Bk. VL Ch. III. CHAPELS. 179 Though nearly a century later in date,i St. Stephen's Chapel is so nearly a counterpart of the royal chapel at Paris — " the Sainte Chapelle " — that it may be worth while to pause a second to compare the two. In dimensions, on plan, they are not dissimilar; both are raised on an under-croft or crypt of great beauty. The French example has the usual apsidal termination ; the English the equally characteristic square east end. The Frencli roof is higher and vaulted ; the English was lower and of wood. It is impossible to deny that the French chapel is very beautiful, and only wants increased dimensions to merit the title of a sublime specimen of Gothic art ; but the English example was far more elegant. All the ]»arts are better balanced, and altogether it was a far more satisfactory example than its more ambitious i-ival, of the highest qualities to which the art of the Middle Ages could attain. We have an excellent means of ascertaining how far St. Stephen's Chapel would have been damaged by a vaulted roof, by comparing it with the nearly contemporary chapel at Ely (1321-1.349), erected under the superintendence of the same Alan de Walsingham who designed the octagon of the church. Its internal dimensions are 100 ft. long by 43 wide, and 60 higli. The details of the screen of niches which form a dado round the whole chajjel are perhaps, without excep- tion, the most exquisite specimens of decorative carving that survive from the Middle Ages. The details of the side windows are also good, but the end windows are bad in design, and neither externally nor internally fit the spaces in which they are placed. With painted glass this might be remedied, internally at least ; but the Avhole design is thrown out of harmony by its stone roof. As a vault its width is too great for its length ; the height insufficient for its other dimen- sions ; and altogether, though its details are beyond all praise, it leaves a more unsatisfactory impression on the mind than almost any other building of its class. King's College Chapel at Cambridge (1479-1515) errs in exactly the opposite direction. It is too long for its width, but has heio-ht sufficient to redeem the length, though at the expense of exaggerating its narrowness. These, however, are all errors in the direction of sublimity of effect ; and though greater balance would have been more satisfactory, the chapel is internally so beautiful that it is impossible not to overlook them. It is more sublime than the Sainte Chapelle, though, from its late age, wanting the beauty of detail of that building. Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster, (1502-1515) differs from all previous examples, in having side-aisles with chapels at the east end ' The Sainte Chapelle was commenced 1244, and finished 1248. The works of St. Stephen's were commenced appar- ently 1292, but were not finished till 1348.
