32. Any high building erected above a roof is called a steeple, which is also distinguished by different appellations, according to its form: if it is square topped, it is a tower; if long and acute, a spire; or if short and light, a lantern. Towers of great height in proportion to their diameter are denominated turrets. The walls of Gothic churches are supported on the outside by lateral projections, called buttresses, which extend from the bottom to the top, at the corners and between the windows. On the top of these are slender pyramidal structures or spires, called pinnacles. The summit or upper edge of a wall, if straight, is called a parapet; if indented, a battlement.
33. Gothic pillars or columns are usually clustered, appearing as if a number were bound together. They are confined chiefly to the inside of buildings, and are generally employed in sustaining the vaults which support the roof. The parts which are thrown out of a perpendicular to assist in forming these vaults, have received the appellation of pendentives. The Gothic style of building is more imposing than the Grecian; but architects of the present day find it difficult to accomplish what was achieved by the builders of the middle ages.
34. In the erection of edifices at the present day, the Grecian and Gothic styles are chiefly employed, to the exclusion of the others, especially in Europe and America. Modern dwelling-houses have necessarily a style of their own, so far as relates to stories, windows, and chimneys; and no more of the styles of former ages can be applied to them, than what relates to the unessential and decorative parts.
PILLARS AND ENTABLATURES OF THE FIVE ORDERS.
