Chap. III.

MASONRY. 611
Fill. 662/t. shows the mode by wliich, from tlie key-stone of an arch apprcachinji a semi-
circular form, and suspended or elongated beyond its ordinary dei)lli, support is i;iven mr
the springing of the vaults of ihe ditl'erent bays. On this i)ractice I'hilibert De Lonne
observes,
'*
Les ouvriers ne font seulement une clef au droict de la croist'e d'ogives, mais
M
See auothcr section and! Fis. 6G2t. [plan, figs. 1322 and 15:3.
jussi plusieurs quand ils veulent rendre plus riches leurs voutes, comme aux clefs ou s'assem-
blent les tierccrons et Hemes, et lieiix oii ils ont mis quelquefois des rempants, qui vont
d'une branche a I'autre, et toinbent sur les clefs susptndues, les unes etant circulaires, les
aiitres en fa9on de soufflet, avec des guymberges, mouchettes, claire- voyes, feidllages, crestes
de choux et plusieurs bestions et animaux : qui etoient trouves fort beaux du temps qu'on
faisoit telles sortes de voutes, pour lors appelees des ouvriers (ainsi que nous avons dictj
\oiites a la mode fran^oise."
"JOO'Jtv. We have shown above the mode of suspending the pendent in a polygonal
building. The Jit/. 662/., by a little consideration, will explain the mode of suspending
pendents not centrically situate, as in theose of the ceiling of Henry the Seventh's Chapel,
whose date runs coincident with the Flamboyant period. The figure is a transverse section
and plan of the vaulting of the building, in which one of the main arches, on which the whole
construction depends, springs just below A, and reaches its summit ;it 13. Tiie voussoirs or
areii-stones whereof it consists are marked in their order. The dotted interval from a to b
is not to be considered as an interruption of the formation of the arch i)y the pendent, but
may i)e supposed an imaginary line passing through it, or rather througli the arch-stone or
voiissoir C, whose general form is narked by the bounding letters cdefba ;
so that, in
fact, the pendent is nothinx more, as in the case of the Lady Chapel at Caudeliec, than a
voussoir, a large part whereof hangs down below the face of ihe vaulting. The voussoirs are
out of blocks about 3 feet 6 inches deep; but a considerable portion of the solid below the
soffite of the arch is cut away to form the lobes of the cinquefoils. The arch D serves, by
its connection with the walls, to stiHen and give weight to the arch where it would be most
required, that is, towards the s])ringing. The pendent or voussoir E, on tiie same block
witli C, being tiius established in its place, .serves at, or towards its foot, as a springer for
the ribs of a fanwork tracery shown on the plan, whose ribs are, in fact, ribs of a dome, and
in construction do not diH'er from it. Their section is shadowed somewhat lighter than tl.s
pendent voussoir. The fanwork round each affords the means of introducing another
pendent at ils meeting at F in the plan. (This pendent is shown at F in the two sections
given in Pkincii'les of Puofortion.
)
The /(ire vault is very properly distinguished by
Piof. Willis from what he calls the stelhir vault, which is formed of ribs that may be, and
indeed fre<juently are. of different curvature, and the rays of the star of ditl'erent lengths
;
whereas the fan vault consists of ribs of the same cur\ature and height, ad the summit
of the fan is bounded (,see the yr^. ) by a horizontal circular rib, instead of the ends of
lozenges forming the points of the star.
"
The effect of the fan is that of a solid of revolu-
tion, upon whose surface panels are sunk.: the effect of the star is that of a group of
branching ribs." It is manifest that the constructive details of these two sorts of vaulting
are vastly different. In the one, the de|)cndence is upon ribs which support, by rebates on
them, the tilling-in panels; while in the other tlie principle is similar to tliat of dome-
vaulting. This will be immediately perceived by refeience to the plan G, in wliicli tiie
courses are marked, as also in the part of the section marked H. 'Ibe plan I shows the
tracery of the soffite of the vault. The author above quoted observes,
"
The construction
of these fan vaults is in all examples so nearly the same, that they seem to have proceeded
from the same workshop
,
and it is remarkable that, at least as far as I know, there are an
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