Ornamented And Stained Glass.

The union of stained glass with architecture has ahvays been most close ; the alterations in the one have been accompanied bj r alterations in the other . The greater freedom of design and approach to naturalism in the sculptures and Avail decorations of the fourteenth century may also be traced in

the stained glass of that period . There is no finer example of Second-Pointed glass than that in the chapel of Merton College , Oxford . A range of subjects under short canopies are placed upon Avhite glass , on which is traced the most exquisite linear ornament ; ancl this range of

highly-coloured subjects is carried entirely round the building , forming a glorious string-course of jewellery . During the period of Third-Pointed architecture , stained windows Avere still retained as the most

necessary enrichment . A new style of design , however , more in character Avith the alterations in the style of architecture , Avas introduced . Tho mosaic system of construction , and the rich colouring of the two preceding centuries , was laid aside , to be reproduced in our OAVU clay . The system of

firing and leading the glass was of course retained ; but the Avhole effort of the fifteenth century artists Avas to produce a silvery effect of colouring . There was an excessive proportion of Avhite glass in all their Avindows , and the use of yelloAV stain on Avhite glass in all their windoAvsand the use of yelloAV

, stain ou white glass was the principal aim of their colourists . We must do them the justice to say that the manipulation Avas most painstaking , amounting in many instances , especially in the ¦ earl y part of the century , to microscopic care . There is a fine and well-coloured Third-Pointed

AvmdoAv in the Beauchamp Chapel , Warwick , but it is an exceptional Avork . It Avas in this , the fifteenth century , that Gothic architecture , after living in strength for ten centuries , began its decline , and toAvards the commencement of the sixteenth century altogether disappeared ; and stained

glass , as a decorative art , shared , like a faithful servant , its decline of fortune . In the sixteenth century there arose in Germany a iieAv style of glass-painting , named by Winston the Cinque-cento style , from the introduction of Italian or Renaissance feeling into the

ornamental parts of the AvindoAvs . The Italians , although' loving colour , alAvays preferred it of the opaque sort , mosaics and frescoes , and rarely , if ever , filled their AvindoAvs Avith stained glass . They , howeA er , set the fashion to the world , in the sixteenth century , of Palladian architecture ;

aud their ornamentation materially influenced the designs of northern AvindoAvs . The church of Saint Jacques , at Liege , and the chapel of the Miraculous Sacrament at Brussels , contain the most marked and best-knoAvn painted wincloAvs of foreign sixteenth century Avork . They both seem

to be tho Avork of the same hands , the ornamental work , at least , bearing the same detestable character . The Avindows of King's College ,

Cambridge , are the best English productions of the sixteenth century ; ancl those in the apse of Lichfield Cathedral , the east windows of St . George ' s , Hanover-square , and of Fairford Church , Gloucestershire , are the best knoAvn foreign works in England . HoAvever good in drawing , and

however skilful in manipulation the works of the sixteenth century may be , there is but little , if any , consistency between them and the architecture , which Avas treated as a mere framework for their exhibition . The productions of the seventeenth and part of

the eighteenth century were clumsy attempts at picture-making , and are not worth speaking of . The dawn of the reA'ival of the art of glass-painting in England AA as about 1750 . Sir Joshua Pteynolds ' s AvindoAv in New College , Oxford , painted by Jarvisof Yorkin 1780 is the type

, , , of eighteenth century work : it is painted with semi-transparent enamel , on squares of AA'hite glass . There is a little yelloAV stain , but no coloured glass , if I remember rightly . For nearly seA enty years this attempt at transparent picturemaking prevailed ; the introduction of raw

potmetal blue , and a little ruby glass , being an occasional improvement . Ruby glass in 1820 was so prized that in some shops it Avas AATapped up in flannel for careful keeping ; it can now be bought for Is . a foot .

The introduction of stained glass Avindows similar in character to those of the thirteenth and fourteenth century is due to Pngin , AVIIO stirred up the few glass-painters who , previous to this time , Avere engaged in the production of coloured AvindoAvs for staircases , hall-lamps , and , as an

occasional higher fli ght , a church window . He gave commissions for windows to each of them in turn , but eventually induced Mr . Hardman , of Birmingham , then a metal-Avorker , to establish a business of glass-painting in connection Avith his metal-works . I need scarcely add that from small

beginnings a most extensiA r e business has for a long time been carried on there . It is due to Pngin's memory to state , that his great energy and liberal dealing are new frequently spoken of among the surviving glasspainters of his time . Mr . Willement Avas engaged upon the same pursuit at the same period , but his AA'orks Avere principally heraldic .

The manufacture of stained AvindoAvs , as now practised , resembles that of the fourteenth more than of the thirteenth century ; but it has been greatly facilitated by the use of the diamond for cutting the glass , aud by the use of iron kilns in place of those of clay .

This is the history of the production of a modem stained Avindow , and it Avill apply to ninety cases out of a hundred . The person AVIIO wants one usually goes about as he AA ould for a tomb-stone , and for a similar purpose . The best advice is obtained as to AA'here it can be had , or he has seen some window that has met his fancy , and he goes