Bk. VI. Ch. III. CIVIL AND DOMESTIC AECHITECTURE. 199 belongs to an age when the style adopted for halls had reached its acme of perfection (middle of lf)th century), when the details of car- pentry had been mastered, but before there was any tendency to tame the deep framing down to the flatness of a ceiling. The wooden roofs of churches were generally flatter and less deeply framed than those of the halls, which may have arisen from their being smaller in span, and being placed over clerestories with little abutment to resist a thrust ; but, whether from this or any other cause, they are gen- erally less beautiful. 632. Hall of Palace at Eltliam. There are few features of Mediaeval art in this country to which attention could be more properly directed than the roof ; for, whether applied to secular or ecclesiastical buildings, the framed and carved wooden roof is essentially English in execution and application, and is one of the most beautiful and aj^propriate manifestations of our national art. Did space admit of it, it would be easy to extend these remarks, and in so doing to explain and prove a great deal which in the previous
