The long promised new edition of Rickman's invaluable treatise has at length appeared, and the expectations of it which have been raised will not be disappointed. It is published in a style worthy of the intrinsic value and established character of the work; its general appearance reminds us forcibly of the Glossary of Architecture from the same press, and those who possess the one will welcome the other as the fitting Grammar to accompany their Dictionary; the two will henceforward be almost inseparable, and together will form the most complete treatise on Gothic Architecture which is extant in our own, or any other language. It is remarkable that Rickman's work, though it was the first on the subject, is still the best; we may say the only really systematic and scientific treatise that we possess. Notwithstanding all the talk about it that we have had of late years, and the number of pretty books that have been published, the result has been only to dilute and bring down to the comprehension of the million those facts which Rickman alone had reduced to system and order, and the knowledge of which had previously been confined to a few.
Notwithstanding the outcry which has been raised in some quarters against the system of Rickman, his work remains unapproached, and his simple easy nomenclature is universally established, and generally used even by those who are the loudest in their complaints against it.
Let us examine a little in detail the slight and superficial grounds on which these objections have been founded. The names Saxon and Norman are so purely historical that no one objects to them, though an attempt has been made to swamp them in the general term Romanesque, embracing all the varieties of debased Roman work and the imitations of it. These are so various in themselves, that some distinctive names were necessary, and without objecting to the use of the general term, (Mr. Rickman's work being confined to England did not require it,) we may observe in passing that those who employ it do not seem to have agreed among themselves whether the Byzantine style is included in it or not. Such general terms indicate and encourage a confusion of ideas rather than a real increase of knowledge.
The first term of Rickman's invention which is cried out against is "The Early English style of Gothic Architecture." Now for the word Gothic it is useless to contend, it is established by the common consent of the civilised world; it was first given in mockery, but is now cordially adopted. The
