idea was the means of introducing another architectural feature--the
pinnacle. Between the pinnacles of these buttresses rose the gabled
ends of each of the chapels. Professor Willis suggests that a great
part of the work done after the fire of 1186-1187 was completed by the
time of the dedication ceremony in 1199, and he is no doubt a safe
authority to follow. But the nature of many architectural features
tends very strongly to confirm the idea that much of the work in the
ambulatory eastward of the sanctuary had been delayed. It may have
been that the activity which prevailed during the early half of the
thirteenth century was caused by the desire to see this portion of the
church completed; and the energy with which the plea for new interest
and further funds was urged at this time would no doubt be indicative
of a supervening lethargy following on the great effort necessary for
the completion of so much in these few years. But it should be
remembered that these great works of mediæval art were none of them
built in a day; they represented the accumulation of even centuries of
developing thought and continually improving skill. Therefore must we
realise that after this fire had occurred in 1186-1187 not more than
eleven or twelve years elapsed before the building was again in use
after the consecration in 1199.

_Note_.--For remarks on Chichester Cathedral, see _Archaeologia_,
xvii., pp. 22-28: "Observations on the Origin of Gothic Architecture."
By G. Saunders, 1814.

[Illustration: TRANSVERSE SECTIONS FROM WILLIS'S ARCHITECTURAL
HISTORY. North Aisle, original. (Scale 27 ½ feet to 1 in.) South
Aisle, as now existing.]

This process of reconstruction shows that the mediæval builders did