during this period. Above this is either a gallery or one or two
windows, and the whole generally terminates in a circular rose window
filled with tracery.

[Illustration: X. The Principal Doorway to the Catherdral at Trani, Italy.]

Fergusson's final summing up of the architecture of this neighborhood
can scarcely be considered too enthusiastic in the light of the eight
illustrations here given. He says: "No one who takes the pains to
familiarize himself with the architecture of these Southern Italian
churches can well fail to be impressed with their beauty. That beauty
will be found, however, to arise not so much from the dimensions or
arrangement of their plans, or the form of their outline, as from the
grace and elegance of their details. Every feature displays the feeling
of an elegant and refined people, who demanded decoration as a
necessity, though they were incapable of rising to any great
architectural conception. They excelled as ornamentists, though at best
only indifferent architects."

The examples of doorways chosen for illustrating this number
unquestionably show the work of men who labored for the enjoyment and
satisfaction to be got from their work. This is sufficiently evident in
the results before us. Its logical and constructive bearing can of
course be called in question, as in fact is the case with all but the
merest fraction of the architectural efforts of the world. As decoration
we can but admire the masterly way in which the ornament is distributed,
the refined sense of scale and proportion, and the skilful and subtle
treatment of light and shade, even if the detail of the ornament itself
is crude and archaic.