154 ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. Part II. in the world which can vie with this part of the choir of Ely for poetry of design or beauty of detail. The perfection of ])roportion, as of many other things, was reached in Westminster Abbey (1245-1269). Here the whole height is divided into two equal parts, and the iipl)er subdivided into three, of which one is allotted to the tri- foriuni, and two to the clerestory. It is true this involves the neces- sity of springing the vault from a point half-way down the clere- story windows, and thus the lines of the severeys do not quite accord with those of the lights ; but at best it is a choice of diffi- culties, and the happy medium 586. Two Bays of the Nave of Westminster Abbey. Scale 25 ft. to 1 in. 587. OiR' l!;iv ot Catbe<lral at Exeter .Scale 25 ft. to 1 in. seems to have been reached here more successfully than elsewhere. The proportion of the width of a bay to its height is here also most pleasing ; it is as 1 to 5^.^ Sometimes, as at Exeter, it sinks as low as 1 in 3, but the whole effect of the building is very much destroyed bv the chanoe. ' In Woodcut No. 586 the right-hand bay is that of the nave generally, the left-hand bay is adapted to the greater width of the aisle of the transept, and is less pleasingly proportioned in con- sequence. Woodcuts Nos. 586 and 587 are drawn to the scale of 25 feet to 1 inch, or double that usually employed for elevations in this work.
