. Norway in 1848 and 1849: containing rambles among the fjelds and fjords of the central and western districts; and including remarks on its political, military, ecclesiastical, and social organization . my friend to make a sketch of it, which I proposepresenting to the reader. It would be needless,therefore, that I should attempt to describe it. The 174 ANCIENT DOORWAY age is probably of the eleventh century, when thesemi-circular Norman arch first gave way to the pointed style, withits long narrowlancet-headed win-dows and doors,the shafts of whichstill frequently re-tained, as in thisinstan
. Norway in 1848 and 1849: containing rambles among the fjelds and fjords of the central and western districts; and including remarks on its political, military, ecclesiastical, and social organization . my friend to make a sketch of it, which I proposepresenting to the reader. It would be needless,therefore, that I should attempt to describe it. The 174 ANCIENT DOORWAY age is probably of the eleventh century, when thesemi-circular Norman arch first gave way to the pointed style, withits long narrowlancet-headed win-dows and doors,the shafts of whichstill frequently re-tained, as in thisinstance, the zig-zag or sharks toothornament. Of thisstyle, which wecall early Eng-lish, are most ofthe oldest stonechurches in Nor-way. But churches ofstone are, as I havealready had oc-casion to observe,rare in Norway; so, indeed, are all buildings of veryconsiderable antiquity. Ruins of feudal castles andcloistered abbeys have no place in Norwegian scen-ery. This is readily accounted for by the want ofthose oolites and sandstones in the geological for-mation of the country, Avhich admit of being workedwith so much facility into the forms which archi-tectural ornament requires. The abundance of fine. NORWEGIAN ARCHITECTURE. 175 and durable and easily worked timber led to its uni-versal adoption in buildings of all descriptions. ingeniously attributes the superior degree offreedom enjoyed by the peasants of Norway in theearly ages to the absence of those strongholds withwhich almost all the rest of Europe was at that timeoverspread. Instead of shutting themselves up withintowers and battlements, and exercising by their re-tainers an iron sway over the defenceless tenants ofthe soil, the Vikings launched their ships, and led themore adventurous spirits of the nation to the spoiland conquest of other shores. It is, therefore, altogether a mistake to imagine, asI have seen somewhere suggested, but have not beenable again to lay my hand on the passage, that theorigin of Gothic
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