"There can be no doubt, too, that the high-pitch better suits our variable climate than any other. I fear, however, that many of those which were built but a few years since are not very enduring. Young, or badly-seasoned wood, thin, poor timbers, which cannot last long, have too often been put into the roof. Sometimes this has been the dishonest act of the builder; but we have been too much in the habit of building for ourselves only—not like our forefathers, who put up those big masses of timber over our heads. They built for themselves and for posterity too.
"'They dreamt not of a perishable home,
Who thus could build[189].'"
"Ah, yes! and that is, of course, especially true of those who erected the noble stone roofs of our cathedrals, and many parish churches too. Nothing, of course, can equal the stone roof with its beautiful carvings and mouldings, richly gilt and coloured. Nothing like stone for colour! How very beautiful is the deep blue, with its golden stars, over the altar in our own cathedral! They look well in our own church, but the colours are richer there, not so much faded. That representation of Heaven's canopy mantling over the most holy part of our church always seems to me so very appropriate and suggestive."
"It is a matter of surprise to me," said the Squire, "that more care has not generally been taken to beautify the external part of our church roofs. What relief is given to the long line of a nave roof by a good patterned row of ridge tiles, or by some ornamental ironwork on the ridge! The gable cross considerably relieves the chancel roof. And where the roof is of stone, why don't we have richly-carved external, as well as internal, stone-work? That, to my mind, is the perfection of a stone roof[190]."
At this point, the attention of both was directed to little Harry, old Matthew's grandson, who, with a fixed expression of deep thoughtfulness, was looking up to wards the roof of the church.
"Why so very serious just now, my dear boy? What may your thoughts be about, Harry?" said the Vicar.
"Please, sir, I was wondering what they used to do with the roof-gallery, where we've been putting the evergreens?"
"What does he mean by the roof-gallery?" said Mr. Acres.
"Oh, he means the triforium[191]."
"I must confess that is still more unintelligible to me. Please explain it to me, as well as to Harry, for we are evidently equally ignorant about it."