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6 niACTICE OF
ARCHITECTURE. Book III.
The. Rose Window in the Nortltcrn TrwisejH
of
the Church
of
St. Ouen at lioueu, 28 feet
C Micliesi ill diaiiicter, is an exaiiiiile of tlic pentagonal setting out.
Fig. 1293. ST. OUEN AT HOUEN.
When the sides of a pentagon are prolonged, they unite and form five isosceles triangles,
each having for its base a side of the original pentagon. The ecjuilateral triangle, the
square, and the pentagon may have been adopted by difrercnt confrateridties of freemasons
;
the first can be formed into hexngons, duodccagons and tlieir multiples
;
the squares, by
crossing diagonally, into octagons ; they may be also tripled and ([uadrupled ; the
mitre of the equilateral triangle is in the direction of its centre of gravity, as is that
of the square and the isosceles tri.angles
;
eonsecpiently to unite the mouldings around
either, the plummet would indicate the direction of the line, when dropped from the
angles and suffered to cross, the point of intersection being tlie centre of gravity
common to the several lines.
In the chapel of St. Cecile is the monument of Alexander Berncval, the master mason of
the works at St. Ouen, at the time the rose window was executed by his jjupil, whom it is
I'eported he murdered from jealousy : such an aiipllcation of triangles was then called
the penttdpha.
The foundations of this church were laid by Marcdargcnt, about 1318, by whom it was
built as far as the transept ; but jirobably the rose window of the northern transej)t was
not inserted till many years after, for the memorial of Berneval bear.s the date of H-IO :
this monumental stone is 8 feet 6 inches in length, and 4 feet in width, and in it is
represented the architect and his inipil, each employed tracing with his comp.isses his
respective design
;
these beautiful brasses with their rich tabernacle work were in tiie
highest state of i)erfection when the writer was last at Ilouen, and around the master figure
was inscribed in German letters .

Gi) gigt 9}Jaigtvc :jCtcvanbre be JBcrneuaO ?0Jai6tre beg oeuyreg be 9}?aconnevie bu 9un)/
notrc ire/ bu S^aiUage be aiouen, et be ce6te gUge/ qui treSpaSda/ I'au be o^xa^i
mil. cccc);l. le jouv be Sanuier.
^ric'g Dicu pouv I'amc be \\x\).
The date of the pupil's death is not commemorated, which has led some to imagine the
tale of his murder untrue, and that he erected the moiuunent to his master with the
LDtentiuii of being buried by bij t,ide.