Weymouth, 1906.
DEDICATION.
To all those who love old buildings—cathedrals, abbeys, and village churches, which breathe the spirit of an age with which we have entirely broken—and who would fain hand down to posterity, unmutilated, the great building achievements of our forefathers, which we, with all our science, wealth, and means of curtailing labour, can no more imitate than we can reproduce the language of a Chaucer or a Shakespeare; this book is respectfully dedicated.
S. H.
| "Firm was their faith, the ancient bands, |
| The wise of heart in wood and stone, |
| Who reared with stern and trusting hands |
| Those dark grey towers of days unknown; |
| They filled the aisles with many a thought, |
| They bade each nook some truth recall |
| The pillared arch its legend brought, |
| A doctrine came with roof and wall." |
| —Hawker of Morwenstow. |
OUR HOMELAND CHURCHES
AND
HOW TO STUDY THEM.
INTRODUCTION.
However much we may admire, considered purely as art, the Pagan temples of the Greeks and Romans, we must confess that they are lacking in those high ideals and those sustained and inspired motives which seem to penetrate and permeate the buildings and churches of the Christian era. Perfect as is Greek art within its somewhat narrow limits, it is, nevertheless, cold, precise and lifeless. The Gothic buildings on the contrary are pregnant with the very spirit of life.