der Deutschen Bauhinist),
"
that, though beauty of proportion seems to
have been unappreciated in these ages, and architecture was confined witliin a servile imi-
tation of the earlier forms, the art of compounding cement, the proper selection of build-
ing materials, and an intimate acquaintance with the princii)les of solid construction with
wliich the ancients were so conversant, were fully imderstood."
2S;5. The a?ra of Charlemagne, which opened after the middle of the eighth century and
continued into the early part of the ninth, gave rise to many grand edifices dedicated to
Christianity. This extraordinary man, rising to extensive dominion, did much towards re-
storing the arts and civilisation.
"
jNIeanwIiile, in the south-east," says an intelligent
anonymous writer, "the decrepid Grecian empire, itself maintaining but a sickly existence,
'.lad nevertheless continued so far to stretch a protecting wing over them [the arts] that
they never had there equally approached extinction. It seems probable that Charlemagne
drew thence the architect and artisans who were capable of designing and building such a
church as the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, in Germany."
"
If Charlemagne," says Gibbon,
"
had fixed in Italy the seat of the Western empire, his genius would have aspired to re-
store, rather than violate, the works of the C;csars
;
but as policy confined the French
monarch to the forests of Germany, his taste could be gratified only by destruction, and
the new palace and church of Aix-la-Cliapelle were decorated with the marbles of Kaveima
and Rome." The fact is, that the Byzantine or Romanesque style continued, with various
decrees of beauty, over the Continent, and in this country, till it was superseded by the in-
troduction of the pointed style. WoUcr, from whom wc extract/?//. 14G. which represents
the portico of the Convent of Lorsch, situate about two and a half German miles from
Darmstadt, considers it as all that remains of the first churcli built in the time of Cliarle-
magne. The same learned author observes, that, on comparison with each other of tlie
ancient churches of Germany, two leading differences are discoverable in their styles, of
which all others are grades or combinations. 'Vhc fist, or earliest, whose origin is from the
South, is, though in its later period much degenerated, of a highly finished character,
distinguished by forms and decorations resembling those of Roman buildings, by flat roofs,
by hemicylindrical vaults, and by great solidity of construction. The aecowl and later stv'in
fstill preserves the semicircular forms ; but the liigh pitched roof, more adapted to tlie season.'!