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diameter of the engaged columns in height, and the latter exactly that proportion. (Fig. 15.)

Variously moulded keystones are also used, projecting so that they give an appearance of support to the superimposed entablature. Smaller columns with their entablature are sometimes made to do the duty of imposts, and sometimes single columns are similarly applied; at others, columns in couples are allowed to stand for piers to carry

Fig. 15.

arches. In plain arcades, the masonry is generally rusticated, without any other projection than a plain blocking course for an impost, and a blocking course or cornice crowning the ordinance. Niches and other recesses are at times introduced in the plain piers, which are in that case considerably wider than usual, or in the spandrels over wide piers. Very considerable variety is allowed in these combinations, which will be best understood by reference to the examples. Doors and windows, whether arched or square, follow nearly the same proportions, being made, in rustic storeys, generally rather less than twice their width in height, and in others either exactly of that proportion, or an eighth or a tenth more. If they have columned or pilastered frontispieces, these are sometimes pedimented; and, except in rustic storeys, whether with or without columns, a plain or moulded lining, called an architrave, is applied to the head and sides of a door or window. This architrave is made from onesixth to one-eighth the width of the opening it bounds, and it rests on a blocking course or other sill, as the case may be.

The rule for the form, composition, and application of pediments in Italian architecture, if it may be gathered from the practice of the school, appears to be to set good taste at defiance in them all. We find pediments of every shape, composed of cornices, busts, scrolls, festoons, and what not, and applied in every situation, and even one within another, to the number of three or four, and each of these of different form and various composition. The proportion laid down for the height of a pediment is from one-fourth to onefifth the length of its base, or the cornice on which it is to rest. Balustrades are used in various situations, but their most common application is in attics or as parapets, on the summits of buildings, before windows, in otherwise close continued stereobates, to flank flights of steps, to front terraces, or flank bridges. Their shapes and proportions are even more diversified than their application; that of most frequent use is shaped like an Italian Doric column, compressed to a dwarfish stature, and consequently swollen in the shaft to an inordinate bulk in the lower part, and having its capital, to the hypotrachelium, reversed to form a base to receive its grotesque form. The base and coping cornice of a balustrade are those of an ordinary attic, or of a pedestal whose dado may be pierced into balusters. The general external proportions of an edifice, when they are not determined by single columnar ordinances, appear to be unsettled.

There is considerable variety and beauty in the foliate and other enrichments of an architectural character in many structures in Italy, but very little ornament enters into the columnar composition of Italian architecture. Friezes, instead of being sculptured, are

THE CHINESE STYLE.

The ancient Tartars and wandering shepherds of Asia appear to have lived from time immemorial in tents, a kind of habitation adapted to their erratic life. The Chinese have made the tent the elementary feature of their architecture; and of their style any one may form an idea, by inspecting the figures which are depicted upon comman

China ware. Chinese roofs are concave the upper side, as if made of canvass instead of wood. A Chinese portico is not unlike the awnings spread over shop windows in summer time. There randah, sometimes co pied in dwelling-houses, is a structure of this sort. The Chinese forers and pagodas have concave roofs, like w nings, projecting per their several storeys. A representation of this baric style of erection is given in fig. 16. Such stro tures are built with wood or brick; stone is seldom employed.

Fig. 16.

THE SARACENIC, MOORISH, AND BYZANTINE STYLES. The Arabs, or Saracens, as they are more usually called, and the Moors, introduced into Spain certain forms of architecture which differed considerably from the Grecian in appearance, though founded on its r mains in Asia and Africa. The chief peculiarity of this architecture was the form of the arch; the Sars cens are understood to have made it of greater depth than width, thus constituting more than half a circle or ellipse, and therefore unphilosophical and compara tively insecure (fig. 17); while the Moorish style was

Fig. 17.

principally distin guished by arches in the form of a horse-shoe, or crescent. The Saracens and Moors, however, were so much one people that the works of each are not easily pointed out in the present day; both styles were highly ornamented with flowery tracery, called arabe and the pillars the supporting

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cent-like or bal ing dome of the oriental mosque Europe. This bulging, or onion-shaped form of done, I was likewise introduced by the Moorish architects into is common in the church-spires of the Netherlands having been brought thither by the Spaniards when in possession of the country.

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We associate with these styles another, which are swollen; the shafts of columns are very seldom fluted, at Constantinople, called the Byzantine, likewise formed mouldings are indeed sometimes carved, but not often; slightly eastern character. It became known in west rustic masonry, ill-formed festoons, and gouty balus-ern Europe along with the Lombard, another degen trades, for the most part supply the place of chaste and rate Grecian style, about the ninth and tenth centuries The two united received the name of the Lombard Byzantine, and were employed upon the cathedrals Worms and Mayence, and several other ecclesiastical

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structures in Germany. This style is distinguished by | language; and at the tabernacle, or cibarium, over the small arches resting on connecting central pillars, like altar, where the pyx is kept, the whole temple is prethe Saracenic, and sometimes there are rows of such sented in miniature to the view of the beholder. In frota arches one above another. Either pure or mixed, the adge Byzantine style remained in vogue till it was superseded by the modern Gothic or German style, about the middle of the thirteenth century.

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SAXON STYLE.

Many centuries before the Gothic or German style became known, a peculiar modification of the Grecian, since entitled the Saxon style, was invented and used in ecclesiastical edifices, and, as generally believed, led to the discovery of the Gothic. The Saxon style is distinguished by rounded arches over doors and windows, or in the entablature of turrets and walls. Sometimes the arch was composed of semicircles of different widths, swelling from a small to a larger compass, and thus affording a convenient entrance to porches in churches. An example is presented in fig. 18.

Fig. 18.

This style commenced at the establishment of Christianity among the Saxons in the sixth century, and is called Saxon, from its having prevailed during the reigns of the Saxon and Norman kings in England. Some of the finest specimens extant are the entrance to the Temple Church, London; the Abbey Gate, Bristol; and the church of Ramsey in Hampshire. The style continued in England till about the year 1135, in the reign of king Stephen.

GOTHIC OR POINTED STYLE.

The term Gothic is a modern error, which being now impossible to correct, is suffered to remain as the generally distinguishing appellation of the kind of architecture possessing pointed arches. This style originated in Germany about the middle of the thirteenth century, and was zealously pursued as the leading fashion for ecclesiastical structures all over Europe. Executed by a class of skilled artisans, who wandered from country to country,* the finest specimens of the pointed style are the cathedrals of Strasburg, Cologne, and Antwerp, and the splendid abbeys of Melrose and Westminster. (Fig. 19.)

In this fanciful and picturesque style of architecture, the slender columns, always united in groups, rise to a lofty height, resembling the giants of the grove, in whose dark shade the ancient Teuton used to build his altar. In the obscure depth of the dome, the mind is awakened to solemn devotional feelings. The decoration of the ancient Christian churches is by no means an accidental ornament. They speak a figurative religious *We here allude to the order or craft of Free-Masons, the origin of whose associations may be dated from the ninth or tenth centuries, and who attained their greatest numerical strength and importance at the introduction of the Gothic or pointed style of architecture. Afterwards, the order became a speculative bociety, unconnected with the practice of architecture, and finally, has sunk before the spread of universal intelligence and a common philanthropy which recognises all men as brothers.

Fig. 19.

these edifices, every one must admire the accurate proportions, the bold yet regular construction, the unwearied industry, the grandeur of the bold masses on the exterior, and the severe dignity in the interior. We must therefore ascribe to the German architecture more symbolical than hieroglyphic eloquence and dignity.

In England, the transition from the Saxon to the pointed style of arch is observed on various old buildings. The accidental intersection of rounded Saxon arches with each other, produces sharp points at the intersections, and this is believed by some to have been the origin of the pointed forms. The crossings of the boughs of trees in an avenue also afford a familiar illustration of the same fact. In the Temple Church the two arches may be found united, and other specimens may be seen in the Church of St Cross near Winchester; and Fountains Abbey, Rivaulx Abbey, and Roche Abbey, in Yorkshire.

When the circular arch totally disappeared in 1220, the early English style commenced. The windows of this style were at first very narrow in comparison with their height; they were called lancet-shaped, and were considered very elegant: two or three were frequently seen together, connected by dripstones. In a short time, however, the windows became wider, and divisions and ornaments were introduced. Sometimes the same window was divided into several lights, and frequently finished at the top by a light in the form of a lozenge, circle, trefoil, or other ornament. A specimen of this kind may be seen in the beautiful church of St Saviour's, Southwark, which has lately been thrown open to view by the improvements connected with the erection of the New London Bridge: and another and a very beautiful

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Fig. 20.

example in the "Lady Chapel," near London Bridge, on the Surrey side of the Thames. A specimen of the pointed or Gothic doorway is offered in fig. 20.

About the year 1300, the architecture became more

ornamental, and from this circumstance received the name of the decorated English style, which is considered the most beautiful for ecclesiastical buildings. The windows of this style are very easily distinguished; they are large and wide, and are divided into several lights by mullions, which are upright or perpendicular narrow columns, branching out at the top into tracery of various forms, such as trefoils, circles, and other figures. York Cathedral affords a fine specimen of this sort of architecture, and there is a beautiful window of the same style in the south transept of Chichester Cathedral. The west front of that of Exeter is another specimen, and the doorway of Lincoln Cathedral is in the same style.

The transition from the decorated to the florid or perpendicular style was very gradual. Ornament after ornament was added, till simplicity disappeared beneath the extravagant additions; and about the year 1380, the architecture became so overloaded and profuse, that it obtained the title of florid, which by some persons is called the perpendicular, because the lines of division run in upright or perpendicular lines from top to bottom, which is not the case in any other style. King's College Chapel, Cambridge, begun in the reign of Henry VI., though not finished till some time after; Gloucester Cathedral; Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster; St George's Chapel at Windsor; Wrexham Church, Denbighshire; and the chapel on the bridge at Wakefield, Yorkshire-are all of this character. Many small country churches are built in this style; and their size not admitting of much ornament, they are distinguished from structures of a later date by mouldings running round their arches, and generally by a square head over the obtuse-pointed arch of the door. A peculiar ornament of this style is a flower of four leaves, called, from the family reigning at that period, the Tudor flower.

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Definitions of Parts.

Gothic architecture being for the most part displayed in ecclesiastical edifices, it may be of service to explain the usual plan and construction of these buildings. A church or cathedral is commonly built in the form of a cross, having a tower, lantern, or spire, erected over the place of intersection. The part of the cross situated towards the west is called the nave. The opposite or eastern part is called the choir, and within this is the chancel. The transverse portion, forming the arms of the cross, is called the transept, one limb being called the northern, and the other the southern transept.

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Generally, the nave is larger than the choir. If the nave, choir, and transepts be all of the same dimensions, the form is that of a Greek cross. When the nave is longer than the other parts, forming a cross of an ordinary shape, the edifice is said to be in the form of a Latin cross. The different open parts usually receive the name of ailes or aisles, from a word signifying a wing: the nave or largest open space is called the main aisle. Originally, the floors of all such edifices were open and unencumbered with fixed pews or seats, and as the floors were ordinarily of mosaic or tessellated pavement, the effect was exceedingly grand.

* Mosaic, or more properly Musaic (from the Latin opus Musivum), was of Roman origin. It consisted of pavement formed of pieces of marble of different colours, arranged in a tasteful manner, and was very costly.

The roofing of Gothic churches is of stone, in the form of groins, which the arches

are poised with intersecting points, and the whole skil fully adjusted so as

to bear on the side rows of pillars (fig. 21). Any high build ing erected above the roof is called a steeple; if square topped, it is a tower; if long and acute, a spire; and if short and light, a lanters. Towers of great height in propor

Fig. 22.

of great strength; and the imparting this necessary degree of resistance with out clumsiness is the glory of this style of architecture The plan adopted is to erect exterior buttresses (fig. 2). These rise by gradations from a broad basis to mar row pointed pinnacles, and placed opposite the points of pressure, secure, will out the slightest appear ance of clumsiness, the ge neral stability of the building. Slanting braces, which spring from the buttresses to the upper part of the roof, are called flying but tresses; such, however, are not always required in these modern edifices in which the roof is of wood and lead

The summit or upper edge of a wall, if straight, is called a parapet; if indented, a battlement. Gothic windows were commonly crowned with an acute are they were long and narrow, or if wide, were divided into perpendicular lights by mullions. The lateral spaces on the upper and outer side of the arch are called spa drelles; and the ornaments in the top, collectively taken, are the tracery. An oriel, or bay windor, is a window which projects from the general surface of the wall. A wheel, or rose window, is large and circular

corbel is a bracket or short projection from a wall, serving to sustain a statue or the springing of an arch. The Gothic term alı indicates the erect end of a roof, and answers to the Grecian pediment, but is more acute The polished taste of the architects e ployed in constructing Gothic edifices, led to numerous devices in the form of the pillars Sometimes the column was single, round, and massive; at other times it was composed of seemingly a cluster of smaller pillars, and this had always the lightest effect; but o sionally the column was given the appeal ance of two shafts twisted, as represente in fig. 23, or of a single shaft with a festo of flowers twined spirally around it. In the collegiate church at Roslin, there are so Fig 23. highly ornamented pillars of this kind. The Gothic style of building is more imposing, and

more difficult to execute than the Grecian. This is | Tudor, or early English, into an irregular, certainly, because the weight of its vaults and roofs is upheld at a great height by supporters acting at single points, and apparently but barely sufficient to effect their object. Great mechanical skill is necessary in balancing and sustaining the pressures; and architects at the present day, hampered by principles of economy, find it difficult to accomplish what was achieved by the build-lish nobles and princely proprietors vied more thau ers of the middle ages.

but in most instances an exceedingly rich and effective composition." This was traceable to the influence of the Italian architects in England, whose "fame was a subject of deep interest in this country, where the rage for building was no less strong and general than in Italy. In the brilliant reign of Elizabeth, the Eng

NORMAN, TUDOR, AND MODERN GOTHIC. Throughout England may be seen many aged castles, some still in a state of good preservation, but the greater number in ruins, and occupying, with their picturesque remains, the summit of a rising ground or rocky precipice. These castles are of a style which prevailed during the feudal ages in Europe, and was brought to this country by the Normans, who erected them as fastnesses into which they might retire and oppress the country at pleasure. The same kind of buildings are seen in Scotland, where the barons ruled with the same feudal power as in the southern parts of the island.

ever with each other in the magnificence of their mansions. It might have been supposed that the noble Tudor houses, with their panelled walls, buttresses, and battlements, traceried windows, sculptured dripstones, florid pinnacles, and embossed chimney-shafts, were sufficiently rich and gorgeous to satisfy the prevailing taste for splendour; but in their anxiety to strike and surprise the admiration of their countrymen, many deserted the native styles, and sought for designs, and even artists, from abroad. Italian architecture became, by degrees, the mode; and even where the indigenous style was adhered to in the general design, many of the enrichments and ornamental features were borrowed from the Italian. First of all, the porch or gateway, as the most conspicuous points on which to exhibit The feudal castles in England, like those on the these exotic novelties, were decorated on each side of the Rhine, consisted for the most part of a single strong entrance, and, perhaps, a second or third storey above, tower or keep, the walls of which were from six to ten with pilasters belonging to the different Greek orders; feet thick, and the windows only holes of one or two the doorway itself exchanged the low-pointed or Tudor feet square, placed at irregular intervals. The several for the circular arch; the deep, elegant, and sweeping floors were built on arches, and the roof was flat or Gothic mouldings for the Vitruvian architecture, cut battlemented, with notches in the parapet, from which across by the awkward projecting imposts. Next was the inhabitants or retainers of the chieftain might de- introduced the cupola, whose invention in Italy had fend themselves with instruments of war. The accom-made so much noise, that it appears our country squires modations for living were generally mean, and what would now be called uncomfortable. Around or in front of the main tower there was usually a court-yard, protected by a high wall, and the arched entrance was carefully secured by a falling gate or portcullis. Outside, there was in many cases a regular wet ditch or fosse. Castles of greater magnitude consisted of two or more towers and inner buildings, including a chapel and offices for domestics, and horses and other animals. Some of them were on a great scale, and possessed considerable grandeur of design.

were anxious to have miniature specimens of it at home. It was applied as a covering to the high turrets, round, square, or polygonal, which flanked the entrance or terminated the angles of the building, and, surmounted with gilded vanes, certainly produced a rich and imposing effect. Then followed the removal of the panelled battlements, and the substitution of a parapet, carved into fantastic notches or scrolls, or perforated with oval openings, and ornamented with obelisks, balls, busts, statues, and other singular decorations. These ran up the gables, which were often twisted into strange shapes, As society advanced, and civil tranquillity was esta- and sometimes wholly replaced by the level balustrade; blished, these military strengths gradually assumed a and thus the most characteristic features of the old character of greater elegance and less the appearance style-its numerous steep gables and spiry pinnacles of defence. The wet ditch disappeared, and was super--were succeeded by the uniform horizontal straight seded by a lawn or shrubbery. Instead of the draw lines of the new. At length the whole building was bridge and portcullis, there was a regular approach surrounded by columns or pilasters, rising tier above and gate of ordinary construction. The windows be- tier, to the exhaustion sometimes of the five orders; came larger, and were fitted with glass frames, and open arcades took the place of the entrance porch; and stone was abandoned for the greater comfort of wooden nothing remained of the Tudor style but the mullioned floors. Instead, also, of a bare region around, in which window, which, however, was of itself sufficient to give no foe might lurk, gardens were established, and a a peculiarly picturesque and old-fashioned aspect to long avenue of trees led to the front of the modernised the whole building." mansion. In some instances, the pepper-box turrets at the upper corners of the buildings remained. Of rity, "that this architecture of the Elizabethan age the class of structures that sprung up in this period constitutes a style of its own-a compound of two exof transition, which we may refer in England to the tremely different modes, the Italian and the Tudor fifteenth and sixteenth, and in Scotland to the seven- Gothic. It is evident that the Italian design was always teenth centuries, there are several highly interesting greatly altered to suit the climate and the taste of Engremains. These edifices of the nobility and gentry land. Indeed, were we not afraid that the comparison were no longer called castles: they took the name of halls, and such had attained so great a pitch of magnificence in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, as to have subsequently given a name to a new style-the Tudor or Elizabethan. Latterly, and with no very distinct reference to any particular period, this remarkable fashion of building has been pretty generally called the old English style of architecture. One of the best existing specimens of the Tudor era of architecture is Haddon Hall in Derbyshire, the pro

perty of the Duke of Rutland.

A writer in the "Quarterly Review," speaking of this species of architecture, takes occasion to notice that "in a few of the houses built during the reign of Henry VIII., we may observe some slight traces of the Italian architecture, which in the next reign was more liberally introduced, and mixed up with the original

"It has always appeared to us," continues our autho

might be considered profane, we should say there is something in the rich irregularity of the Elizabethan architecture, its imposing dignity, gorgeous magnificence, and quaint and occasionally fantastic decoration, reminding us of the glorious visions that flitted across the imagination of Shakspeare, the immortal bard of the same age. He, like the architects of his day, borrowed largely from the foreigner, but made his importations appear exclusively his own. The architectural garden, which always accompanied this style of mansion, is not the least pleasing part of it. We delight in its wide and level terraces, decorated with rich stone balustrades, and these again with vases and statues, and connected by broad flights of stone steps-its clipped evergreen hedges-its embowered alleys-its formal yet intricate parterres, full of curious knots of flowers-its lively and musical fountains-its steep

slopes of velvet turf-its trim bowling-green-and the | labyrinth and wildness which form its appropriate termination, and connect it with the ruder scenery without. This kind of ornamental garden came from Italy, with the change we have been discussing in domestic architecture.

In erecting ornamental cottages of this kind, there ought to be a lightness in the pointing of the upper projecting windows, with a sharp angularity in the roof; and the chimney-stacks ought to stand well out, in order to create effect in different points of view. When the little gardens adjacent are well trimmed and

porch or mullioned window, the prospect exhibited is such as it would be impossible to surpass in rural elegance. We have not here room to enlarge on this interesting topic, and must conclude by recommending that, in applying cottage architecture to a residence, much care ought to be taken to preserve the simplicity of the component parts, or the idea of the cottage will be lost in the magnitude of the dwelling. Loudon's Encyclopædia of Cottage and Villa Architecture should certainly be consulted by gentlemen and others in the country, before fixing on the style or mode of construc tion of their residences-that is to say, when skilful architects are not employed.

Improvement is also shown in the style of churchbuilding, particularly in the northern part of the United Kingdom, where there was most room for it. Since the Reformation, churches have been built in Scotland with very little regard to elegance; and in the last century particularly, there flourished a style, the products of which are scarcely to be distinguished from barns and granaries. Within the last twenty years, very few such structures have been erected without an effort being made to unite some degree of taste with a regard for conveniency. A modest Gothic style has become very prevalent, which, though not always free of faults, is a surprising advance upon the homely edifices of the last century.

The quadrangular embattled mansion of the last Hen-blooming, and the woodbine and ivy trained round the ries affords scope for the display of much grandeur and magnificence, and adapts itself more conveniently to the plan of a modern house. The carved oriel, and deep many-lighted bay window, often projecting in a multitude of capricious angles and curves, besides the regular octagon, the panelled angled-turrets, with richly embossed finials, and the wreathed chimney-shafts, are characteristic beauties of this class of building. The gabled manor-house, together with these ornamental features, admits at the same time of a much greater irregularity of form and outline, so as to accommodate itself to every variety of disposition, and to buildings of every size, from the baronial residence to the parsonage and grange. All the forms which particularly mark the Elizabethan style, may be wrought in the cheapest materials with comparatively little labour; and a small portion of ornamental work, tastefully disposed, is capable of producing very considerable effect. Lastly, the Elizabethan house is distinguished by the number and size of its rectangular and many-mullioned windows, which gave a peculiar lightness and elegance to its several parts. The roof-line may be either horizontal or broken with gables, turrets, and cupolas. In either case, it is enriched with perforated parapets, balustrades, or other architectural devices, while similar embellishments ornament the entrance, and the terraces which connect the building with the garden." Fortunately, this light and elegant style of domestic architecture is gradually superseding the bald GræcoItalian style of the eighteenth century. A better taste is evidently extending itself, particularly as regards the erection of villas, cottages, hunting-seats, gatelodges, and other rural residences. To these the old English style is peculiarly well adapted. The leading feature of this style applied to cottages is the dispensing with unbroken lines. The house is composed of different parts, projecting at right angles from each other, with also a projecting porch, and the outshot octagonal windows commanding views in three different directions. It also sometimes exhibits an open rustic arcade along a portion of the front or back, which will be found useful and agreeable both in sultry and cold broken weather. It is not uncommon for a cottage of this kind to have on the ground-floor two parlours, communicating by folding-doors, fourteen feet by twelve each, and ten feet in height; a kitchen and

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scullery, with a porch seven feet by five feet six inches, opening to a staircase seventeen feet six inches by eight feet, with three rooms above. The gables are enriched with pendants and ornamental dressings to the doorways and windows, and handsome octagonal chimneystacks. We offer a representation of a cottage in this elegant style in fig. 24.

Fig. 25.

In fig. 25, a representation is given of one of these improved ecclesiastical structures, suitable for a rural of scene, or any other situation in which economy means requires to be consulted. In general, these handsome Gothic churches are calculated to accommodate from a thousand to twelve or fourteen hundred sitters, are neatly fitted up with pews and galleries, and cost from three to four thousand pounds.

MODERN BRITISH ARCHITECTURE.

During the sixteenth century, as has been mentioned, an extraordinary effort was made in Italy to restore the purity of Grecian architecture; and in this attempt Palladio was followed by the not less eminent Michael Angelo Buonarotti, who, at an advanced age, in 156, undertook the continuation of the building of St Peter's at Rome, a work on which the greatest splendours of the Italian style are lavished. Into England, this perived taste for the Grecian was introduced at the beginning of the seventeenth century by Inigo Jones, to sho contemptuous observations on the German or painte

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