did not allow of any attempt to imitate Roman columns, as
in Normandy, we find the arches supported as a rule on
piers. It should be remembered also that Norman archi-
tecture was derived through Burgundy from Lombardy,
where the supply of columns appears to have been exhausted
quite early, and piers had become the rule. The streams of
development rising from these two sources soon run into
one, but certain differences, due throughout to their different
origin, should be borne in mind.

We will begin with the Ile de France, starting with the cathedral of Notre Dame, where, as in most of the churches of earlier date, the nave arches are carried by cylindrical columns, with very large square cap- itals of extremely beauti- ful and somewhat class- ical character, forming a most impressive arched colonnade. On these capitals, on the nave side, stand the bases of three slender shafts which rise up through the triforium and carry the transverse arches and diagonal ribs of the high vault. The arrangement was illogical and the effect of these shafts standing on the great capital unsupported from below was unsatisfactory, so at Laon other shafts are placed below them (p. 115), and at Paris, in finishing the nave, the last two columns have an engaged three-quarter colonnette in front of the big one, in one case with its own capital carrying the three bases, in the other running up through a mere band and supporting the shaft carrying the transverse arch. It was already felt that to maintain the principle of each arch or rib being carried by its own shaft with a base on the ground-level was more important than to keep the aspect of an unbroken colonnade. Indeed, this principle had already been carried Out fully in the aisles.

[G. H. W. COLUMNS IN NOTRE DAME

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