The Russellville Democrat., 1892-03-10

After man had achieved for him
self the great work Of building !
house, no long time can have
elapsed before he experienced the
necessity Of letting light and air
into the interior The door could
not always be left open; and the
hole in the roof which carried OF
the smoke was scarcely available for
any other purpose. Weary Of the
darkness, and oppressed BY the heat,
we can conceive Of some impatient
patriarch as, one day, suddenly
starting to his feet, and with any
implement that lay near at hand,
making an opening in the side-wall
of earth or timber--narrow at first,
but enlarging gradually as its adj
vantages came to be recognized.
Thus was invented the window, an
aperture unenclssed at first, and
giving free admission to the sweet
airs and light of heaven But in
course OF time movable screen or
shutter would be put up to moder-
ate or wholly inter sept the air and
the light, or piece of stuff, or the
skin of an animal, which could
easily be shifted, would be sus-
pended like a curtain. Then it
would come about that the chamber
was once more inconveniently
darkened and not sufficiently ven
tilated, and man would find himself
face to face with the problem: How
to keep out the wind and let in the
hghtf In the East the difficulty
was partly solved--as it is to this
day-by filing in the easement with
lattice-work; but in colder climates
this expedient was unsatisfactory
and after generations had shivered
in the ''eager air." and suffered
from the eramping pains of rheu-
matism, glass, which had previously
been invented, was brought into
use, and the glazed window
triumphantly indicated the inyen-
tive faculty of man.
The date when this ssmagnum
opus was consummated, history,
which has recorded so many things
of minor Importance, has carelessly
and ignorantly omitted. But glass
windows have been discovered
among the ruins of Pompeii and
Hercnlaneum, destroyed in the first
century, though tale seem TO have
been the material chiefly, employed.
They were tolerably Common in
Italy in and after the third century,
for they are mentioned both by
Lactantius and st. Jerome, by the
former in the third, and by the
latter early in the fifth century. In
England they remained unknown
till they were introduced in 674 by
Benedict Biscop, abbot of Wear
mouth; and they did not come into
general use for some centuries later.
AT first they were rectangular in
shape, because, we suppose, this
was the easiest for the workmen !;
but semi circular and circular
windows were afterwards designed
by resourceful architects, as well
as the pointed or geometrical forms
which assimilated with the angular
characteristics of Gothic structures !;
and in their original simplicity were
known from their length and mar
rowness as slancets," or "lancet-
windows" When two or more
of these were grouped together
under common arch, the different
compartments, divided by thin
mullions, were called ''lights,'' so
that we read of two-hght, three
light, or even a fve-light window.
Exeter Cathedral can boast OF a
nine-Eght in its west front; the
west window at Rochester has eight
lights. Then there was the beauti-
full st. Catherine window, broken
up by number of lights which
radiated from the center to the cir
conference, broadening as they
radiated, like the spokes Of wheel.
This was intended to initiate the
wheel on which st. Catherine, an
Alexanderian virgin, was tortured
to death because she had confessed
the Christian faith.
In the case of lancets, when
grouped together, the space between
their tops and the arch was filed in
..or ornaments sake with circles,
trefoils, or quatrefoils, which gradu-
ally developed into rich tracery.
The picturesque beauty of such
windows is conspicuous even to the
uncultivated eye, and they are
among the most noticeable features
of your medieval cathedrals and
churches. To soften, subdue, and
vary the light which they admitted,
and enhance the sublime impressive
ness of the interior. they were glazed
with painted or stained glass, rep
resenting the scenes and 6ggres of
Biblical history, the saints and their
legends, kings, queens, and other
notable personages, and pouring
their exquisite colors on the carved
columns and marble pavements of
re. and aisles, and even on the
sanctuary Itself, with a magical
effect which our poets have not left