KNIGHT'S TOUR IN NORMANDY.
THIS is a valuable contribution to the literature of Architecture, and interesting also as a picturesque journey. The object of the author was, by a personal inspection of the principal remains of antiquity in Normandy, in company with a professional architect, to throw some light on the much-mooted question as to the date and origin of the pointed style of architecture ; and the result of his investigation is, that the pointed style did not exist in Nor- mandy in the eleventh century, as asserted by the Norman Society of Antiquaries. Mr. KNIGHT is of opinion that the change from the semicircular to the pointed arch commenced at first with the vaulting of the roof; this being followed by the introduction of long lancet-shaped windows, until the doors, the arches of the nave, and the whole building, became of the pointed character. He does not specify the origin of the pointed arch to have been in the intersection of two semicircular niches; but this was obviously the case. Completeness is given to the view of the subject by two chapters devoted to a sketch of Norman Architecture in its native country, and in England. The volume is illustrated by several very neat lithographic outlines of Norman Cathedrals, by
C. BURTON.
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