file which includes the original illustrations4 ,see #cjged-;h4htm or #cjged-;h4zip3 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/cache_/epu b_/#cjged_/pg#cjged-;images4html7 or 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/files_/#cj ged_/cjged-;h4zip7 ,library3 ,volume ,,ii--see https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/etext_/#cjg ee ,volume ,,iii--see https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/etext_/#cjg ef ,volume ,,iii contains the index for all three volumes4 ,the index in the html version of ,volume ,,iii has links to the the other two volumes4 ,transcriber's note3 ,a few typographical errors have been corrected4 ,they are listed at the end of the text4 ,a number following a letter1 such as d#c1 was printed as a subscript in the original4 ,the ,complete ,works of ,john ,ruskin ,volume ,,vii ,,stones ,,of ,,venice ,,volume ,i ,illustration3 ,,venice4 ,,from ,a ,,painting ,,by ,j4 ,m4 ,w4 ,,turner4 ,library ,edition ,the ,complete ,works of ,john ,ruskin ,,stones ,,of ,,venice ,,volumes ,i-,,ii ,national ,library ,association ,new ,york ,chicago ,,the ,,stones ,,of ,,venice ,,volume ,i4 ,,the ,,foundations ,,preface4 ,in the course of arranging the following essay1 ,i put many things aside in my thoughts to be said in the ,preface1 things which ,i shall now put aside altogether1 and pass by2 for when a book has been advertised a year and a half1 it seems best to present it with as little preface as possible4 ,thus much1 however1 it is necessary for the reader to know1 that1 when ,i planned the work1 ,i had materials by me1 collected at different times of sojourn in ,venice during the last seventeen years1 which it seemed to me might be arranged with little difficulty1 and which ,i believe to be of value as illustrating the history of ,southern ,gothic4 ,requiring1 however1 some clearer assurance respecting certain points of chronology1 ,i went to ,venice finally in the autumn of #ahdi1 not doubting but that the dates of the principal edifices of the ancient city were either ascertained1 or ascertainable without extraordinary research4 ,to my consternation1 ,i found that the ,venetian antiquaries were not agreed within a century as to the date of the building of the faades of the ,ducal ,palace1 and that nothing was known of any other civil edifice of the early city1 except that at some time or other it had been fitted up for somebody's reception1 and been thereupon fresh painted4 ,every date in question was determinable only by internal evidence1 and it became necessary for me to examine not only every one of the older palaces1 stone by stone1 but every fragment throughout the city which afforded any clue to the formation of its styles4 ,this ,i did as well as ,i could1 and ,i believe there will be found1 in the following pages1 the only existing account of the details of early ,venetian architecture on which dependence can be placed1 as far as it goes4 ,i do not care to point out the deficiencies of other works on this subject2 the reader will find1 if he examines them1 either that the buildings to which ,i shall specially direct his attention have been hitherto undescribed1 or else that there are great discrepancies between previous descriptions and mine3 for which discrepancies ,i may be permitted to give this single and sufficient reason1 that my account of every building is based on personal examination and measurement of it1 and that my taking the pains so to examine what ,i had to describe1 was a subject of grave surprise to my ,italian friends4 ,the work of the ,marchese ,selvatico is1 however1 to be distinguished with respect2 it is clear in arrangement1 and full of useful1 though vague1 information2 and ,i have found cause to adopt1 in great measure1 its views of the chronological succession of the edifices of ,venice4 ,i shall have cause hereafter to quarrel with it on other grounds1 but not without expression of gratitude for the assistance it has given me4 ,fontana's ,fabbriche di ,venezia is also historically valuable1 but does not attempt to give architectural detail4 ,cicognara1 as is now generally known1 is so inaccurate as hardly to deserve mention4 ,indeed1 it is not easy to be accurate in an account of anything1 however simple4 ,zoologists often disagree in their descriptions of the curve of a shell1 or the plumage of a bird1 though they may lay their specimen on the table1 and examine it at their leisure2 how much greater becomes the likelihood of error in the description of things which must be in many parts observed from a distance1 or under unfavorable circumstances of light and shade2 and of which many of the distinctive features have been worn away by time4 ,i believe few people have any idea of the cost of truth in these things2 of the expenditure of time necessary to make sure of the simplest facts1 and of the strange way in which separate observations will sometimes falsify each other1 incapable of reconcilement1 owing to some imperceptible inadvertency4 ,i am ashamed of the number of times in which ,i have had to say1 in the following pages1 ,i am not sure1 and ,i claim for them no authority1 as if they were thoroughly sifted from error1 even in what they more confidently state4 ,only1 as far as my time1 and strength1 and mind served me1 ,i have endeavored down to the smallest matters1 to ascertain and speak the truth4 ,nor was the subject without many and most discouraging difficulties1 peculiar to itself4 ,as far as my inquiries have extended1 there is not a building in ,venice1 raised prior to the sixteenth century1 which has not sustained essential change in one or more of its most important features4 ,by far the greater number present examples of three or four different styles1 it may be successive1 it may be accidentally associated2 and1 in many instances1 the restorations or additions have gradually replaced the entire structure of the ancient fabric1 of which nothing but the name remains1 together with a kind of identity1 exhibited in the anomalous association of the modernized portions3 the ,will of the old building asserted through them all1 stubbornly1 though vainly1 expressive2 superseded by codicils1 and falsified by misinterpretation2 yet animating what would otherwise be a mere group of fantastic masque1 as embarrassing to the antiquary1 as to the mineralogist1 the epigene crystal1 formed by materials of one substance modelled on the perished crystals of another4 ,the church of ,st4 ,mark's itself1 harmonious as its structure may at first sight appear1 is an epitome of the changes of ,venetian architecture from the tenth to the nineteenth century4 ,its crypt1 and the line of low arches which support the screen1 are apparently the earliest portions2 the lower stories of the main fabric are of the eleventh and twelfth centuries1 with later ,gothic interpolations2 the pinnacles are of the earliest fully developed ,venetian ,gothic 7fourteenth century72 but one of them1 that on the projection at the eastern extremity of the ,piazzetta de ,leoni1 is of far finer1 and probably earlier workmanship than all the rest4 ,the southern range of pinnacles is again inferior to the northern and western1 and visibly of later date4 ,then the screen1 which most writers have described as part of the original fabric1 bears its date inscribed on its architrave1 #acid1 and with it are associated a multitude of small screens1 balustrades1 decorations of the interior building1 and probably the rose window of the south transept4 ,then come the interpolated traceries of the front and sides2 then the crocketings of the upper arches1 extravagances of the incipient ,renaissance3 and1 finally1 the figures which carry the waterspouts on the north side--utterly barbarous seventeenth or eighteenth century work--connect the whole with the plastered restorations of the year #ahdd and #ahde4 ,most of the palaces in ,venice have sustained interpolations hardly less numerous2 and those of the ,ducal ,palace are so intricate1 that a year's labor would probably be insufficient altogether to disentangle and define them4 ,i therefore gave up all thoughts of obtaining a perfectly clear chronological view of the early architecture2 but the dates necessary to the main purposes of the book the reader will find well established2 and of the evidence brought forward for those of less importance1 he is himself to judge4 ,doubtful estimates are never made grounds of argument2 and the accuracy of the account of the buildings themselves1 for which alone ,i pledge myself1 is of course entirely independent of them4 ,in like manner1 as the statements briefly made in the chapters on construction involve questions so difficult and so general1 that ,i cannot hope that every expression referring to them will be found free from error3 and as the conclusions to which ,i have endeavored to lead the reader are thrown into a form the validity of which depends on that of each successive step1 it might be argued1 if fallacy or weakness could be detected in one of them1 that all the subsequent reasonings were valueless4 ,the reader may be assured1 however1 that it is not so2 the method of proof used in the following essay being only one out of many which were in my choice1 adopted because it seemed to me the shortest and simplest1 not as being the strongest4 ,in many cases1 the conclusions are those which men of quick feeling would arrive at instinctively2 and ,i then sought to discover the reasons of what so strongly recommended itself as truth4 ,though these reasons could every one of them1 from the beginning to the end of the book1 be proved insufficient1 the truth of its conclusions would remain the same4 ,i should only regret that ,i had dishonored them by an ill-grounded defence2 and endeavor to repair my error by a better one4 ,i have not1 however1 written carelessly2 nor should ,i in any wise have expressed doubt of the security of the following argument1 but that it is physically impossible for me1 being engaged quite as much with mountains1 and clouds1 and trees1 and criticism of painting1 as with architecture1 to verify1 as ,i should desire1 the expression of every sentence bearing upon empirical and technical matters4 ,life is not long enough2 nor does a day pass by without causing me to feel more bitterly the impossibility of carrying out to the extent which ,i should desire1 the separate studies which general criticism continually forces me to undertake4 ,i can only assure the reader1 that he will find the certainty of every statement ,i permit myself to make1 increase with its importance2 and that1 for the security of the final conclusions of the following essay1 as well as for the resolute veracity of its account of whatever facts have come under my own immediate cognizance1 ,i will pledge myself to the uttermost4 ,it was necessary1 to the accomplishment of the purpose of the work 7of which account is given in the ,first ,chapter71 that ,i should establish some canons of judgment1 which the general reader should thoroughly understand1 and1 if it pleased him1 accept1 before we took cognizance1 together1 of any architecture whatsoever4 ,it has taken me more time and trouble to do this than ,i expected2 but1 if ,i have succeeded1 the thing done will be of use for many other purposes than that to which it is now put4 ,the establishment of these canons1 which ,i have called the ,foundations1 and some account of the connection of ,venetian architecture with that of the rest of ,europe1 have filled the present volume4 ,the second will1 ,i hope1 contain all ,i have to say about ,venice itself4 ,it was of course inexpedient to reduce drawings of crowded details to the size of an octavo volume1--,i do not say impossible1 but inexpedient2 requiring infinite pains on the part of the engraver1 with no result except farther pains to the beholder4 ,and as1 on the other hand1 folio books are not easy reading1 ,i determined to separate the text and the unreducible plates4 ,i have given1 with the principal text1 all the illustrations absolutely necessary to the understanding of it1 and1 in the detached work1 such additional text as has special reference to the larger illustrations4 ,a considerable number of these larger plates were at first intended to be executed in tinted lithography2 but1 finding the result unsatisfactory1 ,i have determined to prepare the principal subjects for mezzotinting1--a change of method requiring two new drawings to be made of every subject2 one a carefully penned outline for the etcher1 and then a finished drawing upon the etching4 ,this work does not proceed fast1 while ,i am also occupied with the completion of the text2 but the numbers of it will appear as fast as ,i can prepare them4 ,for the illustrations of the body of the work itself1 ,i have used any kind of engraving which seemed suited to the subjects--line and mezzotint1 on steel1 with mixed lithographs and woodcuts1 at considerable loss of uniformity in the appearance of the volume1 but1 ,i hope1 with advantage1 in rendering the character of the architecture it describes4 ,and both in the plates and the text ,i have aimed chiefly at clear intelligibility2 that any one1 however little versed in the subject1 might be able to take up the book1 and understand what it meant forthwith4 ,i have utterly failed of my purpose1 if ,i have not made all the essential parts of the essay intelligible to the least learned1 and easy to the most desultory readers1 who are likely to take interest in the matter at all4 ,there are few passages which even require so much as an acquaintance with the elements of ,euclid1 and these may be missed1 without harm to the sense of the rest1 by every reader to whom they may appear mysterious2 and the architectural terms necessarily employed 7which are very few7 are explained as they occur1 or in a note2 so that1 though ,i may often be found trite or tedious1 ,i trust that ,i shall not be obscure4 ,i am especially anxious to rid this essay of ambiguity1 because ,i want to gain the ear of all kinds of persons4 ,every man has1 at some time of his life1 personal interest in architecture4 ,he has influence on the design of some public building2 or he has to buy1 or build1 or alter his own house4 ,it signifies less whether the knowledge of other arts be general or not2 men may live without buying pictures or statues3 but1 in architecture1 all must in some way commit themselves2 they must do mischief1 and waste their money1 if they do not know how to turn it to account4 ,churches1 and shops1 and warehouses1 and cottages1 and small row1 and place1 and terrace houses1 must be built1 and lived in1 however joyless or inconvenient4 ,and it is assuredly intended that all of us should have knowledge1 and act upon our knowledge1 in matters with which we are daily concerned1 and not to be left to the caprice of architects or mercy of contractors4 ,there is not1 indeed1 anything in the following essay bearing on the special forms and needs of modern buildings2 but the principles it inculcates are universal2 and they are illustrated from the remains of a city which should surely be interesting to the men of ,london1 as affording the richest existing examples of architecture raised by a mercantile community1 for civil uses1 and domestic magnificence4 ,,denmark ,,hill1 ,february1 #ahea4 ,,contents4 ,,page ,preface1 iii ,,chapter ,i4 ,the ,quarry1 #a ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,the ,virtues of ,architecture1 #cf ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,the ,six ,divisions of ,architecture1 #dg ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,the ,wall ,base1 #eb ,,chapter ,v4 ,the ,wall ,veil1 #eh ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,the ,wall ,cornice1 #fc ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,the ,pier ,base1 #ga ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,the ,shaft1 #hd ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,the ,capital1 #aje ,,chapter ,x4 ,the ,arch ,line1 #abb ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,the ,arch ,masonry1 #acb ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,the ,arch ,load1 #add ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,the ,roof1 #adh ,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,the ,roof ,cornice1 #aee ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,the ,buttress1 #aff ,,chapter ,,xvi4 ,form of ,aperture1 #agd ,,chapter ,,xvii4 ,filling of ,aperture1 #ahc ,,chapter ,,xviii4 ,protection of ,aperture1 #aie ,,chapter ,,xix4 ,superimposition1 #bjj ,,chapter ,,xx4 ,the ,material of ,ornament1 #baa ,,chapter ,,xxi4 ,treatment of ,ornament1 #bcf ,,chapter ,,xxii4 ,the ,angle1 #bei ,,chapter ,,xxiii4 ,the ,edge and ,fillet1 #bfg ,,chapter ,,xxiv4 ,the ,roll and ,recess1 #bgf ,,chapter ,,xxv4 ,the ,base1 #bha ,,chapter ,,xxvi4 ,the ,wall ,veil and ,shaft1 #bid ,,chapter ,,xxvii4 ,the ,cornice and ,capital1 #cje ,,chapter ,,xxviii4 ,the ,archivolt and ,aperture1 #ccc ,,chapter ,,xxix4 ,the ,roof1 #cdc ,,chapter ,,xxx4 ,the ,vestibule1 #cdi 99 99 99 99 99 ,,appendix4 #a4 ,foundation of ,venice1 #cei #b4 ,power of the ,doges1 #cfj #c4 ,serrar del ,consiglio1 #cfj #d4 ,s4 ,pietro di ,castello1 #cfa #e4 ,papal ,power in ,venice1 #cfb #f4 ,renaissance ,ornament1 #cfi #g4 ,varieties of the ,orders1 #cgj #h4 ,the ,northern ,energy1 #cga #i4 ,wooden ,churches of the ,north1 #cha #aj4 ,church of ,alexandria1 #cha #aa4 ,renaissance ,landscape1 #cha #ab4 ,romanist ,modern ,art1 #chd #ac4 ,mr4 ,fergusson's ,system1 #chh #ad4 ,divisions of ,humanity1 #cid #ae4 ,instinctive ,judgments1 #cii #af4 ,strength of ,shafts1 #djb #ag4 ,answer to ,mr4 ,garbett1 #djc #ah4 ,early ,english ,capitals1 #daa #ai4 ,tombs near ,st4 ,anastasia1 #dab #bj4 ,shafts of the ,ducal ,palace1 #dac #ba4 ,ancient ,representations of ,water1 #dag #bb4 ,arabian ,ornamentation1 #dbi #bc4 ,varieties of ,chamfer1 #dbi #bd4 ,renaissance ,bases1 #dca #be4 ,romanist ,decoration of ,bases1 #dcb ,,list ,,of ,,plates4 ,facing ,page ,plate #a4 ,wall ,veil ,decoration1 ,ca' ,trevisan and ,ca' ,dario1 #ac #b4 ,plans of ,piers1 #ajj #c4 ,arch ,masonry1 #acd #d4 ,arch ,masonry1 #acg #e4 ,arch ,masonry1 ,bruletto of ,como1 #ada #f4 ,types of ,towers1 #bjg #g4 ,abstracts ,lines1 #bbb #h4 ,decorations by ,disks1 ,ca' ,badoari1 #bda #i4 ,edge ,decoration1 #bfh #aj4 ,profiles of ,bases1 #bhc #aa4 ,plans of ,bases1 #bhh #ab4 ,decorations of ,bases1 #bhi #ac4 ,wall ,veil ,decorations1 #bie #ad4 ,spandril ,decorations1 ,ducal ,palace1 #bih #ae4 ,cornice ,profiles1 #cjf #af4 ,cornice ,decorations1 #caa #ag4 ,capitals--,concave1 #cbc #ah4 ,capitals--,convex1 #cbg #ai4 ,archivolt ,decoration1 ,verona1 #ccc #bj4 ,wall ,veil ,decoration1 ,ca' ,trevisan1 #cfi #ba4 ,wall ,veil ,decoration1 ,san ,michele1 ,lucca1 #cgh ,,the ,,stones ,,of ,,venice4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,quarry4 ,i4 ,since the first dominion of men was asserted over the ocean1 three thrones1 of mark beyond all others1 have been set upon its sands3 the thrones of ,tyre1 ,venice1 and ,england4 ,of the ,first of these great powers only the memory remains2 of the ,second1 the ruin2 the ,third1 which inherits their greatness1 if it forget their example1 may be led through prouder eminence to less pitied destruction4 ,the exaltation1 the sin1 and the punishment of ,tyre have been recorded for us1 in perhaps the most touching words ever uttered by the ,prophets of ,israel against the cities of the stranger4 ,but we read them as a lovely song2 and close our ears to the sternness of their warning3 for the very depth of the ,fall of ,tyre has blinded us to its reality1 and we forget1 as we watch the bleaching of the rocks between the sunshine and the sea1 that they were once as in ,eden1 the garden of ,god4 ,her successor1 like her in perfection of beauty1 though less in endurance of dominion1 is still left for our beholding in the final period of her decline3 a ghost upon the sands of the sea1 so weak--so quiet1--so bereft of all but her loveliness1 that we might well doubt1 as we watched her faint reflection in the mirage of the lagoon1 which was the ,city1 and which the ,shadow4 ,i would endeavor to trace the lines of this image before it be for ever lost1 and to record1 as far as ,i may1 the warning which seems to me to be uttered by every one of the fast-gaining waves1 that beat1 like passing bells1 against the ,,stones ,,of ,,venice4 ,,ii4 ,it would be difficult to overrate the value of the lessons which might be derived from a faithful study of the history of this strange and mighty city3 a history which1 in spite of the labor of countless chroniclers1 remains in vague and disputable outline1--barred with brightness and shade1 like the far away edge of her own ocean1 where the surf and the sand-bank are mingled with the sky4 ,the inquiries in which we have to engage will hardly render this outline clearer1 but their results will1 in some degree1 alter its aspect2 and1 so far as they bear upon it at all1 they possess an interest of a far higher kind than that usually belonging to architectural investigations4 ,i may1 perhaps1 in the outset1 and in few words1 enable the general reader to form a clearer idea of the importance of every existing expression of ,venetian character through ,venetian art1 and of the breadth of interest which the true history of ,venice embraces1 than he is likely to have gleaned from the current fables of her mystery or magnificence4 ,,iii4 ,venice is usually conceived as an oligarchy3 ,she was so during a period less than the half of her existence1 and that including the days of her decline2 and it is one of the first questions needing severe examination1 whether that decline was owing in any wise to the change in the form of her government1 or altogether1 as assuredly in great part1 to changes1 in the character of the persons of whom it was composed4 ,the state of ,venice existed ,thirteen ,hundred and ,seventy-six years1 from the first establishment of a consular government on the island of the ,rialto1#a to the moment when the ,general-in-chief of the ,french army of ,italy pronounced the ,venetian republic a thing of the past4 ,of this period1 ,two ,hundred and ,seventy-six#b years were passed in a nominal subjection to the cities of old ,venetia1 especially to ,padua1 and in an agitated form of democracy1 of which the executive appears to have been entrusted to tribunes1#c chosen1 one by the inhabitants of each of the principal islands4 ,for six hundred years1#d during which the power of ,venice was continually on the increase1 her government was an elective monarchy1 her ,king or doge possessing1 in early times at least1 as much independent authority as any other ,european sovereign1 but an authority gradually subjected to limitation1 and shortened almost daily of its prerogatives1 while it increased in a spectral and incapable magnificence4 ,the final government of the nobles1 under the image of a king1 lasted for five hundred years1 during which ,venice reaped the fruits of her former energies1 consumed them1--and expired4 ,,iv4 ,let the reader therefore conceive the existence of the ,venetian state as broadly divided into two periods3 the first of nine hundred1 the second of five hundred years1 the separation being marked by what was called the ,serrar del ,consiglio2 that is to say1 the final and absolute distinction of the nobles from the commonalty1 and the establishment of the government in their hands to the exclusion alike of the influence of the people on the one side1 and the authority of the doge on the other4 ,then the first period1 of nine hundred years1 presents us with the most interesting spectacle of a people struggling out of anarchy into order and power2 and then governed1 for the most part1 by the worthiest and noblest man whom they could find among them1#e called their ,doge or ,leader1 with an aristocracy gradually and resolutely forming itself around him1 out of which1 and at last by which1 he was chosen2 an aristocracy owing its origin to the accidental numbers1 influence1 and wealth of some among the families of the fugitives from the older ,venetia1 and gradually organizing itself1 by its unity and heroism1 into a separate body4 ,this first period includes the rise of ,venice1 her noblest achievements1 and the circumstances which determined her character and position among ,european powers2 and within its range1 as might have been anticipated1 we find the names of all her hero princes1--of ,pietro ,urseolo1 ,ordalafo ,falier1 ,domenico ,michieli1 ,sebastiano ,ziani1 and ,enrico ,dandolo4 ,v4 ,the second period opens with a hundred and twenty years1 the most eventful in the career of ,venice--the central struggle of her life--stained with her darkest crime1 the murder of ,carrara--disturbed by her most dangerous internal sedition1 the conspiracy of ,falier--oppressed by her most fatal war1 the war of ,chiozza--and distinguished by the glory of her two noblest citizens 7for in this period the heroism of her citizens replaces that of her monarchs71 ,vittor ,pisani and ,carlo ,zeno4 ,i date the commencement of the ,fall of ,venice from the death of ,carlo ,zeno1 #hth ,may1 #adah2f the visible commencement from that of another of her noblest and wisest children1 the ,doge ,tomaso ,mocenigo1 who expired five years later4 ,the reign of ,foscari followed1 gloomy with pestilence and war2 a war in which large acquisitions of territory were made by subtle or fortunate policy in ,lombardy1 and disgrace1 significant as irreparable1 sustained in the battles on the ,po at ,cremona1 and in the marshes of ,caravaggio4 ,in #aded1 ,venice1 the first of the states of ,christendom1 humiliated herself to the ,turk3 in the same year was established the ,inquisition of ,state1#g and from this period her government takes the perfidious and mysterious form under which it is usually conceived4 ,in #adgg1 the great ,turkish invasion spread terror to the shores of the lagoons2 and in #aejh the league of ,cambrai marks the period usually assigned as the commencement of the decline of the ,venetian power2#h the commercial prosperity of ,venice in the close of the fifteenth century blinding her historians to the previous evidence of the diminution of her internal strength4 ,,vi4 ,now there is apparently a significative coincidence between the establishment of the aristocratic and oligarchical powers1 and the diminution of the prosperity of the state4 ,but this is the very question at issue2 and it appears to me quite undetermined by any historian1 or determined by each in accordance with his own prejudices4 ,it is a triple question3 first1 whether the oligarchy established by the efforts of individual ambition was the cause1 in its subsequent operation1 of the ,fall of ,venice2 or 7secondly7 whether the establishment of the oligarchy itself be not the sign and evidence1 rather than the cause1 of national enervation2 or 7lastly7 whether1 as ,i rather think1 the history of ,venice might not be written almost without reference to the construction of her senate or the prerogatives of her ,doge4 ,it is the history of a people eminently at unity in itself1 descendants of ,roman race1 long disciplined by adversity1 and compelled by its position either to live nobly or to perish3--for a thousand years they fought for life2 for three hundred they invited death3 their battle was rewarded1 and their call was heard4 ,,vii4 ,throughout her career1 the victories of ,venice1 and1 at many periods of it1 her safety1 were purchased by individual heroism2 and the man who exalted or saved her was sometimes 7oftenest7 her king1 sometimes a noble1 sometimes a citizen4 ,to him no matter1 nor to her3 the real question is1 not so much what names they bore1 or with what powers they were entrusted1 as how they were trained2 how they were made masters of themselves1 servants of their country1 patient of distress1 impatient of dishonor2 and what was the true reason of the change from the time when she could find saviours among those whom she had cast into prison1 to that when the voices of her own children commanded her to sign covenant with ,death4#i ,,viii4 ,on this collateral question ,i wish the reader's mind to be fixed throughout all our subsequent inquiries4 ,it will give double interest to every detail3 nor will the interest be profitless2 for the evidence which ,i shall be able to deduce from the arts of ,venice will be both frequent and irrefragable1 that the decline of her political prosperity was exactly coincident with that of domestic and individual religion4 ,i say domestic and individual2 for--and this is the second point which ,i wish the reader to keep in mind--the most curious phenomenon in all ,venetian history is the vitality of religion in private life1 and its deadness in public policy4 ,amidst the enthusiasm1 chivalry1 or fanaticism of the other states of ,europe1 ,venice stands1 from first to last1 like a masked statue2 her coldness impenetrable1 her exertion only aroused by the touch of a secret spring4 ,that spring was her commercial interest1--this the one motive of all her important political acts1 or enduring national animosities4 ,she could forgive insults to her honor1 but never rivalship in her commerce2 she calculated the glory of her conquests by their value1 and estimated their justice by their facility4 ,the fame of success remains1 when the motives of attempt are forgotten2 and the casual reader of her history may perhaps be surprised to be reminded1 that the expedition which was commanded by the noblest of her princes1 and whose results added most to her military glory1 was one in which while all ,europe around her was wasted by the fire of its devotion1 she first calculated the highest price she could exact from its piety for the armament she furnished1 and then1 for the advancement of her own private interests1 at once broke her faith#aj and betrayed her religion4 ,,ix4 ,and yet1 in the midst of this national criminality1 we shall be struck again and again by the evidences of the most noble individual feeling4 ,the tears of ,dandolo were not shed in hypocrisy1 though they could not blind him to the importance of the conquest of ,zara4 ,the habit of assigning to religion a direct influence over all his own actions1 and all the affairs of his own daily life1 is remarkable in every great ,venetian during the times of the prosperity of the state2 nor are instances wanting in which the private feeling of the citizens reaches the sphere of their policy1 and even becomes the guide of its course where the scales of expediency are doubtfully balanced4 ,i sincerely trust that the inquirer would be disappointed who should endeavor to trace any more immediate reasons for their adoption of the cause of ,alexander ,,iii4 against ,barbarossa1 than the piety which was excited by the character of their suppliant1 and the noble pride which was provoked by the insolence of the emperor4 ,but the heart of ,venice is shown only in her hastiest councils2 her worldly spirit recovers the ascendency whenever she has time to calculate the probabilities of advantage1 or when they are sufficiently distinct to need no calculation2 and the entire subjection of private piety to national policy is not only remarkable throughout the almost endless series of treacheries and tyrannies by which her empire was enlarged and maintained1 but symbolised by a very singular circumstance in the building of the city itself4 ,i am aware of no other city of ,europe in which its cathedral was not the principal feature4 ,but the principal church in ,venice was the chapel attached to the palace of her prince1 and called the ,chiesa ,ducale4 ,the patriarchal church1#aa inconsiderable in size and mean in decoration1 stands on the outermost islet of the ,venetian group1 and its name1 as well as its site1 is probably unknown to the greater number of travellers passing hastily through the city4 ,nor is it less worthy of remark1 that the two most important temples of ,venice1 next to the ducal chapel1 owe their size and magnificence1 not to national effort1 but to the energy of the ,franciscan and ,dominican monks1 supported by the vast organization of those great societies on the mainland of ,italy1 and countenanced by the most pious1 and perhaps also1 in his generation1 the most wise1 of all the princes of ,venice1#ab who now rests beneath the roof of one of those very temples1 and whose life is not satirized by the images of the ,virtues which a ,tuscan sculptor has placed around his tomb4 ,x4 ,there are1 therefore1 two strange and solemn lights in which we have to regard almost every scene in the fitful history of the ,rivo ,alto4 ,we find1 on the one hand1 a deep and constant tone of individual religion characterising the lives of the citizens of ,venice in her greatness2 we find this spirit influencing them in all the familiar and immediate concerns of life1 giving a peculiar dignity to the conduct even of their commercial transactions1 and confessed by them with a simplicity of faith that may well put to shame the hesitation with which a man of the world at present admits 7even if it be so in reality7 that religious feeling has any influence over the minor branches of his conduct4 ,and we find as the natural consequence of all this1 a healthy serenity of mind and energy of will expressed in all their actions1 and a habit of heroism which never fails them1 even when the immediate motive of action ceases to be praiseworthy4 ,with the fulness of this spirit the prosperity of the state is exactly correspondent1 and with its failure her decline1 and that with a closeness and precision which it will be one of the collateral objects of the following essay to demonstrate from such accidental evidence as the field of its inquiry presents4 ,and1 thus far1 all is natural and simple4 ,but the stopping short of this religious faith when it appears likely to influence national action1 correspondent as it is1 and that most strikingly1 with several characteristics of the temper of our present ,english legislature1 is a subject1 morally and politically1 of the most curious interest and complicated difficulty2 one1 however1 which the range of my present inquiry will not permit me to approach1 and for the treatment of which ,i must be content to furnish materials in the light ,i may be able to throw upon the private tendencies of the ,venetian character4 ,,xi4 ,there is1 however1 another most interesting feature in the policy of ,venice which will be often brought before us2 and which a ,romanist would gladly assign as the reason of its irreligion2 namely1 the magnificent and successful struggle which she maintained against the temporal authority of the ,church of ,rome4 ,it is true that1 in a rapid survey of her career1 the eye is at first arrested by the strange drama to which ,i have already alluded1 closed by that ever memorable scene in the portico of ,st4 ,mark's1#ac the central expression in most men's thoughts of the unendurable elevation of the pontifical power2 it is true that the proudest thoughts of ,venice1 as well as the insignia of her prince1 and the form of her chief festival1 recorded the service thus rendered to the ,roman ,church4 ,but the enduring sentiment of years more than balanced the enthusiasm of a moment2 and the bull of ,clement ,v41 which excommunicated the ,venetians and their doge1 likening them to ,dathan1 ,abiram1 ,absalom1 and ,lucifer1 is a stronger evidence of the great tendencies of the ,venetian government than the umbrella of the doge or the ring of the ,adriatic4 ,the humiliation of ,francesco ,dandolo blotted out the shame of ,barbarossa1 and the total exclusion of ecclesiastics from all share in the councils of ,venice became an enduring mark of her knowledge of the spirit of the ,church of ,rome1 and of her defiance of it4 ,to this exclusion of ,papal influence from her councils1 the ,romanist will attribute their irreligion1 and the ,protestant their success4#ad ,the first may be silenced by a reference to the character of the policy of the ,vatican itself2 and the second by his own shame1 when he reflects that the ,english legislature sacrificed their principles to expose themselves to the very danger which the ,venetian senate sacrificed theirs to avoid4 ,,xii4 ,one more circumstance remains to be noted respecting the ,venetian government1 the singular unity of the families composing it1--unity far from sincere or perfect1 but still admirable when contrasted with the fiery feuds1 the almost daily revolutions1 the restless successions of families and parties in power1 which fill the annals of the other states of ,italy4 ,that rivalship should sometimes be ended by the dagger1 or enmity conducted to its ends under the mask of law1 could not but be anticipated where the fierce ,italian spirit was subjected to so severe a restraint3 it is much that jealousy appears usually unmingled with illegitimate ambition1 and that1 for every instance in which private passion sought its gratification through public danger1 there are a thousand in which it was sacrificed to the public advantage4 ,venice may well call upon us to note with reverence1 that of all the towers which are still seen rising like a branchless forest from her islands1 there is but one whose office was other than that of summoning to prayer1 and that one was a watch-tower only3 from first to last1 while the palaces of the other cities of ,italy were lifted into sullen fortitudes of rampart1 and fringed with forked battlements for the javelin and the bow1 the sands of ,venice never sank under the weight of a war tower1 and her roof terraces were wreathed with ,arabian imagery1 of golden globes suspended on the leaves of lilies4#ae ,,xiii4 ,these1 then1 appear to me to be the points of chief general interest in the character and fate of the ,venetian people4 ,i would next endeavor to give the reader some idea of the manner in which the testimony of ,art bears upon these questions1 and of the aspect which the arts themselves assume when they are regarded in their true connexion with the history of the state4 #ast4 ,receive the witness of ,painting4 ,it will be remembered that ,i put the commencement of the ,fall of ,venice as far back as #adah4 ,now1 ,john ,bellini was born in #adbc1 and ,titian in #adhj4 ,john ,bellini1 and his brother ,gentile1 two years older than he1 close the line of the sacred painters of ,venice4 ,but the most solemn spirit of religious faith animates their works to the last4 ,there is no religion in any work of ,titian's3 there is not even the smallest evidence of religious temper or sympathies either in himself1 or in those for whom he painted4 ,his larger sacred subjects are merely themes for the exhibition of pictorial rhetoric1--composition and color4 ,his minor works are generally made subordinate to purposes of portraiture4 ,the ,madonna in the church of the ,frari is a mere lay figure1 introduced to form a link of connexion between the portraits of various members of the ,pesaro family who surround her4 ,now this is not merely because ,john ,bellini was a religious man and ,titian was not4 ,titian and ,bellini are each true representatives of the school of painters contemporary with them2 and the difference in their artistic feeling is a consequence not so much of difference in their own natural characters as in their early education3 ,bellini was brought up in faith2 ,titian in formalism4 ,between the years of their births the vital religion of ,venice had expired4 ,,xiv4 ,the vital religion1 observe1 not the formal4 ,outward observance was as strict as ever2 and doge and senator still were painted1 in almost every important instance1 kneeling before the ,madonna or ,st4 ,mark2 a confession of faith made universal by the pure gold of the ,venetian sequin4 ,but observe the great picture of ,titian's in the ducal palace1 of the ,doge ,antonio ,grimani kneeling before ,faith3 there is a curious lesson in it4 ,the figure of ,faith is a coarse portrait of one of ,titian's least graceful female models3 ,faith had become carnal4 ,the eye is first caught by the flash of the ,doge's armor4 ,the heart of ,venice was in her wars1 not in her worship4 ,the mind of ,tintoret1 incomparably more deep and serious than that of ,titian1 casts the solemnity of its own tone over the sacred subjects which it approaches1 and sometimes forgets itself into devotion2 but the principle of treatment is altogether the same as ,titian's3 absolute subordination of the religious subject to purposes of decoration or portraiture4 ,the evidence might be accumulated a thousandfold from the works of ,veronese1 and of every succeeding painter1--that the fifteenth century had taken away the religious heart of ,venice4 ,,xv4 ,such is the evidence of ,painting4 ,to collect that of ,architecture will be our task through many a page to come2 but ,i must here give a general idea of its heads4 ,philippe de ,commynes1 writing of his entry into ,venice in #adie1 says1-- ,chascun me feit seoir au meillieu de ces deux ambassadeurs qui est l'honneur d',italie que d'estre au meillieu2 et me menerent au long de la grant rue1 qu'ilz appellent le ,canal ,grant1 et est bien large4 ,les gallees y passent travers et y ay ven navire de quatre cens tonneaux ou plus pres des maisons3 et est la plus belle rue que je croy qui soit en tout le monde1 et la mieulx maisonnee1 et va le long de la ville4 ,les maisons sont fort grandes et haultes1 et de bonne pierre1 et les anciennes toutes painctes2 les aultres faictes depuis cent ans3 toutes ont le devant de marbre blanc1 qui leur vient d',istrie1 cent mils de l1 et encores maincte grant piece de porphire et de sarpentine sur le devant4444 ,c'est la plus triumphante cit que j'aye jamais vene et qui plus faict d'honneur ambassadeurs et estrangiers1 et qui plus saigement se gouverne1 et o le service de ,dieu est le plus sollempnellement faict3 et encores qu'il y peust bien avoir d'aultres faultes1 si je croy que ,dieu les a en ayde pour la reverence qu'ilz portent au service de l',eglise4#af ,illustration3 ,plate ,i4 ,wall-,veil-,decoration4 ,,ca',,trevisan ,,ca',,dario4 ,,xvi4 ,this passage is of peculiar interest1 for two reasons4 ,observe1 first1 the impression of ,commynes respecting the religion of ,venice3 of which1 as ,i have above said1 the forms still remained with some glimmering of life in them1 and were the evidence of what the real life had been in former times4 ,but observe1 secondly1 the impression instantly made on ,commynes' mind by the distinction between the elder palaces and those built within this last hundred years2 which all have their fronts of white marble brought from ,istria1 a hundred miles away1 and besides1 many a large piece of porphyry and serpentine upon their fronts4 ,on the opposite page ,i have given two of the ornaments of the palaces which so struck the ,french ambassador4#ag ,he was right in his notice of the distinction4 ,there had indeed come a change over ,venetian architecture in the fifteenth century2 and a change of some importance to us moderns3 we ,english owe to it our ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral1 and ,europe in general owes to it the utter degradation or destruction of her schools of architecture1 never since revived4 ,but that the reader may understand this1 it is necessary that he should have some general idea of the connexion of the architecture of ,venice with that of the rest of ,europe1 from its origin forwards4 ,,xvii4 ,all ,european architecture1 bad and good1 old and new1 is derived from ,greece through ,rome1 and colored and perfected from the ,east4 ,the history of architecture is nothing but the tracing of the various modes and directions of this derivation4 ,understand this1 once for all3 if you hold fast this great connecting clue1 you may string all the types of successive architectural invention upon it like so many beads4 ,the ,doric and the ,corinthian orders are the roots1 the one of all ,romanesque1 massy-capitaled buildings--,norman1 ,lombard1 ,byzantine1 and what else you can name of the kind2 and the ,corinthian of all ,gothic1 ,early ,english1 ,french1 ,german1 and ,tuscan4 ,now observe3 those old ,greeks gave the shaft2 ,rome gave the arch2 the ,arabs pointed and foliated the arch4 ,the shaft and arch1 the frame-work and strength of architecture1 are from the race of ,japheth3 the spirituality and sanctity of it from ,ismael1 ,abraham1 and ,shem4 ,,xviii4 ,there is high probability that the ,greek received his shaft system from ,egypt2 but ,i do not care to keep this earlier derivation in the mind of the reader4 ,it is only necessary that he should be able to refer to a fixed point of origin1 when the form of the shaft was first perfected4 ,but it may be incidentally observed1 that if the ,greeks did indeed receive their ,doric from ,egypt1 then the three families of the earth have each contributed their part to its noblest architecture3 and ,ham1 the servant of the others1 furnishes the sustaining or bearing member1 the shaft2 ,japheth the arch2 ,shem the spiritualisation of both4 ,,xix4 ,i have said that the two orders1 ,doric and ,corinthian1 are the roots of all ,european architecture4 ,you have1 perhaps1 heard of five orders2 but there are only two real orders1 and there never can be any more until doomsday4 ,on one of these orders the ornament is convex3 those are ,doric1 ,norman1 and what else you recollect of the kind4 ,on the other the ornament is concave3 those are ,corinthian1 ,early ,english1 ,decorated1 and what else you recollect of that kind4 ,the transitional form1 in which the ornamental line is straight1 is the centre or root of both4 ,all other orders are varieties of those1 or phantasms and grotesques altogether indefinite in number and species4#ah ,,xx4 ,this ,greek architecture1 then1 with its two orders1 was clumsily copied and varied by the ,romans with no particular result1 until they begun to bring the arch into extensive practical service2 except only that the ,doric capital was spoiled in endeavors to mend it1 and the ,corinthian much varied and enriched with fanciful1 and often very beautiful imagery4 ,and in this state of things came ,christianity3 seized upon the arch as her own2 decorated it1 and delighted in it2 invented a new ,doric capital to replace the spoiled ,roman one3 and all over the ,roman empire set to work1 with such materials as were nearest at hand1 to express and adorn herself as best she could4 ,this ,roman ,christian architecture is the exact expression of the ,christianity of the time1 very fervid and beautiful--but very imperfect2 in many respects ignorant1 and yet radiant with a strong1 childlike light of imagination1 which flames up under ,constantine1 illumines all the shores of the ,bosphorus and the gean and the ,adriatic ,sea1 and then gradually1 as the people give themselves up to idolatry1 becomes ,corpse-light4 ,the architecture sinks into a settled form--a strange1 gilded1 and embalmed repose3 it1 with the religion it expressed2 and so would have remained for ever1--so does remain1 where its languor has been undisturbed4#ai ,but rough wakening was ordained for it4 ,,xxi4 ,this ,christian art of the declining empire is divided into two great branches1 western and eastern2 one centred at ,rome1 the other at ,byzantium1 of which the one is the early ,christian ,romanesque1 properly so called1 and the other1 carried to higher imaginative perfection by ,greek workmen1 is distinguished from it as ,byzantine4 ,but ,i wish the reader1 for the present1 to class these two branches of art together in his mind1 they being1 in points of main importance1 the same2 that is to say1 both of them a true continuance and sequence of the art of old ,rome itself1 flowing uninterruptedly down from the fountain-head1 and entrusted always to the best workmen who could be found--,latins in ,italy and ,greeks in ,greece2 and thus both branches may be ranged under the general term of ,christian ,romanesque1 an architecture which had lost the refinement of ,pagan art in the degradation of the empire1 but which was elevated by ,christianity to higher aims1 and by the fancy of the ,greek workmen endowed with brighter forms4 ,and this art the reader may conceive as extending in its various branches over all the central provinces of the empire1 taking aspects more or less refined1 according to its proximity to the seats of government2 dependent for all its power on the vigor and freshness of the religion which animated it2 and as that vigor and purity departed1 losing its own vitality1 and sinking into nerveless rest1 not deprived of its beauty1 but benumbed and incapable of advance or change4 ,,xxii4 ,meantime there had been preparation for its renewal4 ,while in ,rome and ,constantinople1 and in the districts under their immediate influence1 this ,roman art of pure descent was practised in all its refinement1 an impure form of it--a patois of ,romanesque--was carried by inferior workmen into distant provinces2 and still ruder imitations of this patois were executed by the barbarous nations on the skirts of the empire4 ,but these barbarous nations were in the strength of their youth2 and while1 in the centre of ,europe1 a refined and purely descended art was sinking into graceful formalism1 on its confines a barbarous and borrowed art was organising itself into strength and consistency4 ,the reader must therefore consider the history of the work of the period as broadly divided into two great heads3 the one embracing the elaborately languid succession of the ,christian art of ,rome2 and the other1 the imitations of it executed by nations in every conceivable phase of early organisation1 on the edges of the empire1 or included in its now merely nominal extent4 ,,xxiii4 ,some of the barbaric nations were1 of course1 not susceptible of this influence2 and when they burst over the ,alps1 appear1 like the ,huns1 as scourges only1 or mix1 as the ,ostrogoths1 with the enervated ,italians1 and give physical strength to the mass with which they mingle1 without materially affecting its intellectual character4 ,but others1 both south and north of the empire1 had felt its influence1 back to the beach of the ,indian ,ocean on the one hand1 and to the ice creeks of the ,north ,sea on the other4 ,on the north and west the influence was of the ,latins2 on the south and east1 of the ,greeks4 ,two nations1 pre-eminent above all the rest1 represent to us the force of derived mind on either side4 ,as the central power is eclipsed1 the orbs of reflected light gather into their fulness2 and when sensuality and idolatry had done their work1 and the religion of the empire was laid asleep in a glittering sepulchre1 the living light rose upon both horizons1 and the fierce swords of the ,lombard and ,arab were shaken over its golden paralysis4 ,,xxiv4 ,the work of the ,lombard was to give hardihood and system to the enervated body and enfeebled mind of ,christendom2 that of the ,arab was to punish idolatry1 and to proclaim the spirituality of worship4 ,the ,lombard covered every church which he built with the sculptured representations of bodily exercises--hunting and war4#bj ,the ,arab banished all imagination of creature form from his temples1 and proclaimed from their minarets1 ,there is no god but ,god4 ,opposite in their character and mission1 alike in their magnificence of energy1 they came from the ,north and from the ,south1 the glacier torrent and the lava stream3 they met and contended over the wreck of the ,roman empire2 and the very centre of the struggle1 the point of pause of both1 the dead water of the opposite eddies1 charged with embayed fragments of the ,roman wreck1 is ,,venice4 ,the ,ducal palace of ,venice contains the three elements in exactly equal proportions--the ,roman1 ,lombard1 and ,arab4 ,it is the central building of the world4 ,,xxv4 ,the reader will now begin to understand something of the importance of the study of the edifices of a city which includes1 within the circuit of some seven or eight miles1 the field of contest between the three pre-eminent architectures of the world3--each architecture expressing a condition of religion2 each an erroneous condition1 yet necessary to the correction of the others1 and corrected by them4 ,,xxvi4 ,it will be part of my endeavor1 in the following work1 to mark the various modes in which the northern and southern architectures were developed from the ,roman3 here ,i must pause only to name the distinguishing characteristics of the great families4 ,the ,christian ,roman and ,byzantine work is round-arched1 with single and well-proportioned shafts2 capitals imitated from classical ,roman2 mouldings more or less so2 and large surfaces of walls entirely covered with imagery1 mosaic1 and paintings1 whether of scripture history or of sacred symbols4 ,the ,arab school is at first the same in its principal features1 the ,byzantine workmen being employed by the caliphs2 but the ,arab rapidly introduces characters half ,persepolitan1 half ,egyptian1 into the shafts and capitals3 in his intense love of excitement he points the arch and writhes it into extravagant foliations2 he banishes the animal imagery1 and invents an ornamentation of his own 7called ,arabesque7 to replace it3 this not being adapted for covering large surfaces1 he concentrates it on features of interest1 and bars his surfaces with horizontal lines of color1 the expression of the level of the ,desert4 ,he retains the dome1 and adds the minaret4 ,all is done with exquisite refinement4 ,,xxvii4 ,the changes effected by the ,lombard are more curious still1 for they are in the anatomy of the building1 more than its decoration4 ,the ,lombard architecture represents1 as ,i said1 the whole of that of the northern barbaric nations4 ,and this ,i believe was1 at first1 an imitation in wood of the ,christian ,roman churches or basilicas4 ,without staying to examine the whole structure of a basilica1 the reader will easily understand thus much of it3 that it had a nave and two aisles1 the nave much higher than the aisles2 that the nave was separated from the aisles by rows of shafts1 which supported1 above1 large spaces of flat or dead wall1 rising above the aisles1 and forming the upper part of the nave1 now called the clerestory1 which had a gabled wooden roof4 ,these high dead walls were1 in ,roman work1 built of stone2 but in the wooden work of the ,north1 they must necessarily have been made of horizontal boards or timbers attached to uprights on the top of the nave pillars1 which were themselves also of wood4#ba ,now1 these uprights were necessarily thicker than the rest of the timbers1 and formed vertical square pilasters above the nave piers4 ,as ,christianity extended and civilisation increased1 these wooden structures were changed into stone2 but they were literally petrified1 retaining the form which had been made necessary by their being of wood4 ,the upright pilaster above the nave pier remains in the stone edifice1 and is the first form of the great distinctive feature of ,northern architecture--the vaulting shaft4 ,in that form the ,lombards brought it into ,italy1 in the seventh century1 and it remains to this day in ,st4 ,ambrogio of ,milan1 and ,st4 ,michele of ,pavia4 ,,xxviii4 ,when the vaulting shaft was introduced in the clerestory walls1 additional members were added for its support to the nave piers4 ,perhaps two or three pine trunks1 used for a single pillar1 gave the first idea of the grouped shaft4 ,be that as it may1 the arrangement of the nave pier in the form of a cross accompanies the superimposition of the vaulting shaft2 together with corresponding grouping of minor shafts in doorways and apertures of windows4 ,thus1 the whole body of the ,northern architecture1 represented by that of the ,lombards1 may be described as rough but majestic work1 round-arched1 with grouped shafts1 added vaulting shafts1 and endless imagery of active life and fantastic superstitions4 ,,xxix4 ,the glacier stream of the ,lombards1 and the following one of the ,normans1 left their erratic blocks1 wherever they had flowed2 but without influencing1 ,i think1 the ,southern nations beyond the sphere of their own presence4 ,but the lava stream of the ,arab1 even after it ceased to flow1 warmed the whole of the ,northern air2 and the history of ,gothic architecture is the history of the refinement and spiritualisation of ,northern work under its influence4 ,the noblest buildings of the world1 the ,pisan-,romanesque1 ,tuscan 7,giottesque7 ,gothic1 and ,veronese ,gothic1 are those of the ,lombard schools themselves1 under its close and direct influence2 the various ,gothics of the ,north are the original forms of the architecture which the ,lombards brought into ,italy1 changing under the less direct influence of the ,arab4 ,,xxx4 ,understanding thus much of the formation of the great ,european styles1 we shall have no difficulty in tracing the succession of architectures in ,venice herself4 ,from what ,i said of the central character of ,venetian art1 the reader is not1 of course1 to conclude that the ,roman1 ,northern1 and ,arabian elements met together and contended for the mastery at the same period4 ,the earliest element was the pure ,christian ,roman2 but few1 if any1 remains of this art exist at ,venice2 for the present city was in the earliest times only one of many settlements formed on the chain of marshy islands which extend from the mouths of the ,isonzo to those of the ,adige1 and it was not until the beginning of the ninth century that it became the seat of government2 while the cathedral of ,torcello1 though ,christian ,roman in general form1 was rebuilt in the eleventh century1 and shows evidence of ,byzantine workmanship in many of its details4 ,this cathedral1 however1 with the church of ,santa ,fosca at ,torcello1 ,san ,giacomo di ,rialto at ,venice1 and the crypt of ,st4 ,mark's1 forms a distinct group of buildings1 in which the ,byzantine influence is exceedingly slight2 and which is probably very sufficiently representative of the earliest architecture on the islands4 ,,xxxi4 ,the ,ducal residence was removed to ,venice in #hji1 and the body of ,st4 ,mark was brought from ,alexandria twenty years later4 ,the first church of ,st4 ,mark's was1 doubtless1 built in imitation of that destroyed at ,alexandria1 and from which the relics of the saint had been obtained4 ,during the ninth1 tenth1 and eleventh centuries1 the architecture of ,venice seems to have been formed on the same model1 and is almost identical with that of ,cairo under the caliphs1#bb it being quite immaterial whether the reader chooses to call both ,byzantine or both ,arabic2 the workmen being certainly ,byzantine1 but forced to the invention of new forms by their ,arabian masters1 and bringing these forms into use in whatever other parts of the world they were employed4 ,to this first manner of ,venetian architecture1 together with vestiges as remain of the ,christian ,roman1 ,i shall devote the first division of the following inquiry4 ,the examples remaining of it consist of three noble churches 7those of ,torcello1 ,murano1 and the greater part of ,st4 ,mark's71 and about ten or twelve fragments of palaces4 ,,xxxii4 ,to this style succeeds a transitional one1 of a character much more distinctly ,arabian3 the shafts become more slender1 and the arches consistently pointed1 instead of round2 certain other changes1 not to be enumerated in a sentence1 taking place in the capitals and mouldings4 ,this style is almost exclusively secular4 ,it was natural for the ,venetians to imitate the beautiful details of the ,arabian dwelling-house1 while they would with reluctance adopt those of the mosque for ,christian churches4 ,i have not succeeded in fixing limiting dates for this style4 ,it appears in part contemporary with the ,byzantine manner1 but outlives it4 ,its position is1 however1 fixed by the central date1 #aahj1 that of the elevation of the granite shafts of the ,piazetta1 whose capitals are the two most important pieces of detail in this transitional style in ,venice4 ,examples of its application to domestic buildings exist in almost every street of the city1 and will form the subject of the second division of the following essay4 ,,xxxiii4 ,the ,venetians were always ready to receive lessons in art from their enemies 7else had there been no ,arab work in ,venice74 ,but their especial dread and hatred of the ,lombards appears to have long prevented them from receiving the influence of the art which that people had introduced on the mainland of ,italy4 ,nevertheless1 during the practice of the two styles above distinguished1 a peculiar and very primitive condition of pointed ,gothic had arisen in ecclesiastical architecture4 ,it appears to be a feeble reflection of the ,lombard-,arab forms1 which were attaining perfection upon the continent1 and would probably1 if left to itself1 have been soon merged in the ,venetian-,arab school1 with which it had from the first so close a fellowship1 that it will be found difficult to distinguish the ,arabian ogives from those which seem to have been built under this early ,gothic influence4 ,the churches of ,san ,giacopo dell',orio1 ,san ,giovanni in ,bragora1 the ,carmine1 and one or two more1 furnish the only important examples of it4 ,but1 in the thirteenth century1 the ,franciscans and ,dominicans introduced from the continent their morality and their architecture1 already a distinct ,gothic1 curiously developed from ,lombardic and ,northern 7,german87 forms2 and the influence of the principles exhibited in the vast churches of ,st4 ,paul and the ,frari began rapidly to affect the ,venetian-,arab school4 ,still the two systems never became united2 the ,venetian policy repressed the power of the church1 and the ,venetian artists resisted its example2 and thenceforward the architecture of the city becomes divided into ecclesiastical and civil3 the one an ungraceful yet powerful form of the ,western ,gothic1 common to the whole peninsula1 and only showing ,venetian sympathies in the adoption of certain characteristic mouldings2 the other a rich1 luxuriant1 and entirely original ,gothic1 formed from the ,venetian-,arab by the influence of the ,dominican and ,franciscan architecture1 and especially by the engrafting upon the ,arab forms of the most novel feature of the ,franciscan work1 its traceries4 ,these various forms of ,gothic1 the distinctive architecture of ,venice1 chiefly represented by the churches of ,st4 ,john and ,paul1 the ,frari1 and ,san ,stefano1 on the ecclesiastical side1 and by the ,ducal palace1 and the other principal ,gothic palaces1 on the secular side1 will be the subject of the third division of the essay4 ,,xxxiv4 ,now observe4 ,the transitional 7or especially ,arabic7 style of the ,venetian work is centralised by the date #aahj1 and is transformed gradually into the ,gothic1 which extends in its purity from the middle of the thirteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth century2 that is to say1 over the precise period which ,i have described as the central epoch of the life of ,venice4 ,i dated her decline from the year #adah2 ,foscari became doge five years later1 and in his reign the first marked signs appear in architecture of that mighty change which ,philippe de ,commynes notices as above1 the change to which ,london owes ,st4 ,paul's1 ,rome ,st4 ,peter's1 ,venice and ,vicenza the edifices commonly supposed to be their noblest1 and ,europe in general the degradation of every art she has since practised4 ,,xxxv4 ,this change appears first in a loss of truth and vitality in existing architecture all over the world4 7,compare ,seven ,lamps1 chap4 ii47 ,all the ,gothics in existence1 southern or northern1 were corrupted at once3 the ,german and ,french lost themselves in every species of extravagance2 the ,english ,gothic was confined1 in its insanity1 by a strait-waistcoat of perpendicular lines2 the ,italian effloresced on the mainland into the meaningless ornamentation of the ,certosa of ,pavia and the ,cathedral of ,como 7a style sometimes ignorantly called ,italian ,gothic71 and at ,venice into the insipid confusion of the ,porta della ,carta and wild crockets of ,st4 ,mark's4 ,this corruption of all architecture1 especially ecclesiastical1 corresponded with1 and marked the state of religion over all ,europe1--the peculiar degradation of the ,romanist superstition1 and of public morality in consequence1 which brought about the ,reformation4 ,,xxxvi4 ,against the corrupted papacy arose two great divisions of adversaries1 ,protestants in ,germany and ,england1 ,rationalists in ,france and ,italy2 the one requiring the purification of religion1 the other its destruction4 ,the ,protestant kept the religion1 but cast aside the heresies of ,rome1 and with them her arts1 by which last rejection he injured his own character1 cramped his intellect in refusing to it one of its noblest exercises1 and materially diminished his influence4 ,it may be a serious question how far the ,pausing of the ,reformation has been a consequence of this error4 ,the ,rationalist kept the arts and cast aside the religion4 ,this rationalistic art is the art commonly called ,renaissance1 marked by a return to pagan systems1 not to adopt them and hallow them for ,christianity1 but to rank itself under them as an imitator and pupil4 ,in ,painting it is headed by ,giulio ,romano and ,nicolo ,poussin2 in ,architecture by ,sansovino and ,palladio4 ,,xxxvii4 ,instant degradation followed in every direction1--a flood of folly and hypocrisy4 ,mythologies ill understood at first1 then perverted into feeble sensualities1 take the place of the representations of ,christian subjects1 which had become blasphemous under the treatment of men like the ,caracci4 ,gods without power1 satyrs without rusticity1 nymphs without innocence1 men without humanity1 gather into idiot groups upon the polluted canvas1 and scenic affectations encumber the streets with preposterous marble4 ,lower and lower declines the level of abused intellect2 the base school of landscape#bc gradually usurps the place of the historical painting1 which had sunk into prurient pedantry1--the ,alsatian sublimities of ,salvator1 the confectionery idealities of ,claude1 the dull manufacture of ,gaspar and ,canaletto1 south of the ,alps1 and on the north the patient devotion of besotted lives to delineation of bricks and fogs1 fat cattle and ditchwater4 ,and thus ,christianity and morality1 courage1 and intellect1 and art all crumbling together into one wreck1 we are hurried on to the fall of ,italy1 the revolution in ,france1 and the condition of art in ,england 7saved by her ,protestantism from severer penalty7 in the time of ,george ,,ii4 ,,xxxviii4 ,i have not written in vain if ,i have heretofore done anything towards diminishing the reputation of the ,renaissance landscape painting4 ,but the harm which has been done by ,claude and the ,poussins is as nothing when compared to the mischief effected by ,palladio1 ,scamozzi1 and ,sansovino4 ,claude and the ,poussins were weak men1 and have had no serious influence on the general mind4 ,there is little harm in their works being purchased at high prices3 their real influence is very slight1 and they may be left without grave indignation to their poor mission of furnishing drawing-rooms and assisting stranded conversation4 ,not so the ,renaissance architecture4 ,raised at once into all the magnificence of which it was capable by ,michael ,angelo1 then taken up by men of real intellect and imagination1 such as ,scamozzi1 ,sansovino1 ,inigo ,jones1 and ,wren1 it is impossible to estimate the extent of its influence on the ,european mind2 and that the more1 because few persons are concerned with painting1 and1 of those few1 the larger number regard it with slight attention2 but all men are concerned with architecture1 and have at some time of their lives serious business with it4 ,it does not much matter that an individual loses two or three hundred pounds in buying a bad picture1 but it is to be regretted that a nation should lose two or three hundred thousand in raising a ridiculous building4 ,nor is it merely wasted wealth or distempered conception which we have to regret in this ,renaissance architecture3 but we shall find in it partly the root1 partly the expression1 of certain dominant evils of modern times--over-sophistication and ignorant classicalism2 the one destroying the healthfulness of general society1 the other rendering our schools and universities useless to a large number of the men who pass through them4 ,now ,venice1 as she was once the most religious1 was in her fall the most corrupt1 of ,european states2 and as she was in her strength the centre of the pure currents of ,christian architecture1 so she is in her decline the source of the ,renaissance4 ,it was the originality and splendor of the palaces of ,vicenza and ,venice which gave this school its eminence in the eyes of ,europe2 and the dying city1 magnificent in her dissipation1 and graceful in her follies1 obtained wider worship in her decrepitude than in her youth1 and sank from the midst of her admirers into the grave4 ,,xxxix4 ,it is in ,venice1 therefore1 and in ,venice only that effectual blows can be struck at this pestilent art of the ,renaissance4 ,destroy its claims to admiration there1 and it can assert them nowhere else4 ,this1 therefore1 will be the final purpose of the following essay4 ,i shall not devote a fourth section to ,palladio1 nor weary the reader with successive chapters of vituperation2 but ,i shall1 in my account of the earlier architecture1 compare the forms of all its leading features with those into which they were corrupted by the ,classicalists2 and pause1 in the close1 on the edge of the precipice of decline1 so soon as ,i have made its depths discernible4 ,in doing this ,i shall depend upon two distinct kinds of evidence3--the first1 the testimony borne by particular incidents and facts to a want of thought or of feeling in the builders2 from which we may conclude that their architecture must be bad3--the second1 the sense1 which ,i doubt not ,i shall be able to excite in the reader1 of a systematic ugliness in the architecture itself4 ,of the first kind of testimony ,i shall here give two instances1 which may be immediately useful in fixing in the readers mind the epoch above indicated for the commencement of decline4 ,,xl4 ,i must again refer to the importance which ,i have above attached to the death of ,carlo ,zeno and the doge ,tomaso ,mocenigo4 ,the tomb of that doge is1 as ,i said1 wrought by a ,florentine2 but it is of the same general type and feeling as all the ,venetian tombs of the period1 and it is one of the last which retains it4 ,the classical element enters largely into its details1 but the feeling of the whole is as yet unaffected4 ,like all the lovely tombs of ,venice and ,verona1 it is a sarcophagus with a recumbent figure above1 and this figure is a faithful but tender portrait1 wrought as far as it can be without painfulness1 of the doge as he lay in death4 ,he wears his ducal robe and bonnet--his head is laid slightly aside upon his pillow--his hands are simply crossed as they fall4 ,the face is emaciated1 the features large1 but so pure and lordly in their natural chiselling1 that they must have looked like marble even in their animation4 ,they are deeply worn away by thought and death2 the veins on the temples branched and starting2 the skin gathered in sharp folds2 the brow high-arched and shaggy2 the eye-ball magnificently large2 the curve of the lips just veiled by the light mustache at the side2 the beard short1 double1 and sharp-pointed3 all noble and quiet2 the white sepulchral dust marking like light the stern angles of the cheek and brow4 ,this tomb was sculptured in #adbd1 and is thus described by one of the most intelligent of the recent writers who represent the popular feeling respecting ,venetian art4 ,of the ,italian school is also the rich but ugly 7ricco ma non bel7 sarcophagus in which repose the ashes of ,tomaso ,mocenigo4 ,it may be called one of the last links which connect the declining art of the ,middle ,ages with that of the ,renaissance1 which was in its rise4 ,we will not stay to particularise the defects of each of the seven figures of the front and sides1 which represent the cardinal and theological virtues2 nor will we make any remarks upon those which stand in the niches above the pavilion1 because we consider them unworthy both of the age and reputation of the ,florentine school1 which was then with reason considered the most notable in ,italy4#bd ,it is well1 indeed1 not to pause over these defects2 but it might have been better to have paused a moment beside that noble image of a king's mortality4 ,,xli4 ,in the choir of the same church1 ,st4 ,giov4 and ,paolo1 is another tomb1 that of the ,doge ,andrea ,vendramin4 ,this doge died in #adgh1 after a short reign of two years1 the most disastrous in the annals of ,venice4 ,he died of a pestilence which followed the ravage of the ,turks1 carried to the shores of the lagoons4 ,he died1 leaving ,venice disgraced by sea and land1 with the smoke of hostile devastation rising in the blue distances of ,friuli2 and there was raised to him the most costly tomb ever bestowed on her monarchs4 ,,xlii4 ,if the writer above quoted was cold beside the statue of one of the fathers of his country1 he atones for it by his eloquence beside the tomb of the ,vendramin4 ,i must not spoil the force of ,italian superlative by translation4 ,quando si guarda a quella corretta eleganza di profili e di proporzioni1 a quella squisitezza d'ornamenti1 a quel certo sapore antico che senza ombra d'imitazione traspare da tutta l'opera--c4 ,sopra ornatissimo zoccolo fornito di squisiti intagli s'alza uno stylobate--c4 ,sotto le colonne1 il predetto stilobate si muta leggiadramente in piedistallo1 poi con bella novit di pensiero e di effetto va coronato da un fregio il pi gentile che veder si possa--c4 ,non puossi lasciar senza un cenno l'arca dove sta chiuso il doge2 capo lavoro di pensiero e di esecuzione1 c4 ,there are two pages and a half of closely printed praise1 of which the above specimens may suffice2 but there is not a word of the statue of the dead from beginning to end4 ,i am myself in the habit of considering this rather an important part of a tomb1 and ,i was especially interested in it here1 because ,selvatico only echoes the praise of thousands4 ,it is unanimously declared the chef d'oeuvre of ,renaissance sepulchral work1 and pronounced by ,cicognara 7also quoted by ,selvatico7 ,il vertice a cui l'arti ,veneziane si spinsero col ministero del scalpello1--,the very culminating point to which the ,venetian arts attained by ministry of the chisel4 ,to this culminating point1 therefore1 covered with dust and cobwebs1 ,i attained1 as ,i did to every tomb of importance in ,venice1 by the ministry of such ancient ladders as were to be found in the sacristan's keeping4 ,i was struck at first by the excessive awkwardness and want of feeling in the fall of the hand towards the spectator1 for it is thrown off the middle of the body in order to show its fine cutting4 ,now the ,mocenigo hand1 severe and even stiff in its articulations1 has its veins finely drawn1 its sculptor having justly felt that the delicacy of the veining expresses alike dignity and age and birth4 ,the ,vendramin hand is far more laboriously cut1 but its blunt and clumsy contour at once makes us feel that all the care has been thrown away1 and well it may be1 for it has been entirely bestowed in cutting gouty wrinkles about the joints4 ,such as the hand is1 ,i looked for its fellow4 ,at first ,i thought it had been broken off1 but1 on clearing away the dust1 ,i saw the wretched effigy had only one hand1 and was a mere block on the inner side4 ,the face1 heavy and disagreeable in its features1 is made monstrous by its semi-sculpture4 ,one side of the forehead is wrinkled elaborately1 the other left smooth2 one side only of the doge's cap is chased2 one cheek only is finished1 and the other blocked out and distorted besides2 finally1 the ermine robe1 which is elaborately imitated to its utmost lock of hair and of ground hair on the one side1 is blocked out only on the other3 it having been supposed throughout the work that the effigy was only to be seen from below1 and from one side4 ,,xliii4 ,it was indeed to be so seen by nearly every one2 and ,i do not blame--,i should1 on the contrary1 have praised--the sculptor for regulating his treatment of it by its position2 if that treatment had not involved1 first1 dishonesty1 in giving only half a face1 a monstrous mask1 when we demanded true portraiture of the dead2 and1 secondly1 such utter coldness of feeling1 as could only consist with an extreme of intellectual and moral degradation3 ,who1 with a heart in his breast1 could have stayed his hand as he drew the dim lines of the old man's countenance--unmajestic once1 indeed1 but at least sanctified by the solemnities of death--could have stayed his hand1 as he reached the bend of the grey forehead1 and measured out the last veins of it at so much the zecchin8 ,i do not think the reader1 if he has feeling1 will expect that much talent should be shown in the rest of his work1 by the sculptor of this base and senseless lie4 ,the whole monument is one wearisome aggregation of that species of ornamental flourish1 which1 when it is done with a pen1 is called penmanship1 and when done with a chisel1 should be called chiselmanship2 the subject of it being chiefly fat-limbed boys sprawling on dolphins1 dolphins incapable of swimming1 and dragged along the sea by expanded pocket-handkerchiefs4 ,but now1 reader1 comes the very gist and point of the whole matter4 ,this lying monument to a dishonored doge1 this culminating pride of the ,renaissance art of ,venice1 is at least veracious1 if in nothing else1 in its testimony to the character of its sculptor4 ,he was banished from ,venice for forgery in #adhg4be ,,xliv4 ,i have more to say about this convict's work hereafter2 but ,i pass at present1 to the second1 slighter1 but yet more interesting piece of evidence1 which ,i promised4 ,the ducal palace has two principal faades2 one towards the sea1 the other towards the ,piazzetta4 ,the seaward side1 and1 as far as the seventh main arch inclusive1 the ,piazzetta side1 is work of the early part of the fourteenth century1 some of it perhaps even earlier2 while the rest of the ,piazzetta side is of the fifteenth4 ,the difference in age has been gravely disputed by the ,venetian antiquaries1 who have examined many documents on the subject1 and quoted some which they never examined4 ,i have myself collated most of the written documents1 and one document more1 to which the ,venetian antiquaries never thought of referring1--the masonry of the palace itself4 ,,xlv4 ,that masonry changes at the centre of the eighth arch from the sea angle on the ,piazzetta side4 ,it has been of comparatively small stones up to that point2 the fifteenth century work instantly begins with larger stones1 brought from ,istria1 a hundred miles away4#bf ,the ninth shaft from the sea in the lower arcade1 and the seventeenth1 which is above it1 in the upper arcade1 commence the series of fifteenth century shafts4 ,these two are somewhat thicker than the others1 and carry the party-wall of the ,sala del ,scrutinio4 ,now observe1 reader4 ,the face of the palace1 from this point to the ,porta della ,carta1 was built at the instance of that noble ,doge ,mocenigo beside whose tomb you have been standing2 at his instance1 and in the beginning of the reign of his successor1 ,foscari2 that is to say1 circa #adbd4 ,this is not disputed2 it is only disputed that the sea faade is earlier2 of which1 however1 the proofs are as simple as they are incontrovertible3 for not only the masonry1 but the sculpture1 changes at the ninth lower shaft1 and that in the capitals of the shafts both of the upper and lower arcade3 the costumes of the figures introduced in the sea faade being purely ,giottesque1 correspondent with ,giotto's work in the ,arena ,chapel at ,padua1 while the costume on the other capitals is ,renaissance-,classic3 and the lions' heads between the arches change at the same point4 ,and there are a multitude of other evidences in the statues of the angels1 with which ,i shall not at present trouble the reader4 ,,xlvi4 ,now1 the architect who built under ,foscari1 in #adbd 7remember my date for the decline of ,venice1 #adah71 was obliged to follow the principal forms of the older palace4 ,but he had not the wit to invent new capitals in the same style2 he therefore clumsily copied the old ones4 ,the palace has seventeen main arches on the sea faade1 eighteen on the ,piazzetta side1 which in all are of course carried by thirty-six pillars2 and these pillars ,i shall always number from right to left1 from the angle of the palace at the ,ponte della ,paglia to that next the ,porta della ,carta4 ,i number them in this succession1 because ,i thus have the earliest shafts first numbered4 ,so counted1 the #ast1 the #ahth1 and the #cfth1 are the great supports of the angles of the palace2 and the first of the fifteenth century series1 being1 as above stated1 the #ith from the sea on the ,piazzetta side1 is the #bfth of the entire series1 and will always in future be so numbered1 so that all numbers above twenty-six indicate fifteenth century work1 and all below it1 fourteenth century1 with some exceptional cases of restoration4 ,then the copied capitals are3 the #bhth1 copied from the #gth2 the #bith1 from the #ith2 the #cjth1 from the #ajth2 the #cast1 from the #hth2 the #ccrd1 from the #abth2 and the #cdth1 from the #aath2 the others being dull inventions of the #aeth century1 except the #cfth1 which is very nobly designed4 ,,xlvii4 ,the capitals thus selected from the earlier portion of the palace for imitation1 together with the rest1 will be accurately described hereafter2 the point ,i have here to notice is in the copy of the ninth capital1 which was decorated 7being1 like the rest1 octagonal7 with figures of the eight ,virtues3--,faith1 ,hope1 ,charity1 ,justice1 ,temperance1 ,prudence1 ,humility 7the ,venetian antiquaries call it ,humanity671 and ,fortitude4 ,the ,virtues of the fourteenth century are somewhat hard-featured2 with vivid and living expression1 and plain every-day clothes of the time4 ,charity has her lap full of apples 7perhaps loaves71 and is giving one to a little child1 who stretches his arm for it across a gap in the leafage of the capital4 ,fortitude tears open a lion's jaws2 ,faith lays her hand on her breast1 as she beholds the ,cross2 and ,hope is praying1 while above her a hand is seen emerging from sunbeams--the hand of ,god 7according to that of ,revelations1 ,the ,lord ,god giveth them light72 and the inscription above is1 ,spes optima in ,deo4 ,,xlviii4 ,this design1 then1 is1 rudely and with imperfect chiselling1 imitated by the fifteenth century workmen3 the ,virtues have lost their hard features and living expression2 they have now all got ,roman noses1 and have had their hair curled4 ,their actions and emblems are1 however1 preserved until we come to ,hope3 she is still praying1 but she is praying to the sun only3 ,the hand of ,god is gone4 ,is not this a curious and striking type of the spirit which had then become dominant in the world1 forgetting to see ,god's hand in the light ,he gave2 so that in the issue1 when that light opened into the ,reformation1 on the one side1 and into full knowledge of ancient literature on the other1 the one was arrested and the other perverted8 ,,xlix4 ,such is the nature of the accidental evidence on which ,i shall depend for the proof of the inferiority of character in the ,renaissance workmen4 ,but the proof of the inferiority of the work itself is not so easy1 for in this ,i have to appeal to judgments which the ,renaissance work has itself distorted4 ,i felt this difficulty very forcibly as ,i read a slight review of my former work1 ,the ,seven ,lamps1 in ,the ,architect3 the writer noticed my constant praise of ,st4 ,mark's3 ,mr4 ,ruskin thinks it a very beautiful building6 ,we1 said the ,architect1 think it a very ugly building4 ,i was not surprised at the difference of opinion1 but at the thing being considered so completely a subject of opinion4 ,my opponents in matters of painting always assume that there is such a thing as a law of right1 and that ,i do not understand it3 but my architectural adversaries appeal to no law1 they simply set their opinion against mine2 and indeed there is no law at present to which either they or ,i can appeal4 ,no man can speak with rational decision of the merits or demerits of buildings3 he may with obstinacy2 he may with resolved adherence to previous prejudices2 but never as if the matter could be otherwise decided than by a majority of votes1 or pertinacity of partizanship4 ,i had always1 however1 a clear conviction that there was a law in this matter3 that good architecture might be indisputably discerned and divided from the bad2 that the opposition in their very nature and essence was clearly visible2 and that we were all of us just as unwise in disputing about the matter without reference to principle1 as we should be for debating about the genuineness of a coin1 without ringing it4 ,i felt also assured that this law must be universal if it were conclusive2 that it must enable us to reject all foolish and base work1 and to accept all noble and wise work1 without reference to style or national feeling2 that it must sanction the design of all truly great nations and times1 ,gothic or ,greek or ,arab2 that it must cast off and reprobate the design of all foolish nations and times1 ,chinese or ,mexican1 or modern ,european3 and that it must be easily applicable to all possible architectural inventions of human mind4 ,i set myself1 therefore1 to establish such a law1 in full belief that men are intended1 without excessive difficulty1 and by use of their general common sense1 to know good things from bad2 and that it is only because they will not be at the pains required for the discernment1 that the world is so widely encumbered with forgeries and basenesses4 ,i found the work simpler than ,i had hoped2 the reasonable things ranged themselves in the order ,i required1 and the foolish things fell aside1 and took themselves away so soon as they were looked in the face4 ,i had then1 with respect to ,venetian architecture1 the choice1 either to establish each division of law in a separate form1 as ,i came to the features with which it was concerned1 or else to ask the reader's patience1 while ,i followed out the general inquiry first1 and determined with him a code of right and wrong1 to which we might together make retrospective appeal4 ,i thought this the best1 though perhaps the dullest way2 and in these first following pages ,i have therefore endeavored to arrange those foundations of criticism1 on which ,i shall rest in my account of ,venetian architecture1 in a form clear and simple enough to be intelligible even to those who never thought of architecture before4 ,to those who have1 much of what is stated in them will be well known or self-evident2 but they must not be indignant at a simplicity on which the whole argument depends for its usefulness4 ,from that which appears a mere truism when first stated1 they will find very singular consequences sometimes following1--consequences altogether unexpected1 and of considerable importance2 ,i will not pause here to dwell on their importance1 nor on that of the thing itself to be done2 for ,i believe most readers will at once admit the value of a criterion of right and wrong in so practical and costly an art as architecture1 and will be apt rather to doubt the possibility of its attainment than dispute its usefulness if attained4 ,i invite them1 therefore1 to a fair trial1 being certain that even if ,i should fail in my main purpose1 and be unable to induce in my reader the confidence of judgment ,i desire1 ,i shall at least receive his thanks for the suggestion of consistent reasons1 which may determine hesitating choice1 or justify involuntary preference4 ,and if ,i should succeed1 as ,i hope1 in making the ,stones of ,venice touchstones1 and detecting1 by the mouldering of her marble1 poison more subtle than ever was betrayed by the rending of her crystal2 and if thus ,i am enabled to show the baseness of the schools of architecture and nearly every other art1 which have for three centuries been predominant in ,europe1 ,i believe the result of the inquiry may be serviceable for proof of a more vital truth than any at which ,i have hitherto hinted4 ,for observe3 ,i said the ,protestant had despised the arts1 and the ,rationalist corrupted them4 ,but what has the ,romanist done meanwhile8 ,he boasts that it was the papacy which raised the arts2 why could it not support them when it was left to its own strength8 ,how came it to yield to ,classicalism which was based on infidelity1 and to oppose no barrier to innovations1 which have reduced the once faithfully conceived imagery of its worship to stage decoration8 ,shall we not rather find that ,romanism1 instead of being a promoter of the arts1 has never shown itself capable of a single great conception since the separation of ,protestantism from its side8#bg ,so long as1 corrupt though it might be1 no clear witness had been borne against it1 so that it still included in its ranks a vast number of faithful ,christians1 so long its arts were noble4 ,but the witness was borne--the error made apparent2 and ,rome1 refusing to hear the testimony or forsake the falsehood1 has been struck from that instant with an intellectual palsy1 which has not only incapacitated her from any further use of the arts which once were her ministers1 but has made her worship the shame of its own shrines1 and her worshippers their destroyers4 ,come1 then1 if truths such as these are worth our thoughts2 come1 and let us know1 before we enter the streets of the ,sea city1 whether we are indeed to submit ourselves to their undistinguished enchantment1 and to look upon the last changes which were wrought on the lifted forms of her palaces1 as we should on the capricious towering of summer clouds in the sunset1 ere they sank into the deep of night2 or whether1 rather1 we shall not behold in the brightness of their accumulated marble1 pages on which the sentence of her luxury was to be written until the waves should efface it1 as they fulfilled--,god has numbered thy kingdom1 and finished it4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,appendix #a1 ,foundation of ,venice4 #b ,appendix #b1 ,power of the ,doges4 #c ,sismondi1 ,hist4 des ,rp4 ,ital41 vol4 i4 ch4 v4 #d ,appendix #c1 ,serrar del ,consiglio4 #e ,ha saputo trovar modo che non uno1 non pochi1 non molti1 signoreggiano1 ma molti buoni1 pochi migliori1 e insiememente1 un ottimo solo4 7,sansovino47 ,ah1 well done1 ,venice6 ,wisdom this1 indeed4 #f ,daru1 liv4 xii4 ch4 xii4 #g ,daru1 liv4 xvi4 cap4 xx4 ,we owe to this historian the discovery of the statutes of the tribunal and date of its establishment4 #h ,ominously signified by their humiliation to the ,papal power 7as before to the ,turkish7 in #aeji1 and their abandonment of their right of appointing the clergy of their territories4 #i ,the senate voted the abdication of their authority by a majority of #eab to #ad4 7,alison1 ch4 xxiii47 #aj ,by directing the arms of the ,crusaders against a ,christian prince4 7,daru1 liv4 iv4 ch4 iv4 viii47 #aa ,appendix #d1 ,san ,pietro di ,castello4 #ab ,tomaso ,mocenigo1 above named1 ,v4 #ac ,in that temple porch1 7,the brass is gone1 the porphyry remains17 ,did ,,barbarossa fling his mantle off1 ,and kneeling1 on his neck receive the foot ,of the proud ,pontiff--thus at last consoled ,for flight1 disguise1 and many an aguish shake ,on his stone pillow4 ,i need hardly say whence the lines are taken3 ,rogers' ,italy has1 ,i believe1 now a place in the best beloved compartment of all libraries1 and will never be removed from it4 ,there is more true expression of the spirit of ,venice in the passages devoted to her in that poem1 than in all else that has been written of her4 #ad ,at least1 such success as they had4 ,vide ,appendix #e1 ,the ,papal ,power in ,venice4 #ae ,the inconsiderable fortifications of the arsenal are no exception to this statement1 as far as it regards the city itself4 ,they are little more than a semblance of precaution against the attack of a foreign enemy4 #af ,mmoires de ,commynes1 liv4 vii4 ch4 xviii4 #ag ,appendix #f1 ,renaissance ,ornaments4 #ah ,appendix #g1 ,varieties of the ,orders4 #ai ,the reader will find the weak points of ,byzantine architecture shrewdly seized1 and exquisitely sketched1 in the opening chapter of the most delightful book of travels ,i ever opened1--,curzon's ,monasteries of the ,levant4 #bj ,appendix #h1 ,the ,northern ,energy4 #ba ,appendix #i1 ,wooden ,churches of the ,north4 #bb ,appendix #aj1 ,church of ,alexandria4 #bc ,appendix #aa1 ,renaissance ,landscape4 #bd ,selvatico1 ,architettura di ,venezia1 p4 #adg4 #be ,selvatico1 p4 #bba4 #bf ,the older work is of ,istrian stone also1 but of different quality4 #bg ,appendix #ab1 ,romanist ,modern ,art4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,virtues ,,of ,,architecture4 ,i4 ,we address ourselves1 then1 first to the task of determining some law of right which we may apply to the architecture of all the world and of all time2 and by help of which1 and judgment according to which1 we may easily pronounce whether a building is good or noble1 as1 by applying a plumb-line1 whether it be perpendicular4 ,the first question will of course be3 ,what are the possible ,virtues of architecture8 ,in the main1 we require from buildings1 as from men1 two kinds of goodness3 first1 the doing their practical duty well3 then that they be graceful and pleasing in doing it2 which last is itself another form of duty4 ,then the practical duty divides itself into two branches1--acting and talking3--acting1 as to defend us from weather or violence2 talking1 as the duty of monuments or tombs1 to record facts and express feelings2 or of churches1 temples1 public edifices1 treated as books of history1 to tell such history clearly and forcibly4 ,we have thus1 altogether1 three great branches of architectural virtue1 and we require of any building1-- #a4 ,that it act well1 and do the things it was intended to do in the best way4 #b4 ,that it speak well1 and say the things it was intended to say in the best words4 #c4 ,that it look well1 and please us by its presence1 whatever it has to do or say4#bh ,,ii4 ,now1 as regards the second of these virtues1 it is evident that we can establish no general laws4 ,first1 because it is not a virtue required in all buildings2 there are some which are only for covert or defence1 and from which we ask no conversation4 ,secondly1 because there are countless methods of expression1 some conventional1 some natural3 each conventional mode has its own alphabet1 which evidently can be no subject of general laws4 ,every natural mode is instinctively employed and instinctively understood1 wherever there is true feeling2 and this instinct is above law4 ,the choice of conventional methods depends on circumstances out of calculation1 and that of natural methods on sensations out of control2 so that we can only say that the choice is right1 when we feel that the means are effective2 and we cannot always say that it is wrong when they are not so4 ,a building which recorded the ,bible history by means of a series of sculptural pictures1 would be perfectly useless to a person unacquainted with the ,bible beforehand2 on the other hand1 the text of the ,old and ,new ,testaments might be written on its walls1 and yet the building be a very inconvenient kind of book1 not so useful as if it had been adorned with intelligible and vivid sculpture4 ,so1 again1 the power of exciting emotion must vary or vanish1 as the spectator becomes thoughtless or cold2 and the building may be often blamed for what is the fault of its critic1 or endowed with a charm which is of its spectator's creation4 ,it is not1 therefore1 possible to make expressional character any fair criterion of excellence in buildings1 until we can fully place ourselves in the position of those to whom their expression was originally addressed1 and until we are certain that we understand every symbol1 and are capable of being touched by every association which its builders employed as letters of their language4 ,i shall continually endeavor to put the reader into such sympathetic temper1 when ,i ask for his judgment of a building2 and in every work ,i may bring before him ,i shall point out1 as far as ,i am able1 whatever is peculiar in its expression2 nay1 ,i must even depend on such peculiarities for much of my best evidence respecting the character of the builders4 ,but ,i cannot legalize the judgment for which ,i plead1 nor insist upon it if it be refused4 ,i can neither force the reader to feel this architectural rhetoric1 nor compel him to confess that the rhetoric is powerful1 if it have produced no impression on his own mind4 ,,iii4 ,i leave1 therefore1 the expression of buildings for incidental notice only4 ,but their other two virtues are proper subjects of law1--their performance of their common and necessary work1 and their conformity with universal and divine canons of loveliness3 respecting these there can be no doubt1 no ambiguity4 ,i would have the reader discern them so quickly that1 as he passes along a street1 he may1 by a glance of the eye1 distinguish the noble from the ignoble work4 ,he can do this1 if he permit free play to his natural instincts2 and all that ,i have to do for him is to remove from those instincts the artificial restraints which prevent their action1 and to encourage them to an unaffected and unbiassed choice between right and wrong4 ,,iv4 ,we have1 then1 two qualities of buildings for subjects of separate inquiry3 their action1 and aspect1 and the sources of virtue in both2 that is to say1 ,strength and ,beauty1 both of these being less admired in themselves1 than as testifying the intelligence or imagination of the builder4 ,for we have a worthier way of looking at human than at divine architecture3 much of the value both of construction and decoration1 in the edifices of men1 depends upon our being led by the thing produced or adorned1 to some contemplation of the powers of mind concerned in its creation or adornment4 ,we are not so led by divine work1 but are content to rest in the contemplation of the thing created4 ,i wish the reader to note this especially3 we take pleasure1 or should take pleasure1 in architectural construction altogether as the manifestation of an admirable human intelligence2 it is not the strength1 not the size1 not the finish of the work which we are to venerate3 rocks are always stronger1 mountains always larger1 all natural objects more finished2 but it is the intelligence and resolution of man in overcoming physical difficulty which are to be the source of our pleasure and subject of our praise4 ,and again1 in decoration or beauty1 it is less the actual loveliness of the thing produced1 than the choice and invention concerned in the production1 which are to delight us2 the love and the thoughts of the workman more than his work3 his work must always be imperfect1 but his thoughts and affections may be true and deep4 ,v4 ,this origin of our pleasure in architecture ,i must insist upon at somewhat greater length1 for ,i would fain do away with some of the ungrateful coldness which we show towards the good builders of old time4 ,in no art is there closer connection between our delight in the work1 and our admiration of the workman's mind1 than in architecture1 and yet we rarely ask for a builder's name4 ,the patron at whose cost1 the monk through whose dreaming1 the foundation was laid1 we remember occasionally2 never the man who verily did the work4 ,did the reader ever hear of ,william of ,sens as having had anything to do with ,canterbury ,cathedral8 or of ,pietro ,basegio as in anywise connected with the ,ducal ,palace of ,venice8 ,there is much ingratitude and injustice in this2 and therefore ,i desire my reader to observe carefully how much of his pleasure in building is derived1 or should be derived1 from admiration of the intellect of men whose names he knows not4 ,,vi4 ,the two virtues of architecture which we can justly weigh1 are1 we said1 its strength or good construction1 and its beauty or good decoration4 ,consider first1 therefore1 what you mean when you say a building is well constructed or well built2 you do not merely mean that it answers its purpose1--this is much1 and many modern buildings fail of this much2 but if it be verily well built1 it must answer this purpose in the simplest way1 and with no over-expenditure of means4 ,we require of a light-house1 for instance1 that it shall stand firm and carry a light2 if it do not this1 assuredly it has been ill built2 but it may do it to the end of time1 and yet not be well built4 ,it may have hundreds of tons of stone in it more than were needed1 and have cost thousands of pounds more than it ought4 ,to pronounce it well or ill built1 we must know the utmost forces it can have to resist1 and the best arrangements of stone for encountering them1 and the quickest ways of effecting such arrangements3 then only1 so far as such arrangements have been chosen1 and such methods used1 is it well built4 ,then the knowledge of all difficulties to be met1 and of all means of meeting them1 and the quick and true fancy or invention of the modes of applying the means to the end1 are what we have to admire in the builder1 even as he is seen through this first or inferior part of his work4 ,mental power1 observe3 not muscular nor mechanical1 nor technical1 nor empirical1--pure1 precious1 majestic1 massy intellect2 not to be had at vulgar price1 nor received without thanks1 and without asking from whom4 ,,vii4 ,suppose1 for instance1 we are present at the building of a bridge3 the bricklayers or masons have had their centring erected for them1 and that centring was put together by a carpenter1 who had the line of its curve traced for him by the architect3 the masons are dexterously handling and fitting their bricks1 or1 by the help of machinery1 carefully adjusting stones which are numbered for their places4 ,there is probably in their quickness of eye and readiness of hand something admirable2 but this is not what ,i ask the reader to admire3 not the carpentering1 nor the bricklaying1 nor anything that he can presently see and understand1 but the choice of the curve1 and the shaping of the numbered stones1 and the appointment of that number2 there were many things to be known and thought upon before these were decided4 ,the man who chose the curve and numbered the stones1 had to know the times and tides of the river1 and the strength of its floods1 and the height and flow of them1 and the soil of the banks1 and the endurance of it1 and the weight of the stones he had to build with1 and the kind of traffic that day by day would be carried on over his bridge1--all this specially1 and all the great general laws of force and weight1 and their working2 and in the choice of the curve and numbering of stones are expressed not only his knowledge of these1 but such ingenuity and firmness as he had1 in applying special means to overcome the special difficulties about his bridge4 ,there is no saying how much wit1 how much depth of thought1 how much fancy1 presence of mind1 courage1 and fixed resolution there may have gone to the placing of a single stone of it4 ,this is what we have to admire1--this grand power and heart of man in the thing2 not his technical or empirical way of holding the trowel and laying mortar4 ,,viii4 ,now there is in everything properly called art this concernment of the intellect1 even in the province of the art which seems merely practical4 ,for observe3 in this bridge-building ,i suppose no reference to architectural principles2 all that ,i suppose we want is to get safely over the river2 the man who has taken us over is still a mere bridge-builder1--a builder1 not an architect3 he may be a rough1 artless1 feelingless man1 incapable of doing any one truly fine thing all his days4 ,i shall call upon you to despise him presently in a sort1 but not as if he were a mere smoother of mortar2 perhaps a great man1 infinite in memory1 indefatigable in labor1 exhaustless in expedient1 unsurpassable in quickness of thought4 ,take good heed you understand him before you despise him4 ,,ix4 ,but why is he to be in anywise despised8 ,by no means despise him1 unless he happen to be without a soul1#bi or at least to show no signs of it2 which possibly he may not in merely carrying you across the river4 ,he may be merely what ,mr4 ,carlyle rightly calls a human beaver after all2 and there may be nothing in all that ingenuity of his greater than a complication of animal faculties1 an intricate bestiality1--nest or hive building in its highest development4 ,you need something more than this1 or the man is despicable2 you need that virtue of building through which he may show his affections and delights2 you need its beauty or decoration4 ,x4 ,not that1 in reality1 one division of the man is more human than another4 ,theologists fall into this error very fatally and continually2 and a man from whom ,i have learned much1 ,lord ,lindsay1 has hurt his noble book by it1 speaking as if the spirit of the man only were immortal1 and were opposed to his intellect1 and the latter to the senses2 whereas all the divisions of humanity are noble or brutal1 immortal or mortal1 according to the degree of their sanctification2 and there is no part of the man which is not immortal and divine when it is once given to ,god1 and no part of him which is not mortal by the second death1 and brutal before the first1 when it is withdrawn from ,god4 ,for to what shall we trust for our distinction from the beasts that perish8 ,to our higher intellect8--yet are we not bidden to be wise as the serpent1 and to consider the ways of the ant8--or to our affections8 nay2 these are more shared by the lower animals than our intelligence4 ,hamlet leaps into the grave of his beloved1 and leaves it1--a dog had stayed4 ,humanity and immortality consist neither in reason1 nor in love2 not in the body1 nor in the animation of the heart of it1 nor in the thoughts and stirrings of the brain of it1--but in the dedication of them all to ,him who will raise them up at the last day4 ,,xi4 ,it is not1 therefore1 that the signs of his affections1 which man leaves upon his work1 are indeed more ennobling than the signs of his intelligence2 but it is the balance of both whose expression we need1 and the signs of the government of them all by ,conscience2 and ,discretion1 the daughter of ,conscience4 ,so1 then1 the intelligent part of man being eminently1 if not chiefly1 displayed in the structure of his work1 his affectionate part is to be shown in its decoration2 and1 that decoration may be indeed lovely1 two things are needed3 first1 that the affections be vivid1 and honestly shown2 secondly1 that they be fixed on the right things4 ,,xii4 ,you think1 perhaps1 ,i have put the requirements in wrong order4 ,logically ,i have2 practically ,i have not3 for it is necessary first to teach men to speak out1 and say what they like1 truly2 and1 in the second place1 to teach them which of their likings are ill set1 and which justly4 ,if a man is cold in his likings and dislikings1 or if he will not tell you what he likes1 you can make nothing of him4 ,only get him to feel quickly and to speak plainly1 and you may set him right4 ,and the fact is1 that the great evil of all recent architectural effort has not been that men liked wrong things3 but that they either cared nothing about any1 or pretended to like what they did not4 ,do you suppose that any modern architect likes what he builds1 or enjoys it8 ,not in the least4 ,he builds it because he has been told that such and such things are fine1 and that he should like them4 ,he pretends to like them1 and gives them a false relish of vanity4 ,do you seriously imagine1 reader1 that any living soul in ,london likes triglyphs8#cj--or gets any hearty enjoyment out of pediments8#ca ,you are much mistaken4 ,greeks did3 ,english people never did1--never will4 ,do you fancy that the architect of old ,burlington ,mews1 in ,regent ,street1 had any particular satisfaction in putting the blank triangle over the archway1 instead of a useful garret window8 ,by no manner of means4 ,he had been told it was right to do so1 and thought he should be admired for doing it4 ,very few faults of architecture are mistakes of honest choice3 they are almost always hypocrisies4 ,,xiii4 ,so1 then1 the first thing we have to ask of the decoration is that it should indicate strong liking1 and that honestly4 ,it matters not so much what the thing is1 as that the builder should really love it and enjoy it1 and say so plainly4 ,the architect of ,bourges ,cathedral liked hawthorns2 so he has covered his porch with hawthorn1--it is a perfect ,niobe of ,may4 ,never was such hawthorn2 you would try to gather it forthwith1 but for fear of being pricked4 ,the old ,lombard architects liked hunting2 so they covered their work with horses and hounds1 and men blowing trumpets two yards long4 ,the base ,renaissance architects of ,venice liked masquing and fiddling2 so they covered their work with comic masks and musical instruments4 ,even that was better than our ,english way of liking nothing1 and professing to like triglyphs4 ,,xiv4 ,but the second requirement in decoration1 is a sign of our liking the right thing4 ,and the right thing to be liked is ,god's work1 which ,he made for our delight and contentment in this world4 ,and all noble ornamentation is the expression of man's delight in ,god's work4 ,,xv4 ,so1 then1 these are the two virtues of building3 first1 the signs of man's own good work2 secondly1 the expression of man's delight in better work than his own4 ,and these are the two virtues of which ,i desire my reader to be able quickly to judge1 at least in some measure2 to have a definite opinion up to a certain point4 ,beyond a certain point he cannot form one4 ,when the science of the building is great1 great science is of course required to comprehend it2 and1 therefore1 of difficult bridges1 and light-houses1 and harbor walls1 and river dykes1 and railway tunnels1 no judgment may be rapidly formed4 ,but of common buildings1 built in common circumstances1 it is very possible for every man1 or woman1 or child1 to form judgment both rational and rapid4 ,their necessary1 or even possible1 features are but few2 the laws of their construction are as simple as they are interesting4 ,the labor of a few hours is enough to render the reader master of their main points2 and from that moment he will find in himself a power of judgment which can neither be escaped nor deceived1 and discover subjects of interest where everything before had appeared barren4 ,for though the laws are few and simple1 the modes of obedience to them are not so4 ,every building presents its own requirements and difficulties2 and every good building has peculiar appliances or contrivances to meet them4 ,understand the laws of structure1 and you will feel the special difficulty in every new building which you approach2 and you will know also1 or feel instinctively1#cb whether it has been wisely met or otherwise4 ,and an enormous number of buildings1 and of styles of buildings1 you will be able to cast aside at once1 as at variance with these constant laws of structure1 and therefore unnatural and monstrous4 ,,xvi4 ,then1 as regards decoration1 ,i want you only to consult your own natural choice and liking4 ,there is a right and wrong in it2 but you will assuredly like the right if you suffer your natural instinct to lead you4 ,half the evil in this world comes from people not knowing what they do like1 not deliberately setting themselves to find out what they really enjoy4 ,all people enjoy giving away money1 for instance3 they don't know that1--they rather think they like keeping it2 and they do keep it under this false impression1 often to their great discomfort4 ,every body likes to do good2 but not one in a hundred finds this out4 ,multitudes think they like to do evil2 yet no man ever really enjoyed doing evil since ,god made the world4 ,so in this lesser matter of ornament4 ,it needs some little care to try experiments upon yourself3 it needs deliberate question and upright answer4 ,but there is no difficulty to be overcome1 no abstruse reasoning to be gone into2 only a little watchfulness needed1 and thoughtfulness1 and so much honesty as will enable you to confess to yourself and to all men1 that you enjoy things1 though great authorities say you should not4 ,,xvii4 ,this looks somewhat like pride2 but it is true humility1 a trust that you have been so created as to enjoy what is fitting for you1 and a willingness to be pleased1 as it was intended you should be4 ,it is the child's spirit1 which we are then most happy when we most recover2 only wiser than children in that we are ready to think it subject of thankfulness that we can still be pleased with a fair color or a dancing light4 ,and1 above all1 do not try to make all these pleasures reasonable1 nor to connect the delight which you take in ornament with that which you take in construction or usefulness4 ,they have no connection2 and every effort that you make to reason from one to the other will blunt your sense of beauty1 or confuse it with sensations altogether inferior to it4 ,you were made for enjoyment1 and the world was filled with things which you will enjoy1 unless you are too proud to be pleased by them1 or too grasping to care for what you cannot turn to other account than mere delight4 ,remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless2 peacocks and lilies for instance2 at least ,i suppose this quill ,i hold in my hand writes better than a peacock's would1 and the peasants of ,vevay1 whose fields in spring time are as white with lilies as the ,dent du ,midi is with its snow1 told me the hay was none the better for them4 ,,xviii4 ,our task therefore divides itself into two branches1 and these ,i shall follow in succession4 ,i shall first consider the construction of buildings1 dividing them into their really necessary members or features2 and ,i shall endeavor so to lead the reader forward from the foundation upwards1 as that he may find out for himself the best way of doing everything1 and having so discovered it1 never forget it4 ,i shall give him stones1 and bricks1 and straw1 chisels1 and trowels1 and the ground1 and then ask him to build2 only helping him1 as ,i can1 if ,i find him puzzled4 ,and when he has built his house or church1 ,i shall ask him to ornament it1 and leave it to him to choose the ornaments as ,i did to find out the construction3 ,i shall use no influence with him whatever1 except to counteract previous prejudices1 and leave him1 as far as may be1 free4 ,and when he has thus found out how to build1 and chosen his forms of decoration1 ,i shall do what ,i can to confirm his confidence in what he has done4 ,i shall assure him that no one in the world could1 so far1 have done better1 and require him to condemn1 as futile or fallacious1 whatever has no resemblance to his own performances4 ,,footnotes3 #bh ,appendix #ac1 ,mr4 ,fergusson's ,system4 #bi ,appendix #ad1 ,divisions of ,humanity4 #cj ,triglyph4 ,literally1 ,three ,cut4 ,the awkward upright ornament with two notches in it1 and a cut at each side1 to be seen everywhere at the tops of ,doric colonnades1 ancient and modern4 #ca ,pediment4 ,the triangular space above ,greek porticoes1 as on the ,mansion ,house or ,royal ,exchange4 #cb ,appendix #ae3 ,instinctive ,judgments4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,six ,,divisions ,,of ,,architecture4 ,i4 ,the practical duties of buildings are twofold4 ,they have either 7#a71 to hold and protect something2 or 7#b71 to place or carry something4 #a4 ,architecture of ,protection4 ,this is architecture intended to protect men or their possessions from violence of any kind1 whether of men or of the elements4 ,it will include all churches1 houses1 and treasuries2 fortresses1 fences1 and ramparts2 the architecture of the hut and sheepfold2 of the palace and the citadel3 of the dyke1 breakwater1 and sea-wall4 ,and the protection1 when of living creatures1 is to be understood as including commodiousness and comfort of habitation1 wherever these are possible under the given circumstances4 #b4 ,architecture of ,position4 ,this is architecture intended to carry men or things to some certain places1 or to hold them there4 ,this will include all bridges1 aqueducts1 and road architecture2 light-houses1 which have to hold light in appointed places2 chimneys to carry smoke or direct currents of air2 staircases2 towers1 which are to be watched from or cried from1 as in mosques1 or to hold bells1 or to place men in positions of offence1 as ancient moveable attacking towers1 and most fortress towers4 ,,ii4 ,protective architecture has to do one or all of three things3 to wall a space1 to roof it1 and to give access to it1 of persons1 light1 and air2 and it is therefore to be considered under the three divisions of walls1 roofs1 and apertures4 ,we will take1 first1 a short1 general view of the connection of these members1 and then examine them in detail3 endeavoring always to keep the simplicity of our first arrangement in view2 for protective architecture has indeed no other members than these1 unless flooring and paving be considered architecture1 which it is only when the flooring is also a roof2 the laying of the stones or timbers for footing being pavior's or carpenter's work1 rather than architect's2 and1 at all events1 work respecting the well or ill doing of which we shall hardly find much difference of opinion1 except in points of sthetics4 ,we shall therefore concern ourselves only with the construction of walls1 roofs1 and apertures4 ,,iii4 #a4 ,walls4--,a wall is an even and united fence1 whether of wood1 earth1 stone1 or metal4 ,when meant for purposes of mere partition or enclosure1 it remains a wall proper3 but it has generally also to sustain a certain vertical or lateral pressure1 for which its strength is at first increased by some general addition to its thickness2 but if the pressure becomes very great1 it is gathered up into piers to resist vertical pressure1 and supported by buttresses to resist lateral pressure4 ,if its functions of partition or enclosure are continued1 together with that of resisting vertical pressure1 it remains as a wall veil between the piers into which it has been partly gathered2 but if it is required only to resist the vertical or roof pressure1 it is gathered up into piers altogether1 loses its wall character1 and becomes a group or line of piers4 ,on the other hand1 if the lateral pressure be slight1 it may retain its character of a wall1 being supported against the pressure by buttresses at intervals2 but if the lateral pressure be very great1 it is supported against such pressure by a continuous buttress1 loses its wall character1 and becomes a dyke or rampart4 ,,iv4 ,we shall have therefore 7,a7 first to get a general idea of a wall1 and of right construction of walls2 then 7,b7 to see how this wall is gathered into piers2 and to get a general idea of piers and the right construction of piers2 then 7,c7 to see how a wall is supported by buttresses1 and to get a general idea of buttresses and the right construction of buttresses4 ,this is surely very simple1 and it is all we shall have to do with walls and their divisions4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,i4 ,v4 #b4 ,roofs4--,a roof is the covering of a space1 narrow or wide4 ,it will be most conveniently studied by first considering the forms in which it may be carried over a narrow space1 and then expanding these on a wide plan2 only there is some difficulty here in the nomenclature1 for an arched roof over a narrow space has 7,i believe7 no name1 except that which belongs properly to the piece of stone or wood composing such a roof1 namely1 lintel4 ,but the reader will have no difficulty in understanding that he is first to consider roofs on the section only1 thinking how best to construct a narrow bar or slice of them1 of whatever form2 as1 for instance1 x1 y1 or z1 over the plan or area a1 ,fig4 ,i4 ,having done this1 let him imagine these several divisions1 first moved along 7or set side by side7 over a rectangle1 b1 ,fig4 ,i41 and then revolved round a point 7or crossed at it7 over a polygon1 c1 or circle1 d1 and he will have every form of simple roof3 the arched section giving successively the vaulted roof and dome1 and the gabled section giving the gabled roof and spire4 ,as we go farther into the subject1 we shall only have to add one or two forms to the sections here given1 in order to embrace all the uncombined roofs in existence2 and we shall not trouble the reader with many questions respecting cross-vaulting1 and other modes of their combination4 ,,vi4 ,now1 it also happens1 from its place in buildings1 that the sectional roof over a narrow space will need to be considered before we come to the expanded roof over a broad one4 ,for when a wall has been gathered1 as above explained1 into piers1 that it may better bear vertical pressure1 it is generally necessary that it should be expanded again at the top into a continuous wall before it carries the true roof4 ,arches or lintels are1 therefore1 thrown from pier to pier1 and a level preparation for carrying the real roof is made above them4 ,after we have examined the structure of piers1 therefore1 we shall have to see how lintels or arches are thrown from pier to pier1 and the whole prepared for the superincumbent roof2 this arrangement being universal in all good architecture prepared for vertical pressures3 and we shall then examine the condition of the great roof itself4 ,and because the structure of the roof very often introduces certain lateral pressures which have much to do with the placing of buttresses1 it will be well to do all this before we examine the nature of buttresses1 and1 therefore1 between parts 7,b7 and 7,c7 of the above plan1 ,,iv4 ,so now we shall have to study3 7,a7 the construction of walls2 7,b7 that of piers2 7,c7 that of lintels or arches prepared for roofing2 7,d7 that of roofs proper2 and 7,e7 that of buttresses4 ,,vii4 #c4 ,apertures4--,there must either be intervals between the piers1 of which intervals the character will be determined by that of the piers themselves1 or else doors or windows in the walls proper4 ,and1 respecting doors or windows1 we have to determine three things3 first1 the proper shape of the entire aperture2 secondly1 the way in which it is to be filled with valves or glass2 and thirdly1 the modes of protecting it on the outside1 and fitting appliances of convenience to it1 as porches or balconies4 ,and this will be our division ,f2 and if the reader will have the patience to go through these six heads1 which include every possible feature of protective architecture1 and to consider the simple necessities and fitnesses of each1 ,i will answer for it1 he shall never confound good architecture with bad any more4 ,for1 as to architecture of position1 a great part of it involves necessities of construction with which the spectator cannot become generally acquainted1 and of the compliance with which he is therefore never expected to judge1--as in chimneys1 light-houses1 c43 and the other forms of it are so closely connected with those of protective architecture1 that a few words in ,chap4 ,,xix4 respecting staircases and towers1 will contain all with which the reader need be troubled on the subject4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,wall ,,base4 ,i4 ,our first business1 then1 is with ,wall1 and to find out wherein lies the true excellence of the ,wittiest ,partition4 ,for it is rather strange that1 often as we speak of a dead wall1 and that with considerable disgust1 we have not often1 since ,snout's time1 heard of a living one4 ,but the common epithet of opprobrium is justly bestowed1 and marks a right feeling4 ,a wall has no business to be dead4 ,it ought to have members in its make1 and purposes in its existence1 like an organized creature1 and to answer its ends in a living and energetic way2 and it is only when we do not choose to put any strength nor organization into it1 that it offends us by its deadness4 ,every wall ought to be a sweet and lovely wall4 ,i do not care about its having ears2 but1 for instruction and exhortation1 ,i would often have it to hold up its fingers4 ,what its necessary members and excellences are1 it is our present business to discover4 ,,ii4 ,a wall has been defined to be an even and united fence of wood1 earth1 stone1 or metal4 ,metal fences1 however1 seldom1 if ever1 take the form of walls1 but of railings2 and1 like all other metal constructions1 must be left out of our present investigation2 as may be also walls composed merely of light planks or laths for purposes of partition or inclosure4 ,substantial walls1 whether of wood or earth 7,i use the word earth as including clay1 baked or unbaked1 and stone71 have1 in their perfect form1 three distinct members2--the ,foundation1 ,body or ,veil1 and ,cornice4 ,,iii4 ,the foundation is to the wall what the paw is to an animal4 ,it is a long foot1 wider than the wall1 on which the wall is to stand1 and which keeps it from settling into the ground4 ,it is most necessary that this great element of security should be visible to the eye1 and therefore made a part of the structure above ground4 ,sometimes1 indeed1 it becomes incorporated with the entire foundation of the building1 a vast table on which walls or piers are alike set3 but even then1 the eye1 taught by the reason1 requires some additional preparation or foot for the wall1 and the building is felt to be imperfect without it4 ,this foundation we shall call the ,base of the wall4 ,,iv4 ,the body of the wall is of course the principal mass of it1 formed of mud or clay1 of bricks or stones1 of logs or hewn timber2 the condition of structure being1 that it is of equal thickness everywhere1 below and above4 ,it may be half a foot thick1 or six feet thick1 or fifty feet thick2 but if of equal thickness everywhere1 it is still a wall proper3 if to its fifty feet of proper thickness there be added so much as an inch of thickness in particular parts1 that added thickness is to be considered as some form of buttress or pier1 or other appliance4#cc ,in perfect architecture1 however1 the walls are generally kept of moderate thickness1 and strengthened by piers or buttresses2 and the part of the wall between these1 being generally intended only to secure privacy1 or keep out the slighter forces of weather1 may be properly called a ,wall ,veil4 ,i shall always use this word ,veil to signify the even portion of a wall1 it being more expressive than the term ,body4 ,v4 ,when the materials with which this veil is built are very loose1 or of shapes which do not fit well together1 it sometimes becomes necessary1 or at least adds to security1 to introduce courses of more solid material4 ,thus1 bricks alternate with rolled pebbles in the old walls of ,verona1 and hewn stones with brick in its ,lombard churches4 ,a banded structure1 almost a stratification of the wall1 is thus produced2 and the courses of more solid material are sometimes decorated with carving4 ,even when the wall is not thus banded through its whole height1 it frequently becomes expedient to lay a course of stone1 or at least of more carefully chosen materials1 at regular heights2 and such belts or bands we may call ,string courses4 ,these are a kind of epochs in the wall's existence2 something like periods of rest and reflection in human life1 before entering on a new career4 ,or else1 in the building1 they correspond to the divisions of its stories within1 express its internal structure1 and mark off some portion of the ends of its existence already attained4 ,,vi4 ,finally1 on the top of the wall some protection from the weather is necessary1 or some preparation for the reception of superincumbent weight1 called a coping1 or ,cornice4 ,i shall use the word ,cornice for both2 for1 in fact1 a coping is a roof to the wall itself1 and is carried by a small cornice as the roof of the building by a large one4 ,in either case1 the cornice1 small or large1 is the termination of the wall's existence1 the accomplishment of its work4 ,when it is meant to carry some superincumbent weight1 the cornice may be considered as its hand1 opened to carry something above its head2 as the base was considered its foot3 and the three parts should grow out of each other and form one whole1 like the root1 stalk1 and bell of a flower4 ,these three parts we shall examine in succession2 and1 first1 the ,base4 ,,vii4 ,it may be sometimes in our power1 and it is always expedient1 to prepare for the whole building some settled foundation1 level and firm1 out of sight4 ,but this has not been done in some of the noblest buildings in existence4 ,it cannot always be done perfectly1 except at enormous expense2 and1 in reasoning upon the superstructure1 we shall never suppose it to be done4 ,the mind of the spectator does not conceive it2 and he estimates the merits of the edifice on the supposition of its being built upon the ground4 ,even if there be a vast table land of foundation elevated for the whole of it1 accessible by steps all round1 as at ,pisa1 the surface of this table is always conceived as capable of yielding somewhat to superincumbent weight1 and generally is so2 and we shall base all our arguments on the widest possible supposition1 that is to say1 that the building stands on a surface either of earth1 or1 at all events1 capable of yielding in some degree to its weight4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,ii4 ,,viii4 ,now1 let the reader simply ask himself how1 on such a surface1 he would set about building a substantial wall1 that should be able to bear weight and to stand for ages4 ,he would assuredly look about for the largest stones he had at his disposal1 and1 rudely levelling the ground1 he would lay these well together over a considerably larger width than he required the wall to be 7suppose as at a1 ,fig4 ,,ii471 in order to equalise the pressure of the wall over a large surface1 and form its foot4 ,on the top of these he would perhaps lay a second tier of large stones1 b1 or even the third1 c1 making the breadth somewhat less each time1 so as to prepare for the pressure of the wall on the centre1 and1 naturally or necessarily1 using somewhat smaller stones above than below 7since we supposed him to look about for the largest first71 and cutting them more neatly4 ,his third tier1 if not his second1 will probably appear a sufficiently secure foundation for finer work2 for if the earth yield at all1 it will probably yield pretty equally under the great mass of masonry now knit together over it4 ,so he will prepare for the wall itself at once by sloping off the next tier of stones to the right diameter1 as at d4 ,if there be any joints in this tier within the wall1 he may perhaps1 for further security1 lay a binding stone across them1 e1 and then begin the work of the wall veil itself1 whether in bricks or stones4 ,,ix4 ,i have supposed the preparation here to be for a large wall1 because such a preparation will give us the best general type4 ,but it is evident that the essential features of the arrangement are only two1 that is to say1 one tier of massy work for foundation1 suppose c1 missing the first two2 and the receding tier or real foot of the wall1 d4 ,the reader will find these members1 though only of brick1 in most of the considerable and independent walls in the suburbs of ,london4 ,x4 ,it is evident1 however1 that the general type1 ,fig4 ,,ii41 will be subject to many different modifications in different circumstances4 ,sometimes the ledges of the tiers a and b may be of greater width2 and when the building is in a secure place1 and of finished masonry1 these may be sloped off also like the main foot d4 ,in ,venetian buildings these lower ledges are exposed to the sea1 and therefore left rough hewn2 but in fine work and in important positions the lower ledges may be bevelled and decorated like the upper1 or another added above d2 and all these parts may be in different proportions1 according to the disposition of the building above them4 ,but we have nothing to do with any of these variations at present1 they being all more or less dependent upon decorative considerations1 except only one of very great importance1 that is to say1 the widening of the lower ledge into a stone seat1 which may be often done in buildings of great size with most beautiful effect3 it looks kind and hospitable1 and preserves the work above from violence4 ,in ,st4 ,mark's at ,venice1 which is a small and low church1 and needing no great foundation for the wall veils of it1 we find only the three members1 b1 c1 and d4 ,of these the first rises about a foot above the pavement of ,st4 ,mark's ,place1 and forms an elevated dais in some of the recesses of the porches1 chequered red and white2 c forms a seat which follows the line of the walls1 while its basic character is marked by its also carrying certain shafts with which we have here no concern2 d is of white marble2 and all are enriched and decorated in the simplest and most perfect manner possible1 as we shall see in ,chap4 ,,xxv4 ,and thus much may serve to fix the type of wall bases1 a type oftener followed in real practice than any other we shall hereafter be enabled to determine3 for wall bases of necessity must be solidly built1 and the architect is therefore driven into the adoption of the right form2 or if he deviate from it1 it is generally in meeting some necessity of peculiar circumstances1 as in obtaining cellars and underground room1 or in preparing for some grand features or particular parts of the wall1 or in some mistaken idea of decoration1--into which errors we had better not pursue him until we understand something more of the rest of the building3 let us therefore proceed to consider the wall veil4 ,,footnotes3 #cc ,many walls are slightly sloped or curved towards their tops1 and have buttresses added to them 7that of the ,queen's ,bench ,prison is a curious instance of the vertical buttress and inclined wall72 but in all such instances the slope of the wall is properly to be considered a condition of incorporated buttress4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,wall ,,veil4 ,i4 ,the summer of the year #ahdi was spent by the writer in researches little bearing upon his present subject1 and connected chiefly with proposed illustrations of the mountain forms in the works of ,j4 ,m4 ,w4 ,turner4 ,but there are sometimes more valuable lessons to be learned in the school of nature than in that of ,vitruvius1 and a fragment of building among the ,alps is singularly illustrative of the chief feature which ,i have at present to develope as necessary to the perfection of the wall veil4 ,it is a fragment of some size2 a group of broken walls1 one of them overhanging2 crowned with a cornice1 nodding some hundred and fifty feet over its massy flank1 three thousand above its glacier base1 and fourteen thousand above the sea1--a wall truly of some majesty1 at once the most precipitous and the strongest mass in the whole chain of the ,alps1 the ,mont ,cervin4 ,,ii4 ,it has been falsely represented as a peak or tower4 ,it is a vast ridged promontory1 connected at its western root with the ,dent d',erin1 and lifting itself like a rearing horse with its face to the east4 ,all the way along the flank of it1 for half a day's journey on the ,zmutt glacier1 the grim black terraces of its foundations range almost without a break2 and the clouds1 when their day's work is done1 and they are weary1 lay themselves down on those foundation steps1 and rest till dawn1 each with his leagues of grey mantle stretched along the grisly ledge1 and the cornice of the mighty wall gleaming in the moonlight1 three thousand feet above4 ,,iii4 ,the eastern face of the promontory is hewn down1 as if by the single sweep of a sword1 from the crest of it to the base2 hewn concave and smooth1 like the hollow of a wave3 on each flank of it there is set a buttress1 both of about equal height1 their heads sloped out from the main wall about seven hundred feet below its summit4 ,that on the north is the most important2 it is as sharp as the frontal angle of a bastion1 and sloped sheer away to the north-east1 throwing out spur beyond spur1 until it terminates in a long low curve of russet precipice1 at whose foot a great bay of the glacier of the ,col de ,cervin lies as level as a lake4 ,this spur is one of the few points from which the mass of the ,mont ,cervin is in anywise approachable4 ,it is a continuation of the masonry of the mountain itself1 and affords us the means of examining the character of its materials4 ,,iv4 ,few architects would like to build with them4 ,the slope of the rocks to the north-west is covered two feet deep with their ruins1 a mass of loose and slaty shale1 of a dull brick-red color1 which yields beneath the foot like ashes1 so that1 in running down1 you step one yard1 and slide three4 ,the rock is indeed hard beneath1 but still disposed in thin courses of these cloven shales1 so finely laid that they look in places more like a heap of crushed autumn leaves than a rock2 and the first sensation is one of unmitigated surprise1 as if the mountain were upheld by miracle2 but surprise becomes more intelligent reverence for the great builder1 when we find1 in the middle of the mass of these dead leaves1 a course of living rock1 of quartz as white as the snow that encircles it1 and harder than a bed of steel4 ,v4 ,it is one only of a thousand iron bands that knit the strength of the mighty mountain4 ,through the buttress and the wall alike1 the courses of its varied masonry are seen in their successive order1 smooth and true as if laid by line and plummet1#cd but of thickness and strength continually varying1 and with silver cornices glittering along the edge of each1 laid by the snowy winds and carved by the sunshine1--stainless ornaments of the eternal temple1 by which neither the hammer nor the axe1 nor any tool1 was heard while it was in building4 ,,vi4 ,i do not1 however1 bring this forward as an instance of any universal law of natural building2 there are solid as well as coursed masses of precipice1 but it is somewhat curious that the most noble cliff in ,europe1 which this eastern front of the ,cervin is1 ,i believe1 without dispute1 should be to us an example of the utmost possible stability of precipitousness attained with materials of imperfect and variable character2 and1 what is more1 there are very few cliffs which do not display alternations between compact and friable conditions of their material1 marked in their contours by bevelled slopes when the bricks are soft1 and vertical steps when they are harder4 ,and1 although we are not hence to conclude that it is well to introduce courses of bad materials when we can get perfect material1 ,i believe we may conclude with great certainty that it is better and easier to strengthen a wall necessarily of imperfect substance1 as of brick1 by introducing carefully laid courses of stone1 than by adding to its thickness2 and the first impression we receive from the unbroken aspect of a wall veil1 unless it be of hewn stone throughout1 is that it must be both thicker and weaker than it would have been1 had it been properly coursed4 ,the decorative reasons for adopting the coursed arrangement1 which we shall notice hereafter1 are so weighty1 that they would alone be almost sufficient to enforce it2 and the constructive ones will apply universally1 except in the rare cases in which the choice of perfect or imperfect material is entirely open to us1 or where the general system of the decoration of the building requires absolute unity in its surface4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,iii4 ,,vii4 ,as regards the arrangement of the intermediate parts themselves1 it is regulated by certain conditions of bonding and fitting the stones or bricks1 which the reader need hardly be troubled to consider1 and which ,i wish that bricklayers themselves were always honest enough to observe4 ,but ,i hardly know whether to note under the head of sthetic or constructive law1 this important principle1 that masonry is always bad which appears to have arrested the attention of the architect more than absolute conditions of strength require4 ,nothing is more contemptible in any work than an appearance of the slightest desire on the part of the builder to direct attention to the way its stones are put together1 or of any trouble taken either to show or to conceal it more than was rigidly necessary3 it may sometimes1 on the one hand1 be necessary to conceal it as far as may be1 by delicate and close fitting1 when the joints would interfere with lines of sculpture or of mouldings2 and it may often1 on the other hand1 be delightful to show it1 as it is delightful in places to show the anatomy even of the most delicate human frame3 but studiously to conceal it is the error of vulgar painters1 who are afraid to show that their figures have bones2 and studiously to display it is the error of the base pupils of ,michael ,angelo1 who turned heroes' limbs into surgeons' diagrams1--but with less excuse than theirs1 for there is less interest in the anatomy displayed4 ,exhibited masonry is in most cases the expedient of architects who do not know how to fill up blank spaces1 and many a building1 which would have been decent enough if let alone1 has been scrawled over with straight lines1 as in ,fig4 ,,iii41 on exactly the same principles1 and with just the same amount of intelligence as a boy's in scrawling his copy-book when he cannot write4 ,the device was thought ingenious at one period of architectural history2 ,st4 ,paul's and ,whitehall are covered with it1 and it is in this ,i imagine that some of our modern architects suppose the great merit of those buildings to consist4 ,there is1 however1 no excuse for errors in disposition of masonry1 for there is but one law upon the subject1 and that easily complied with1 to avoid all affectation and all unnecessary expense1 either in showing or concealing4 ,every one knows a building is built of separate stones2 nobody will ever object to seeing that it is so1 but nobody wants to count them4 ,the divisions of a church are much like the divisions of a sermon2 they are always right so long as they are necessary to edification1 and always wrong when they are thrust upon the attention as divisions only4 ,there may be neatness in carving when there is richness in feasting2 but ,i have heard many a discourse1 and seen many a church wall1 in which it was all carving and no meat4 ,,footnotes3 #cd ,on the eastern side3 violently contorted on the northern and western4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,wall ,,cornice4 ,i4 ,we have lastly to consider the close of the wall's existence1 or its cornice4 ,it was above stated1 that a cornice has one of two offices3 if the wall have nothing to carry1 the cornice is its roof1 and defends it from the weather2 if there is weight to be carried above the wall1 the cornice is its hand1 and is expanded to carry the said weight4 ,there are several ways of roofing or protecting independent walls1 according to the means nearest at hand3 sometimes the wall has a true roof all to itself2 sometimes it terminates in a small gabled ridge1 made of bricks set slanting1 as constantly in the suburbs of ,london2 or of hewn stone1 in stronger work2 or in a single sloping face1 inclined to the outside4 ,we need not trouble ourselves at present about these small roofings1 which are merely the diminutions of large ones2 but we must examine the important and constant member of the wall structure1 which prepares it either for these small roofs or for weights above1 and is its true cornice4 ,,ii4 ,the reader will1 perhaps1 as heretofore1 be kind enough to think for himself1 how1 having carried up his wall veil as high as it may be needed1 he will set about protecting it from weather1 or preparing it for weight4 ,let him imagine the top of the unfinished wall1 as it would be seen from above with all the joints1 perhaps uncemented1 or imperfectly filled up with cement1 open to the sky2 and small broken materials filling gaps between large ones1 and leaving cavities ready for the rain to soak into1 and loosen and dissolve the cement1 and split1 as it froze1 the whole to pieces4 ,i am much mistaken if his first impulse would not be to take a great flat stone and lay it on the top2 or rather a series of such1 side by side1 projecting well over the edge of the wall veil4 ,if1 also1 he proposed to lay a weight 7as1 for instance1 the end of a beam7 on the wall1 he would feel at once that the pressure of this beam on1 or rather among1 the small stones of the wall veil1 might very possibly dislodge or disarrange some of them2 and the first impulse would be1 in this case1 also to lay a large flat stone on the top of all to receive the beam1 or any other weight1 and distribute it equally among the small stones below1 as at a1 ,fig4 ,,iv4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,iv4 ,,iii4 ,we must therefore have our flat stone in either case2 and let b1 ,fig4 ,,iv41 be the section or side of it1 as it is set across the wall4 ,now1 evidently1 if by any chance this weight happen to be thrown more on the edges of this stone than the centre1 there will be a chance of these edges breaking off4 ,had we not better1 therefore1 put another stone1 sloped off to the wall1 beneath the projecting one1 as at c4 ,but now our cornice looks somewhat too heavy for the wall2 and as the upper stone is evidently of needless thickness1 we will thin it somewhat1 and we have the form d4 ,now observe3 the lower or bevelled stone here at d corresponds to d in the base 7,fig4 ,,ii41 page #ei74 ,that was the foot of the wall2 this is its hand4 ,and the top stone here1 which is a constant member of cornices1 corresponds to the under stone c1 in ,fig4 ,,ii41 which is a constant member of bases4 ,the reader has no idea at present of the enormous importance of these members2 but as we shall have to refer to them perpetually1 ,i must ask him to compare them1 and fix their relations well in his mind3 and1 for convenience1 ,i shall call the bevelled or sloping stone1 ,x1 and the upright edged stone1 ,y4 ,the reader may remember easily which is which2 for ,x is an intersection of two slopes1 and may therefore properly mean either of the two sloping stones2 and ,y is a figure with a perpendicular line and two slopes1 and may therefore fitly stand for the upright stone in relation to each of the sloping ones2 and as we shall have to say much more about cornices than about bases1 let ,x and ,y stand for the stones of the cornice1 and ,xb and ,yb for those of the base1 when distinction is needed4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,v4 ,,iv4 ,now the form at d1 ,fig4 ,,iv41 is the great root and primal type of all cornices whatsoever4 ,in order to see what forms may be developed from it1 let us take its profile a little larger--a1 ,fig4 ,v41 with ,x and ,y duly marked4 ,now this form1 being the root of all cornices1 may either have to finish the wall and so keep off rain2 or1 as so often stated1 to carry weight4 ,if the former1 it is evident that1 in its present profile1 the rain will run back down the slope of ,x2 and if the latter1 that the sharp angle or edge of ,x1 at k1 may be a little too weak for its work1 and run a chance of giving way4 ,to avoid the evil in the first case1 suppose we hollow the slope of ,x inwards1 as at b2 and to avoid it in the second case1 suppose we strengthen ,x by letting it bulge outwards1 as at c4 ,v4 ,these 7b and c7 are the profiles of two vast families of cornices1 springing from the same root1 which1 with a third arising from their combination 7owing its origin to sthetic considerations1 and inclining sometimes to the one1 sometimes to the other71 have been employed1 each on its third part of the architecture of the whole world throughout all ages1 and must continue to be so employed through such time as is yet to come4 ,we do not at present speak of the third or combined group2 but the relation of the two main branches to each other1 and to the line of origin1 is given at e1 ,fig4 ,v42 where the dotted lines are the representatives of the two families1 and the straight line of the root4 ,the slope of this right line1 as well as the nature of the curves1 here drawn as segments of circles1 we leave undetermined3 the slope1 as well as the proportion of the depths of ,x and ,y to each other1 vary according to the weight to be carried1 the strength of the stone1 the size of the cornice1 and a thousand other accidents2 and the nature of the curves according to sthetic laws4 ,it is in these infinite fields that the invention of the architect is permitted to expatiate1 but not in the alteration of primitive forms4 ,,vi4 ,but to proceed4 ,it will doubtless appear to the reader1 that1 even allowing for some of these permissible variations in the curve or slope of ,x1 neither the form at b1 nor any approximation to that form1 would be sufficiently undercut to keep the rain from running back upon it4 ,this is true2 but we have to consider that the cornice1 as the close of the wall's life1 is of all its features that which is best fitted for honor and ornament4 ,it has been esteemed so by almost all builders1 and has been lavishly decorated in modes hereafter to be considered4 ,but it is evident that1 as it is high above the eye1 the fittest place to receive the decoration is the slope of ,x1 which is inclined towards the spectator2 and if we cut away or hollow out this slope more than we have done at b1 all decoration will be hid in the shadow4 ,if1 therefore1 the climate be fine1 and rain of long continuance not to be dreaded1 we shall not hollow the stone ,x further1 adopting the curve at b merely as the most protective in our power4 ,but if the climate be one in which rain is frequent and dangerous1 as in alternations with frost1 we may be compelled to consider the cornice in a character distinctly protective1 and to hollow out ,x farther1 so as to enable it thoroughly to accomplish its purpose4 ,a cornice thus treated loses its character as the crown or honor of the wall1 takes the office of its protector1 and is called a ,,dripstone4 ,the dripstone is naturally the attribute of ,northern buildings1 and therefore especially of ,gothic architecture2 the true cornice is the attribute of ,southern buildings1 and therefore of ,greek and ,italian architecture2 and it is one of their peculiar beauties1 and eminent features of superiority4 ,,vii4 ,before passing to the dripstone1 however1 let us examine a little farther into the nature of the true cornice4 ,we cannot1 indeed1 render either of the forms b or c1 ,fig4 ,v41 perfectly protective from rain1 but we can help them a little in their duty by a slight advance of their upper ledge4 ,this1 with the form b1 we can best manage by cutting off the sharp upper point of its curve1 which is evidently weak and useless2 and we shall have the form f4 ,by a slight advance of the upper stone c1 we shall have the parallel form g4 ,these two cornices1 f and g1 are characteristic of early ,byzantine work1 and are found on all the most lovely examples of it in ,venice4 ,the type a is rarer1 but occurs pure in the most exquisite piece of composition in ,venice--the northern portico of ,st4 ,mark's2 and will be given in due time4 ,,viii4 ,now the reader has doubtless noticed that these forms of cornice result1 from considerations of fitness and necessity1 far more neatly and decisively than the forms of the base1 which we left only very generally determined4 ,the reason is1 that there are many ways of building foundations1 and many good ways1 dependent upon the peculiar accidents of the ground and nature of accessible materials4 ,there is also room to spare in width1 and a chance of a part of the arrangement being concealed by the ground1 so as to modify height4 ,but we have no room to spare in width on the top of a wall1 and all that we do must be thoroughly visible2 and we can but have to deal with bricks1 or stones of a certain degree of fineness1 and not with mere gravel1 or sand1 or clay1--so that as the conditions are limited1 the forms become determined2 and our steps will be more clear and certain the farther we advance4 ,the sources of a river are usually half lost among moss and pebbles1 and its first movements doubtful in direction2 but1 as the current gathers force1 its banks are determined1 and its branches are numbered4 ,,ix4 ,so far of the true cornice3 we have still to determine the form of the dripstone4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,vi4 ,we go back to our primal type or root of cornice1 a of ,fig4 ,v4 ,we take this at a in ,fig4 ,,vi41 and we are to consider it entirely as a protection against rain4 ,now the only way in which the rain can be kept from running back on the slope of ,x is by a bold hollowing out of it upwards1 b4 ,but clearly1 by thus doing1 we shall so weaken the projecting part of it that the least shock would break it at the neck1 c2 we must therefore cut the whole out of one stone1 which will give us the form d4 ,that the water may not lodge on the upper ledge of this1 we had better round it off2 and it will better protect the joint at the bottom of the slope if we let the stone project over it in a roll1 cutting the recess deeper above4 ,these two changes are made in e3 e is the type of dripstones2 the projecting part being1 however1 more or less rounded into an approximation to the shape of a falcon's beak1 and often reaching it completely4 ,but the essential part of the arrangement is the up and under cutting of the curve4 ,wherever we find this1 we are sure that the climate is wet1 or that the builders have been bred in a wet country1 and that the rest of the building will be prepared for rough weather4 ,the up cutting of the curve is sometimes all the distinction between the mouldings of far-distant countries and utterly strange nations4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,vii4 ,fig4 ,,vii4 representing a moulding with an outer and inner curve1 the latter undercut4 ,take the outer line1 and this moulding is one constant in ,venice1 in architecture traceable to ,arabian types1 and chiefly to the early mosques of ,cairo4 ,but take the inner line2 it is a dripstone at ,salisbury4 ,in that narrow interval between the curves there is1 when we read it rightly1 an expression of another and mightier curve1--the orbed sweep of the earth and sea1 between the desert of the ,pyramids1 and the green and level fields through which the clear streams of ,sarum wind so slowly4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,viii4 ,and so delicate is the test1 that though pure cornices are often found in the north1--borrowed from classical models1--so surely as we find a true dripstone moulding in the ,south1 the influence of ,northern builders has been at work2 and this will be one of the principal evidences which ,i shall use in detecting ,lombard influence on ,arab work2 for the true ,byzantine and ,arab mouldings are all open to the sky and light1 but the ,lombards brought with them from the ,north the fear of rain1 and in all the ,lombardic ,gothic we instantly recognize the shadowy dripstone3 a1 ,fig4 ,,viii41 is from a noble fragment at ,milan1 in the ,piazza dei ,mercanti2 b1 from the ,broletto of ,como4 ,compare them with c and d2 both from ,salisbury2 e and f from ,lisieux1 ,normandy2 g and h from ,wenlock ,abbey1 ,shropshire4 ,x4 ,the reader is now master of all that he need know about the construction of the general wall cornice1 fitted either to become a crown of the wall1 or to carry weight above4 ,if1 however1 the weight above become considerable1 it may be necessary to support the cornice at intervals with brackets2 especially if it be required to project far1 as well as to carry weight2 as1 for instance1 if there be a gallery on top of the wall4 ,this kind of bracket-cornice1 deep or shallow1 forms a separate family1 essentially connected with roofs and galleries2 for if there be no superincumbent weight1 it is evidently absurd to put brackets to a plain cornice or dripstone 7though this is sometimes done in carrying out a style72 so that1 as soon as we see a bracket put to a cornice1 it implies1 or should imply1 that there is a roof or gallery above it4 ,hence this family of cornices ,i shall consider in connection with roofing1 calling them roof cornices1 while what we have hitherto examined are proper wall cornices4 ,the roof cornice and wall cornice are therefore treated in division ,d4 ,we are not1 however1 as yet nearly ready for our roof4 ,we have only obtained that which was to be the object of our first division 7,a72 we have got1 that is to say1 a general idea of a wall and of the three essential parts of a wall2 and we have next1 it will be remembered1 to get an idea of a pier and the essential parts of a pier1 which were to be the subjects of our second division 7,b74 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,the ,,pier ,,base4 ,i4 ,in ,,iii4 of ,chap4 ,,iii41 it was stated that when a wall had to sustain an addition of vertical pressure1 it was first fitted to sustain it by some addition to its own thickness2 but if the pressure became very great1 by being gathered up into ,,piers4 ,i must first make the reader understand what ,i mean by a wall's being gathered up4 ,take a piece of tolerably thick drawing-paper1 or thin ,bristol board1 five or six inches square4 ,set it on its edge on the table1 and put a small octavo book on the edge or top of it1 and it will bend instantly4 ,tear it into four strips all across1 and roll up each strip tightly4 ,set these rolls on end on the table1 and they will carry the small octavo perfectly well4 ,now the thickness or substance of the paper employed to carry the weight is exactly the same as it was before1 only it is differently arranged1 that is to say1 gathered up4#ce ,if therefore a wall be gathered up like the ,bristol board1 it will bear greater weight than it would if it remained a wall veil4 ,the sticks into which you gather it are called ,piers4 ,a pier is a coagulated wall4 ,,ii4 ,now you cannot quite treat the wall as you did the ,bristol board1 and twist it up at once2 but let us see how you can treat it4 ,let ,a1 ,fig4 ,,ix41 be the plan of a wall which you have made inconveniently and expensively thick1 and which still appears to be slightly too weak for what it must carry3 divide it1 as at ,b1 into equal spaces1 a1 b1 a1 b1 c4 ,cut out a thin slice of it at every a on each side1 and put the slices you cut out on at every b on each side1 and you will have the plan at ,b1 with exactly the same quantity of bricks4 ,but your wall is now so much concentrated1 that1 if it was only slightly too weak before1 it will be stronger now than it need be2 so you may spare some of your space as well as your bricks by cutting off the corners of the thicker parts1 as suppose c1 c1 c1 c1 at ,c3 and you have now a series of square piers connected by a wall veil1 which1 on less space and with less materials1 will do the work of the wall at ,a perfectly well4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,ix4 ,,iii4 ,i do not say how much may be cut away in the corners c1 c1--that is a mathematical question with which we need not trouble ourselves3 all that we need know is1 that out of every slice we take from the b's and put on at the a's1 we may keep a certain percentage of room and bricks1 until1 supposing that we do not want the wall veil for its own sake1 this latter is thinned entirely away1 like the girdle of the ,lady of ,avenel1 and finally breaks1 and we have nothing but a row of square piers1 ,d4 ,,iv4 ,but have we yet arrived at the form which will spare most room1 and use fewest materials4 ,no2 and to get farther we must apply the general principle to our wall1 which is equally true in morals and mathematics1 that the strength of materials1 or of men1 or of minds1 is always most available when it is applied as closely as possible to a single point4 ,let the point to which we wish the strength of our square piers to be applied1 be chosen4 ,then we shall of course put them directly under it1 and the point will be in their centre4 ,but now some of their materials are not so near or close to this point as others4 ,those at the corners are farther off than the rest4 ,now1 if every particle of the pier be brought as near as possible to the centre of it1 the form it assumes is the circle4 ,the circle must be1 therefore1 the best possible form of plan for a pier1 from the beginning of time to the end of it4 ,a circular pier is called a pillar or column1 and all good architecture adapted to vertical support is made up of pillars1 has always been so1 and must ever be so1 as long as the laws of the universe hold4 ,the final condition is represented at ,e1 in its relation to that at ,d4 ,it will be observed that though each circle projects a little beyond the side of the square out of which it is formed1 the space cut off at the angles is greater than that added at the sides2 for1 having our materials in a more concentrated arrangement1 we can afford to part with some of them in this last transformation1 as in all the rest4 ,v4 ,and now1 what have the base and the cornice of the wall been doing while we have been cutting the veil to pieces and gathering it together8 ,the base is also cut to pieces1 gathered together1 and becomes the base of the column4 ,the cornice is cut to pieces1 gathered together1 and becomes the capital of the column4 ,do not be alarmed at the new word1 it does not mean a new thing2 a capital is only the cornice of a column1 and you may1 if you like1 call a cornice the capital of a wall4 ,we have now1 therefore1 to examine these three concentrated forms of the base1 veil1 and cornice3 first1 the concentrated base1 still called the ,,base of the column2 then the concentrated veil1 called the ,,shaft of the column2 then the concentrated cornice1 called the ,,capital of the column4 ,and first the ,base3-- ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,x4 ,,vi4 ,look back to the main type1 ,fig4 ,,ii41 page #ee1 and apply its profiles in due proportion to the feet of the pillars at ,e in ,fig4 ,,ix4 p4 #gb3 ,if each step in ,fig4 ,,ii4 were gathered accurately1 the projection of the entire circular base would be less in proportion to its height than it is in ,fig4 ,,ii42 but the approximation to the result in ,fig4 ,x4 is quite accurate enough for our purposes4 7,i pray the reader to observe that ,i have not made the smallest change1 except this necessary expression of a reduction in diameter1 in ,fig4 ,,ii4 as it is applied in ,fig4 ,x41 only ,i have not drawn the joints of the stones because these would confuse the outlines of the bases2 and ,i have not represented the rounding of the shafts1 because it does not bear at present on the argument47 ,now it would hardly be convenient1 if we had to pass between the pillars1 to have to squeeze ourselves through one of those angular gaps or brches de ,roland in ,fig4 ,x4 ,our first impulse would be to cut them open2 but we cannot do this1 or our piers are unsafe4 ,we have but one other resource1 to fill them up until we have a floor wide enough to let us pass easily3 this we may perhaps obtain at the first ledge1 we are nearly sure to get it at the second1 and we may then obtain access to the raised interval1 either by raising the earth over the lower courses of foundation1 or by steps round the entire building4 ,fig4 ,,xi4 is the arrangement of ,fig4 ,x4 so treated4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xi4 ,,vii4 ,but suppose the pillars are so vast that the lowest chink in ,fig4 ,x4 would be quite wide enough to let us pass through it4 ,is there then any reason for filling it up8 ,yes4 ,it will be remembered that in ,chap4 ,,iv4 ,,viii4 the chief reason for the wide foundation of the wall was stated to be that it might equalise its pressure over a large surface2 but when the foundation is cut to pieces as in ,fig4 ,x41 the pressure is thrown on a succession of narrowed and detached spaces of that surface4 ,if the ground is in some places more disposed to yield than in others1 the piers in those places will sink more than the rest1 and this distortion of the system will be probably of more importance in pillars than in a wall1 because the adjustment of the weight above is more delicate2 we thus actually want the weight of the stones between the pillars1 in order that the whole foundation may be bonded into one1 and sink together if it sink at all3 and the more massy the pillars1 the more we shall need to fill the intervals of their foundations4 ,in the best form of ,greek architecture1 the intervals are filled up to the root of the shaft1 and the columns have no independent base2 they stand on the even floor of their foundation4 ,,viii4 ,such a structure is not only admissible1 but1 when the column is of great thickness in proportion to its height1 and the sufficient firmness1 either of the ground or prepared floor1 is evident1 it is the best of all1 having a strange dignity in its excessive simplicity4 ,it is1 or ought to be1 connected in our minds with the deep meaning of primeval memorial4 ,and ,jacob took the stone that he had put for his pillow1 and set it up for a pillar4 ,i do not fancy that he put a base for it first4 ,if you try to put a base to the rock-piers of ,stonehenge1 you will hardly find them improved2 and two of the most perfect buildings in the world1 the ,parthenon and ,ducal palace of ,venice1 have no bases to their pillars3 the latter has them1 indeed1 to its upper arcade shafts2 and had once1 it is said1 a continuous raised base for its lower ones3 but successive elevations of ,st4 ,mark's ,place have covered this base1 and parts of the shafts themselves1 with an inundation of paving stones2 and yet the building is1 ,i doubt not1 as grand as ever4 ,finally1 the two most noble pillars in ,venice1 those brought from ,acre1 stand on the smooth marble surface of the ,piazzetta1 with no independent bases whatever4 ,they are rather broken away beneath1 so that you may look under parts of them1 and stand 7not quite erect1 but leaning somewhat7 safe by their own massy weight4 ,nor could any bases possibly be devised that would not spoil them4 ,,ix4 ,but it is otherwise if the pillar be so slender as to look doubtfully balanced4 ,it would indeed stand quite as safely without an independent base as it would with one 7at least1 unless the base be in the form of a socket74 ,but it will not appear so safe to the eye4 ,and here for the first time1 ,i have to express and apply a principle1 which ,i believe the reader will at once grant1--that features necessary to express security to the imagination1 are often as essential parts of good architecture as those required for security itself4 ,it was said that the wall base was the foot or paw of the wall4 ,exactly in the same way1 and with clearer analogy1 the pier base is the foot or paw of the pier4 ,let us1 then1 take a hint from nature4 ,a foot has two offices1 to bear up1 and to hold firm4 ,as far as it has to bear up1 it is uncloven1 with slight projection1--look at an elephant's 7the ,doric base of animality72#cf but as far as it has to hold firm1 it is divided and clawed1 with wide projections1--look at an eagle's4 ,x4 ,now observe4 ,in proportion to the massiness of the column1 we require its foot to express merely the power of bearing up2 in fact1 it can do without a foot1 like the ,squire in ,chevy ,chase1 if the ground only be hard enough4 ,but if the column be slender1 and look as if it might lose its balance1 we require it to look as if it had hold of the ground1 or the ground hold of it1 it does not matter which1--some expression of claw1 prop1 or socket4 ,now let us go back to ,fig4 ,,xi41 and take up one of the bases there1 in the state in which we left it4 ,we may leave out the two lower steps 7with which we have nothing more to do1 as they have become the united floor or foundation of the whole71 and1 for the sake of greater clearness1 ,i shall not draw the bricks in the shaft1 nor the flat stone which carries them1 though the reader is to suppose them remaining as drawn in ,fig4 ,,xi42 but ,i shall only draw the shaft and its two essential members of base1 ,xb and ,yb1 as explained at p4 #fe1 above3 and now1 expressing the rounding of these numbers on a somewhat larger scale1 we have the profile a1 ,fig4 ,,xii42 b1 the perspective appearance of such a base seen from above2 and c1 the plan of it4 ,,xi4 ,now ,i am quite sure the reader is not satisfied of the stability of this form as it is seen at b2 nor would he ever be so with the main contour of a circular base4 ,observe1 we have taken some trouble to reduce the member ,yb into this round form1 and all that we have gained by so doing1 is this unsatisfactory and unstable look of the base2 of which the chief reason is1 that a circle1 unless enclosed by right lines1 has never an appearance of fixture1 or definite place1#cg--we suspect it of motion1 like an orb of heaven2 and the second is1 that the whole base1 considered as the foot of the shaft1 has no grasp nor hold3 it is a club-foot1 and looks too blunt for the limb1--it wants at least expansion1 if not division4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xii4 ,,xii4 ,suppose1 then1 instead of taking so much trouble with the member ,yb1 we save time and labor1 and leave it a square block4 ,xb must1 however1 evidently follow the pillar1 as its condition is that it slope to the very base of the wall veil1 and of whatever the wall veil becomes4 ,so the corners of ,yb will project beyond the circle of ,xb1 and we shall have 7,fig4 ,,xii47 the profile d1 the perspective appearance e1 and the plan f4 ,i am quite sure the reader likes e much better than he did b4 ,the circle is now placed1 and we are not afraid of its rolling away4 ,the foot has greater expansion1 and we have saved labor besides1 with little loss of space1 for the interval between the bases is just as great as it was before1--we have only filled up the corners of the squares4 ,but is it not possible to mend the form still further8 ,there is surely still an appearance of separation between ,xb and ,yb1 as if the one might slip off the other4 ,the foot is expanded enough2 but it needs some expression of grasp as well4 ,it has no toes4 ,suppose we were to put a spur or prop to ,xb at each corner1 so as to hold it fast in the centre of ,yb4 ,we will do this in the simplest possible form4 ,we will have the spur1 or small buttress1 sloping straight from the corner of ,yb up to the top of ,xb1 and as seen from above1 of the shape of a triangle4 ,applying such spurs in ,fig4 ,,xii41 we have the diagonal profile at g1 the perspective h1 and the plan i4 ,,xiii4 ,i am quite sure the reader likes this last base the best1 and feels as if it were the firmest4 ,but he must carefully distinguish between this feeling or imagination of the eye1 and the real stability of the structure4 ,that this real stability has been slightly increased by the changes between b and h1 in ,fig4 ,,xii41 is true4 ,there is in the base h somewhat less chance of accidental dislocation1 and somewhat greater solidity and weight4 ,but this very slight gain of security is of no importance whatever when compared with the general requirements of the structure4 ,the pillar must be perfectly secure1 and more than secure1 with the base b1 or the building will be unsafe1 whatever other base you put to the pillar4 ,the changes are made1 not for the sake of the almost inappreciable increase of security they involve1 but in order to convince the eye of the real security which the base b appears to compromise4 ,this is especially the case with regard to the props or spurs1 which are absolutely useless in reality1 but are of the highest importance as an expression of safety4 ,and this will farther appear when we observe that they have been above quite arbitrarily supposed to be of a triangular form4 ,why triangular8 ,why should not the spur be made wider and stronger1 so as to occupy the whole width of the angle of the square1 and to become a complete expansion of ,xb to the edge of the square8 ,simply because1 whatever its width1 it has1 in reality1 no supporting power whatever2 and the expression of support is greatest where it assumes a form approximating to that of the spur or claw of an animal4 ,we shall1 however1 find hereafter1 that it ought indeed to be much wider than it is in ,fig4 ,,xii41 where it is narrowed in order to make its structure clearly intelligible4 ,,xiv4 ,if the reader chooses to consider this spur as an sthetic feature altogether1 he is at liberty to do so1 and to transfer what we have here said of it to the beginning of ,chap4 ,,xxv4 ,i think that its true place is here1 as an expression of safety1 and not a means of beauty2 but ,i will assume only1 as established1 the form e of ,fig4 ,,xii41 which is absolutely1 as a construction1 easier1 stronger1 and more perfect than b4 ,a word or two now of its materials4 ,the wall base1 it will be remembered1 was built of stones more neatly cut as they were higher in place2 and the members1 ,y and ,x1 of the pier base1 were the highest members of the wall base gathered4 ,but1 exactly in proportion to this gathering or concentration in form1 should1 if possible1 be the gathering or concentration of substance4 ,for as the whole weight of the building is now to rest upon few and limited spaces1 it is of the greater importance that it should be there received by solid masonry4 ,xb and ,yb are therefore1 if possible1 to be each of a single stone2 or1 when the shaft is small1 both cut out of one block1 and especially if spurs are to be added to ,xb4 ,the reader must not be angry with me for stating things so self-evident1 for these are all necessary steps in the chain of argument which ,i must not break4 ,even this change from detached stones to a single block is not without significance2 for it is part of the real service and value of the member ,yb to provide for the reception of the shaft a surface free from joints2 and the eye always conceives it as a firm covering over all inequalities or fissures in the smaller masonry of the floor4 ,,xv4 ,i have said nothing yet of the proportion of the height of ,yb to its width1 nor of that of ,yb and ,xb to each other4 ,both depend much on the height of shaft1 and are besides variable within certain limits1 at the architect's discretion4 ,but the limits of the height of ,yb may be thus generally stated4 ,if it looks so thin as that the weight of the column above might break it1 it is too low2 and if it is higher than its own width1 it is too high4 ,the utmost admissible height is that of a cubic block2 for if it ever become higher than it is wide1 it becomes itself a part of a pier1 and not the base of one4 ,,xvi4 ,i have also supposed ,yb1 when expanded from beneath ,xb1 as always expanded into a square1 and four spurs only to be added at the angles4 ,but ,yb may be expanded into a pentagon1 hexagon1 or polygon2 and ,xb then may have five1 six1 or many spurs4 ,in proportion1 however1 as the sides increase in number1 the spurs become shorter and less energetic in their effect1 and the square is in most cases the best form4 ,,xvii4 ,we have hitherto conducted the argument entirely on the supposition of the pillars being numerous1 and in a range4 ,suppose1 however1 that we require only a single pillar3 as we have free space round it1 there is no need to fill up the first ranges of its foundations2 nor need we do so in order to equalise pressure1 since the pressure to be met is its own alone4 ,under such circumstances1 it is well to exhibit the lower tiers of the foundation as well as ,yb and ,xb4 ,the noble bases of the two granite pillars of the ,piazzetta at ,venice are formed by the entire series of members given in ,fig4 ,x41 the lower courses expanding into steps1 with a superb breadth of proportion to the shaft4 ,the member ,xb is of course circular1 having its proper decorative mouldings1 not here considered2 ,yb is octagonal1 but filled up into a square by certain curious groups of figures representing the trades of ,venice4 ,the three courses below are octagonal1 with their sides set across the angles of the innermost octagon1 ,yb4 ,the shafts are #ae feet in circumference1 and the lowest octagons of the base #ef 7#g feet each side74 ,,xviii4 ,detached buildings1 like our own ,monument1 are not pillars1 but towers built in imitation of ,pillars4 ,as towers they are barbarous1 being dark1 inconvenient1 and unsafe1 besides lying1 and pretending to be what they are not4 ,as shafts they are barbarous1 because they were designed at a time when the ,renaissance architects had introduced and forced into acceptance1 as de rigueur1 a kind of columnar high-heeled shoe1--a thing which they called a pedestal1 and which is to a true base exactly what a ,greek actor's cothurnus was to a ,greek gentleman's sandal4 ,but the ,greek actor knew better1 ,i believe1 than to exhibit or to decorate his cork sole2 and1 with shafts as with heroes1 it is rather better to put the sandal off than the cothurnus on4 ,there are1 indeed1 occasions on which a pedestal may be necessary2 it may be better to raise a shaft from a sudden depression of plinth to a level with others1 its companions1 by means of a pedestal1 than to introduce a higher shaft2 or it may be better to place a shaft of alabaster1 if otherwise too short for our purpose1 on a pedestal1 than to use a larger shaft of coarser material2 but the pedestal is in each case a make-shift1 not an additional perfection4 ,it may1 in the like manner1 be sometimes convenient for men to walk on stilts1 but not to keep their stilts on as ornamental parts of dress4 ,the bases of the ,nelson ,column1 the ,monument1 and the column of the ,place ,vendme1 are to the shafts1 exactly what highly ornamented wooden legs would be to human beings4 ,,xix4 ,so far of bases of detached shafts4 ,as we do not yet know in what manner shafts are likely to be grouped1 we can say nothing of those of grouped shafts until we know more of what they are to support4 ,lastly2 we have throughout our reasoning upon the base supposed the pier to be circular4 ,but circumstances may occur to prevent its being reduced to this form1 and it may remain square or rectangular2 its base will then be simply the wall base following its contour1 and we have no spurs at the angles4 ,thus much may serve respecting pier bases2 we have next to examine the concentration of the ,wall ,veil1 or the ,shaft4 ,,footnotes3 #ce ,the experiment is not quite fair in this rude fashion2 for the small rolls owe their increase of strength much more to their tubular form than their aggregation of material2 but if the paper be cut up into small strips1 and tied together firmly in three or four compact bundles1 it will exhibit increase of strength enough to show the principle4 ,vide1 however1 ,appendix #af1 ,strength of ,shafts4 #cf ,appendix #ag1 ,answer to ,mr4 ,garbett4 #cg ,yet more so than any other figure enclosed by a curved line3 for the circle1 in its relations to its own centre1 is the curve of greatest stability4 ,compare ,,xx4 of ,chap4 ,,xx4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,the ,,shaft4 ,i4 ,we have seen in the last ,chapter how1 in converting the wall into the square or cylindrical shaft1 we parted at every change of form with some quantity of material4 ,in proportion to the quantity thus surrendered1 is the necessity that what we retain should be good of its kind1 and well set together1 since everything now depends on it4 ,it is clear also that the best material1 and the closest concentration1 is that of the natural crystalline rocks2 and that1 by having reduced our wall into the shape of shafts1 we may be enabled to avail ourselves of this better material1 and to exchange cemented bricks for crystallised blocks of stone4 ,therefore1 the general idea of a perfect shaft is that of a single stone hewn into a form more or less elongated and cylindrical4 ,under this form1 or at least under the ruder one of a long stone set upright1 the conception of true shafts appears first to have occurred to the human mind2 for the reader must note this carefully1 once for all1 it does not in the least follow that the order of architectural features which is most reasonable in their arrangement1 is most probable in their invention4 ,i have theoretically deduced shafts from walls1 but shafts were never so reasoned out in architectural practice4 ,the man who first propped a thatched roof with poles was the discoverer of their principle2 and he who first hewed a long stone into a cylinder1 the perfecter of their practice4 ,,ii4 ,it is clearly necessary that shafts of this kind 7we will call them1 for convenience1 block shafts7 should be composed of stone not liable to flaws or fissures2 and therefore that we must no longer continue our argument as if it were always possible to do what is to be done in the best way2 for the style of a national architecture may evidently depend1 in great measure1 upon the nature of the rocks of the country4 ,our own ,english rocks1 which supply excellent building stone from their thin and easily divisible beds1 are for the most part entirely incapable of being worked into shafts of any size1 except only the granites and whinstones1 whose hardness renders them intractable for ordinary purposes2--and ,english architecture therefore supplies no instances of the block shaft applied on an extensive scale2 while the facility of obtaining large masses of marble has in ,greece and ,italy been partly the cause of the adoption of certain noble types of architectural form peculiar to those countries1 or1 when occurring elsewhere1 derived from them4 ,we have not1 however1 in reducing our walls to shafts1 calculated on the probabilities of our obtaining better materials than those of which the walls were built2 and we shall therefore first consider the form of shaft which will be best when we have the best materials2 and then consider how far we can imitate1 or how far it will be wise to imitate1 this form with any materials we can obtain4 ,,iii4 ,now as ,i gave the reader the ground1 and the stones1 that he might for himself find out how to build his wall1 ,i shall give him the block of marble1 and the chisel1 that he may himself find out how to shape his column4 ,let him suppose the elongated mass1 so given him1 rudely hewn to the thickness which he has calculated will be proportioned to the weight it has to carry4 ,the conditions of stability will require that some allowance be made in finishing it for any chance of slight disturbance or subsidence of the ground below1 and that1 as everything must depend on the uprightness of the shaft1 as little chance should be left as possible of its being thrown off its balance4 ,it will therefore be prudent to leave it slightly thicker at the base than at the top4 ,this excess of diameter at the base being determined1 the reader is to ask himself how most easily and simply to smooth the column from one extremity to the other4 ,to cut it into a true straight-sided cone would be a matter of much trouble and nicety1 and would incur the continual risk of chipping into it too deep4 ,why not leave some room for a chance stroke1 work it slightly1 very slightly convex1 and smooth the curve by the eye between the two extremities8 you will save much trouble and time1 and the shaft will be all the stronger4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xiii4 ,this is accordingly the natural form of a detached block shaft4 ,it is the best4 ,no other will ever be so agreeable to the mind or eye4 ,i do not mean that it is not capable of more refined execution1 or of the application of some of the laws of sthetic beauty1 but that it is the best recipient of execution and subject of law2 better in either case than if you had taken more pains1 and cut it straight4 ,,iv4 ,you will observe1 however1 that the convexity is to be very slight1 and that the shaft is not to bulge in the centre1 but to taper from the root in a curved line2 the peculiar character of the curve you will discern better by exaggerating1 in a diagram1 the conditions of its sculpture4 ,let a1 a1 b1 b1 at ,a1 ,fig4 ,,xiii41 be the rough block of the shaft1 laid on the ground2 and as thick as you can by any chance require it to be2 you will leave it of this full thickness at its base at ,a1 but at the other end you will mark off upon it the diameter c1 d1 which you intend it to have at the summit2 you will then take your mallet and chisel1 and working from c and d you will roughly knock off the corners1 shaded in the figure1 so as to reduce the shaft to the figure described by the inside lines in ,a and the outside lines in ,b2 you then proceed to smooth it1 you chisel away the shaded parts in ,b1 and leave your finished shaft of the form of the inside lines e1 g1 f1 h4 ,the result of this operation will be of course that the shaft tapers faster towards the top than it does near the ground4 ,observe this carefully2 it is a point of great future importance4 ,v4 ,so far of the shape of detached or block shafts4 ,we can carry the type no farther on merely structural considerations3 let us pass to the shaft of inferior materials4 ,unfortunately1 in practice1 this step must be soon made4 ,it is alike difficult to obtain1 transport1 and raise1 block shafts more than ten or twelve feet long1 except in remarkable positions1 and as pieces of singular magnificence4 ,large pillars are therefore always composed of more than one block of stone4 ,such pillars are either jointed like basalt columns1 and composed of solid pieces of stone set one above another2 or they are filled up towers1 built of small stones cemented into a mass1 with more or less of regularity3 ,keep this distinction carefully in mind1 it is of great importance2 for the jointed column1 every stone composing which1 however thin1 is 7so to speak7 a complete slice of the shaft1 is just as strong as the block pillar of one stone1 so long as no forces are brought into action upon it which would have a tendency to cause horizontal dislocation4 ,but the pillar which is built as a filled-up tower is of course liable to fissure in any direction1 if its cement give way4 ,but1 in either case1 it is evident that all constructive reason of the curved contour is at once destroyed4 ,far from being an easy or natural procedure1 the fitting of each portion of the curve to its fellow1 in the separate stones1 would require painful care and considerable masonic skill2 while1 in the case of the filled-up tower1 the curve outwards would be even unsafe2 for its greatest strength 7and that the more in proportion to its careless building7 lies in its bark1 or shell of outside stone2 and this1 if curved outwards1 would at once burst outwards1 if heavily loaded above4 ,if1 therefore1 the curved outline be ever retained in such shafts1 it must be in obedience to sthetic laws only4 ,,vi4 ,but farther4 ,not only the curvature1 but even the tapering by straight lines1 would be somewhat difficult of execution in the pieced column4 ,where1 indeed1 the entire shaft is composed of four or five blocks set one upon another1 the diameters may be easily determined at the successive joints1 and the stones chiselled to the same slope4 ,but this becomes sufficiently troublesome when the joints are numerous1 so that the pillar is like a pile of cheeses2 or when it is to be built of small and irregular stones4 ,we should be naturally led1 in the one case1 to cut all the cheeses to the same diameter2 in the other to build by the plumb-line2 and in both to give up the tapering altogether4 ,,vii4 ,farther4 ,since the chance1 in the one case1 of horizontal dislocation1 in the other1 of irregular fissure1 is much increased by the composition of the shaft out of joints or small stones1 a larger bulk of shaft is required to carry the given weight2 and1 cteris paribus1 jointed and cemented shafts must be thicker in proportion to the weight they carry than those which are of one block4 ,we have here evidently natural causes of a very marked division in schools of architecture3 one group composed of buildings whose shafts are either of a single stone or of few joints2 the shafts1 therefore1 being gracefully tapered1 and reduced by successive experiments to the narrowest possible diameter proportioned to the weight they carry3 and the other group embracing those buildings whose shafts are of many joints or of small stones2 shafts which are therefore not tapered1 and rather thick and ponderous in proportion to the weight they carry2 the latter school being evidently somewhat imperfect and inelegant as compared with the former4 ,it may perhaps appear1 also1 that this arrangement of the materials in cylindrical shafts at all would hardly have suggested itself to a people who possessed no large blocks out of which to hew them2 and that the shaft built of many pieces is probably derived from1 and imitative of the shaft hewn from few or from one4 ,,viii4 ,if1 therefore1 you take a good geological map of ,europe1 and lay your finger upon the spots where volcanic influences supply either travertin or marble in accessible and available masses1 you will probably mark the points where the types of the first school have been originated and developed4 ,if1 in the next place1 you will mark the districts where broken and rugged basalt or whinstone1 or slaty sandstone1 supply materials on easier terms indeed1 but fragmentary and unmanageable1 you will probably distinguish some of the birthplaces of the derivative and less graceful school4 ,you will1 in the first case1 lay your finger on ,pstum1 ,agrigentum1 and ,athens2 in the second1 on ,durham and ,lindisfarne4 ,the shafts of the great primal school are1 indeed1 in their first form1 as massy as those of the other1 and the tendency of both is to continual diminution of their diameters3 but in the first school it is a true diminution in the thickness of the independent pier2 in the last1 it is an apparent diminution1 obtained by giving it the appearance of a group of minor piers4 ,the distinction1 however1 with which we are concerned is not that of slenderness1 but of vertical or curved contour2 and we may note generally that while throughout the whole range of ,northern work1 the perpendicular shaft appears in continually clearer development1 throughout every group which has inherited the spirit of the ,greek1 the shaft retains its curved or tapered form2 and the occurrence of the vertical detached shaft may at all times1 in ,european architecture1 be regarded as one of the most important collateral evidences of ,northern influence4 ,,ix4 ,it is necessary to limit this observation to ,european architecture1 because the ,egyptian shaft is often untapered1 like the ,northern4 ,it appears that the ,central ,southern1 or ,greek shaft1 was tapered or curved on sthetic rather than constructive principles2 and the ,egyptian which precedes1 and the ,northern which follows it1 are both vertical1 the one because the best form had not been discovered1 the other because it could not be attained4 ,both are in a certain degree barbaric2 and both possess in combination and in their ornaments a power altogether different from that of the ,greek shaft1 and at least as impressive if not as admirable4 ,x4 ,we have hitherto spoken of shafts as if their number were fixed1 and only their diameter variable according to the weight to be borne4 ,but this supposition is evidently gratuitous2 for the same weight may be carried either by many and slender1 or by few and massy shafts4 ,if the reader will look back to ,fig4 ,,ix41 he will find the number of shafts into which the wall was reduced to be dependent altogether upon the length of the spaces a1 b1 a1 b1 c41 a length which was arbitrarily fixed4 ,we are at liberty to make these spaces of what length we choose1 and1 in so doing1 to increase the number and diminish the diameter of the shafts1 or vice vers4 ,,xi4 ,supposing the materials are in each case to be of the same kind1 the choice is in great part at the architect's discretion1 only there is a limit on the one hand to the multiplication of the slender shaft1 in the inconvenience of the narrowed interval1 and on the other1 to the enlargement of the massy shaft1 in the loss of breadth to the building4#ch ,that will be commonly the best proportion which is a natural mean between the two limits2 leaning to the side of grace or of grandeur according to the expressional intention of the work4 ,i say1 commonly the best1 because1 in some cases1 this expressional invention may prevail over all other considerations1 and a column of unnecessary bulk or fantastic slightness be adopted in order to strike the spectator with awe or with surprise4#ci ,the architect is1 however1 rarely in practice compelled to use one kind of material only2 and his choice lies frequently between the employment of a larger number of solid and perfect small shafts1 or a less number of pieced and cemented large ones4 ,it is often possible to obtain from quarries near at hand1 blocks which might be cut into shafts eight or twelve feet long and four or five feet round1 when larger shafts can only be obtained in distant localities2 and the question then is between the perfection of smaller features and the imperfection of larger4 ,we shall find numberless instances in ,italy in which the first choice has been boldly1 and ,i think most wisely made2 and magnificent buildings have been composed of systems of small but perfect shafts1 multiplied and superimposed4 ,so long as the idea of the symmetry of a perfect shaft remained in the builder's mind1 his choice could hardly be directed otherwise1 and the adoption of the built and tower-like shaft appears to have been the result of a loss of this sense of symmetry consequent on the employment of intractable materials4 ,,xii4 ,but farther3 we have up to this point spoken of shafts as always set in ranges1 and at equal intervals from each other4 ,but there is no necessity for this2 and material differences may be made in their diameters if two or more be grouped so as to do together the work of one large one1 and that within1 or nearly within1 the space which the larger one would have occupied4 ,,xiii4 ,let ,a1 ,b1 ,c1 ,fig4 ,,xiv41 be three surfaces1 of which ,b and ,c contain equal areas1 and each of them double that of ,a3 then supposing them all loaded to the same height1 ,b or ,c would receive twice as much weight as ,a2 therefore1 to carry ,b or ,c loaded1 we should need a shaft of twice the strength needed to carry ,a4 ,let ,s be the shaft required to carry ,a1 and ,s#b the shaft required to carry ,b or ,c2 then ,s#c may be divided into two shafts1 or ,s#b into four shafts1 as at ,s#c1 all equal in area or solid contents2#dj and the mass ,a might be carried safely by two of them1 and the masses ,b and ,c1 each by four of them4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xiv4 ,now if we put the single shafts each under the centre of the mass they have to bear1 as represented by the shaded circles at a1 a#b1 a#c1 the masses ,a and ,c are both of them very ill supported1 and even ,b insufficiently2 but apply the four and the two shafts as at b1 b#b1 b#c1 and they are supported satisfactorily4 ,let the weight on each of the masses be doubled1 and the shafts doubled in area1 then we shall have such arrangements as those at c1 c#b1 c#c2 and if again the shafts and weight be doubled1 we shall have d1 d#b1 d#c4 ,,xiv4 ,now it will at once be observed that the arrangement of the shafts in the series of ,b and ,c is always exactly the same in their relations to each other2 only the group of ,b is set evenly1 and the group of ,c is set obliquely1--the one carrying a square1 the other a cross4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xv4 ,you have in these two series the primal representations of shaft arrangement in the ,southern and ,northern schools2 while the group b1 of which b#b is the double1 set evenly1 and c#b the double1 set obliquely1 is common to both4 ,the reader will be surprised to find how all the complex and varied forms of shaft arrangement will range themselves into one or other of these groups2 and still more surprised to find the oblique or cross set system on the one hand1 and the square set system on the other1 severally distinctive of ,southern and ,northern work4 ,the dome of ,st4 ,mark's1 and the crossing of the nave and transepts of ,beauvais1 are both carried by square piers2 but the piers of ,st4 ,mark's are set square to the walls of the church1 and those of ,beauvais obliquely to them3 and this difference is even a more essential one than that between the smooth surface of the one and the reedy complication of the other4 ,the two squares here in the margin 7,fig4 ,,xv47 are exactly of the same size1 but their expression is altogether different1 and in that difference lies one of the most subtle distinctions between the ,gothic and ,greek spirit1--from the shaft1 which bears the building1 to the smallest decoration4 ,the ,greek square is by preference set evenly1 the ,gothic square obliquely2 and that so constantly1 that wherever we find the level or even square occurring as a prevailing form1 either in plan or decoration1 in early northern work1 there we may at least suspect the presence of a southern or ,greek influence2 and1 on the other hand1 wherever the oblique square is prominent in the south1 we may confidently look for farther evidence of the influence of the ,gothic architects4 ,the rule must not of course be pressed far when1 in either school1 there has been determined search for every possible variety of decorative figures2 and accidental circumstances may reverse the usual system in special cases2 but the evidence drawn from this character is collaterally of the highest value1 and the tracing it out is a pursuit of singular interest4 ,thus1 the ,pisan ,romanesque might in an instant be pronounced to have been formed under some measure of ,lombardic influence1 from the oblique squares set under its arches2 and in it we have the spirit of northern ,gothic affecting details of the southern2--obliquity of square1 in magnificently shafted ,romanesque4 ,at ,monza1 on the other hand1 the levelled square is the characteristic figure of the entire decoration of the faade of the ,duomo1 eminently giving it southern character2 but the details are derived almost entirely from the northern ,gothic4 ,here then we have southern spirit and northern detail4 ,of the cruciform outline of the load of the shaft1 a still more positive test of northern work1 we shall have more to say in the #bhth ,chapter2 we must at present note certain farther changes in the form of the grouped shaft1 which open the way to every branch of its endless combinations1 southern or northern4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xvi4 ,,xv4 #a4 ,if the group at d#c1 ,fig4 ,,xiv41 be taken from under its loading1 and have its centre filled up1 it will become a quatrefoil2 and it will represent1 in their form of most frequent occurrence1 a family of shafts1 whose plans are foiled figures1 trefoils1 quatrefoils1 cinquefoils1 c42 of which a trefoiled example1 from the ,frari at ,venice1 is the third in ,plate ,,ii41 and a quatrefoil from ,salisbury the eighth4 ,it is rare1 however1 to find in ,gothic architecture shafts of this family composed of a large number of foils1 because multifoiled shafts are seldom true grouped shafts1 but are rather canaliculated conditions of massy piers4 ,the representatives of this family may be considered as the quatrefoil on the ,gothic side of the ,alps2 and the ,egyptian multifoiled shaft on the south1 approximating to the general type1 b1 ,fig4 ,,xvi4 ,,xvi4 ,exactly opposed to this great family is that of shafts which have concave curves instead of convex on each of their sides2 but these are not1 properly speaking1 grouped shafts at all1 and their proper place is among decorated piers2 only they must be named here in order to mark their exact opposition to the foiled system4 ,in their simplest form1 represented by c1 ,fig4 ,,xvi41 they have no representatives in good architecture1 being evidently weak and meagre2 but approximations to them exist in late ,gothic1 as in the vile cathedral of ,orleans1 and in modern cast-iron shafts4 ,in their fully developed form they are the ,greek ,doric1 a1 ,fig4 ,,xvi41 and occur in caprices of the ,romanesque and ,italian ,gothic3 d1 ,fig4 ,,xvi41 is from the ,duomo of ,monza4 ,,xvii4 #b4 ,between c#c and d#c of ,fig4 ,,xiv4 there may be evidently another condition1 represented at #f1 ,plate ,,ii41 and formed by the insertion of a central shaft within the four external ones4 ,this central shaft we may suppose to expand in proportion to the weight it has to carry4 ,if the external shafts expand in the same proportion1 the entire form remains unchanged2 but if they do not expand1 they may 7#a7 be pushed out by the expanding shaft1 or 7#b7 be gradually swallowed up in its expansion1 as at #d1 ,plate ,,ii4 ,if they are pushed out1 they are removed farther from each other by every increase of the central shaft2 and others may then be introduced in the vacant spaces2 giving1 on the plan1 a central orb with an ever increasing host of satellites1 #aj1 ,plate ,,ii42 the satellites themselves often varying in size1 and perhaps quitting contact with the central shaft4 ,suppose them in any of their conditions fixed1 while the inner shaft expands1 and they will be gradually buried in it1 forming more complicated conditions of #d1 ,plate ,,ii4 ,the combinations are thus altogether infinite1 even supposing the central shaft to be circular only2 but their infinity is multiplied by many other infinities when the central shaft itself becomes square or crosslet on the section1 or itself multifoiled 7#h1 ,plate ,,ii47 with satellite shafts eddying about its recesses and angles1 in every possible relation of attraction4 ,among these endless conditions of change1 the choice of the architect is free1 this only being generally noted3 that1 as the whole value of such piers depends1 first1 upon their being wisely fitted to the weight above them1 and1 secondly1 upon their all working together3 and one not failing the rest1 perhaps to the ruin of all1 he must never multiply shafts without visible cause in the disposition of members superimposed3#da and in his multiplied group he should1 if possible1 avoid a marked separation between the large central shaft and its satellites2 for if this exist1 the satellites will either appear useless altogether1 or else1 which is worse1 they will look as if they were meant to keep the central shaft together by wiring or caging it in2 like iron rods set round a supple cylinder1--a fatal fault in the piers of ,westminster ,abbey1 and1 in a less degree1 in the noble nave of the cathedral of ,bourges4 ,,xviii4 ,while1 however1 we have been thus subdividing or assembling our shafts1 how far has it been possible to retain their curved or tapered outline8 ,so long as they remain distinct and equal1 however close to each other1 the independent curvature may evidently be retained4 ,but when once they come in contact1 it is equally evident that a column1 formed of shafts touching at the base and separate at the top1 would appear as if in the very act of splitting asunder4 ,hence1 in all the closely arranged groups1 and especially those with a central shaft1 the tapering is sacrificed2 and with less cause for regret1 because it was a provision against subsidence or distortion1 which cannot now take place with the separate members of the group4 ,evidently1 the work1 if safe at all1 must be executed with far greater accuracy and stability when its supports are so delicately arranged1 than would be implied by such precaution4 ,in grouping shafts1 therefore1 a true perpendicular line is1 in nearly all cases1 given to the pier2 and the reader will anticipate that the two schools1 which we have already found to be distinguished1 the one by its perpendicular and pieced shafts1 and the other by its curved and block shafts1 will be found divided also in their employment of grouped shafts2--it is likely that the idea of grouping1 however suggested1 will be fully entertained and acted upon by the one1 but hesitatingly by the other2 and that we shall find1 on the one hand1 buildings displaying sometimes massy piers of small stones1 sometimes clustered piers of rich complexity1 and on the other1 more or less regular succession of block shafts1 each treated as entirely independent of those around it4 ,,xix4 ,farther1 the grouping of shafts once admitted1 it is probable that the complexity and richness of such arrangements would recommend them to the eye1 and induce their frequent1 even their unnecessary introduction2 so that weight which might have been borne by a single pillar1 would be in preference supported by four or five4 ,and if the stone of the country1 whose fragmentary character first occasioned the building and piecing of the large pier1 were yet in beds consistent enough to supply shafts of very small diameter1 the strength and simplicity of such a construction might justify it1 as well as its grace4 ,the fact1 however1 is that the charm which the multiplication of line possesses for the eye has always been one of the chief ends of the work in the grouped schools2 and that1 so far from employing the grouped piers in order to the introduction of very slender block shafts1 the most common form in which such piers occur is that of a solid jointed shaft1 each joint being separately cut into the contour of the group required4 ,,xx4 ,we have hitherto supposed that all grouped or clustered shafts have been the result or the expression of an actual gathering and binding together of detached shafts4 ,this is not1 however1 always so3 for some clustered shafts are little more than solid piers channelled on the surface1 and their form appears to be merely the development of some longitudinal furrowing or striation on the original single shaft4 ,that clustering or striation1 whichever we choose to call it1 is in this case a decorative feature1 and to be considered under the head of decoration4 ,,xxi4 ,it must be evident to the reader at a glance1 that the real serviceableness of any of these grouped arrangements must depend upon the relative shortness of the shafts1 and that1 when the whole pier is so lofty that its minor members become mere reeds or rods of stone1 those minor members can no longer be charged with any considerable weight4 ,and the fact is1 that in the most complicated ,gothic arrangements1 when the pier is tall and its satellites stand clear of it1 no real work is given them to do1 and they might all be removed without endangering the building4 ,they are merely the expression of a great consistent system1 and are in architecture what is often found in animal anatomy1--a bone1 or process of a bone1 useless1 under the ordained circumstances of its life1 to the particular animal in which it is found1 and slightly developed1 but yet distinctly existent1 and representing1 for the sake of absolute consistency1 the same bone in its appointed1 and generally useful1 place1 either in skeletons of all animals1 or in the genus to which the animal itself belongs4 ,,xxii4 ,farther3 as it is not easy to obtain pieces of stone long enough for these supplementary shafts 7especially as it is always unsafe to lay a stratified stone with its beds upright7 they have been frequently composed of two or more short shafts set upon each other1 and to conceal the unsightly junction1 a flat stone has been interposed1 carved into certain mouldings1 which have the appearance of a ring on the shaft4 ,now observe3 the whole pier was the gathering of the whole wall1 the base gathers into base1 the veil into the shaft1 and the string courses of the veil gather into these rings2 and when this is clearly expressed1 and the rings do indeed correspond with the string courses of the wall veil1 they are perfectly admissible and even beautiful2 but otherwise1 and occurring1 as they do in the shafts of ,westminster1 in the middle of continuous lines1 they are but sorry make-shifts1 and of late since gas has been invented1 have become especially offensive from their unlucky resemblance to the joints of gas-pipes1 or common water-pipes4 ,there are two leaden ones1 for instance1 on the left hand as one enters the abbey at ,poet's ,corner1 with their solderings and funnels looking exactly like rings and capitals1 and most disrespectfully mimicking the shafts of the abbey1 inside4 ,thus far we have traced the probable conditions of shaft structure in pure theory2 ,i shall now lay before the reader a brief statement of the facts of the thing in time past and present4 ,,xxiii4 ,in the earliest and grandest shaft architecture which we know1 that of ,egypt1 we have no grouped arrangements1 properly so called1 but either single and smooth shafts1 or richly reeded and furrowed shafts1 which represent the extreme conditions of a complicated group bound together to sustain a single mass2 and are indeed1 without doubt1 nothing else than imitations of bundles of reeds1 or of clusters of lotus3#db but in these shafts there is merely the idea of a group1 not the actual function or structure of a group2 they are just as much solid and simple shafts as those which are smooth1 and merely by the method of their decoration present to the eye the image of a richly complex arrangement4 ,,xxiv4 ,after these we have the ,greek shaft1 less in scale1 and losing all suggestion or purpose of suggestion of complexity1 its so-called flutings being1 visibly as actually1 an external decoration4 ,,xxv4 ,the idea of the shaft remains absolutely single in the ,roman and ,byzantine mind2 but true grouping begins in ,christian architecture by the placing of two or more separate shafts side by side1 each having its own work to do2 then three or four1 still with separate work2 then1 by such steps as those above theoretically pursued1 the number of the members increases1 while they coagulate into a single mass2 and we have finally a shaft apparently composed of thirty1 forty1 fifty1 or more distinct members2 a shaft which1 in the reality of its service1 is as much a single shaft as the old ,egyptian one2 but which differs from the ,egyptian in that all its members1 how many soever1 have each individual work to do1 and a separate rib of arch or roof to carry3 and thus the great ,christian truth of distinct services of the individual soul is typified in the ,christian shaft2 and the old ,egyptian servitude of the multitudes1 the servitude inseparable from the children of ,ham1 is typified also in that ancient shaft of the ,egyptians1 which in its gathered strength of the river reeds1 seems1 as the sands of the desert drift over its ruin1 to be intended to remind us for ever of the end of the association of the wicked4 ,can the rush grow up without mire1 or the flag grow without water8--,so are the paths of all that forget ,god2 and the hypocrite's hope shall perish4 ,,xxvi4 ,let the reader then keep this distinction of the three systems clearly in his mind3 ,egyptian system1 an apparent cluster supporting a simple capital and single weight2 ,greek and ,roman system1 single shaft1 single weight2 ,gothic system1 divided shafts1 divided weight3 at first actually and simply divided1 at last apparently and infinitely divided2 so that the fully formed ,gothic shaft is a return to the ,egyptian1 but the weight is divided in the one and undivided in the other4 ,,xxvii4 ,the transition from the actual to the apparent cluster1 in the ,gothic1 is a question of the most curious interest2 ,i have thrown together the shaft sections in ,plate ,,ii4 to illustrate it1 and exemplify what has been generally stated above4#dc ,illustration3 ,plate ,,ii4 ,,plans ,,of ,,piers4 #a4 ,the earliest1 the most frequent1 perhaps the most beautiful of all the groups1 is also the simplest2 the two shafts arranged as at b or c1 7,fig4 ,,xiv47 above1 bearing an oblong mass1 and substituted for the still earlier structure a1 ,fig4 ,,xiv4 ,in ,plate ,,xvii4 7,chap4 ,,xxvii47 are three examples of the transition3 the one on the left1 at the top1 is the earliest single-shafted arrangement1 constant in the rough ,romanesque windows2 a huge hammer-shaped capital being employed to sustain the thickness of the wall4 ,it was rapidly superseded by the double shaft1 as on the right of it2 a very early example from the cloisters of the ,duomo1 ,verona4 ,beneath1 is a most elaborate and perfect one from ,st4 ,zeno of ,verona1 where the group is twice complicated1 two shafts being used1 both with quatrefoil sections4 ,the plain double shaft1 however1 is by far the most frequent1 both in the ,northern and ,southern ,gothic1 but for the most part early2 it is very frequent in cloisters1 and in the singular one of ,st4 ,michael's ,mount1 ,normandy1 a small pseudo-arcade runs along between the pairs of shafts1 a miniature aisle4 ,the group is employed on a magnificent scale1 but ill proportioned1 for the main piers of the apse of the cathedral of ,coutances1 its purpose being to conceal one shaft behind the other1 and make it appear to the spectator from the nave as if the apse were sustained by single shafts1 of inordinate slenderness4 ,the attempt is ill-judged1 and the result unsatisfactory4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xvii4 ,,xxviii4 #b4 ,when these pairs of shafts come near each other1 as frequently at the turnings of angles 7,fig4 ,,xvii471 the quadruple group results1 b #b1 ,fig4 ,,xiv41 of which the ,lombardic sculptors were excessively fond1 usually tying the shafts together in their centre1 in a lover's knot4 ,they thus occur in ,plate ,v41 from the ,broletto of ,como2 at the angle of ,st4 ,michele of ,lucca1 ,plate ,,xxi42 and in the balustrade of ,st4 ,mark's4 ,this is a group1 however1 which ,i have never seen used on a large scale4#dd ,,xxix4 #c4 ,such groups1 consolidated by a small square in their centre1 form the shafts of ,st4 ,zeno1 just spoken of1 and figured in ,plate ,,xvii41 which are among the most interesting pieces of work ,i know in ,italy4 ,i give their entire arrangement in ,fig4 ,,xviii43 both shafts have the same section1 but one receives a half turn as it ascends1 giving it an exquisite spiral contour3 the plan of their bases1 with their plinth1 is given at #b1 ,plate ,,ii42 and note it carefully1 for it is an epitome of all that we observed above1 respecting the oblique and even square4 ,it was asserted that the oblique belonged to the north1 the even to the south3 we have here the northern ,lombardic nation naturalised in ,italy1 and1 behold1 the oblique and even quatrefoil linked together2 not confused1 but actually linked by a bar of stone1 as seen in ,plate ,,xvii41 under the capitals4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xviii4 #d4 ,next to these1 observe the two groups of five shafts each1 #e and #f1 ,plate ,,ii41 one oblique1 the other even4 ,both are from upper stories2 the oblique one from the triforium of ,salisbury2 the even one from the upper range of shafts in the faade of ,st4 ,mark's at ,venice4#de ,,xxx4 ,around these central types are grouped1 in ,plate ,,ii41 four simple examples of the satellitic cluster1 all of the ,northern ,gothic3 #d1 from the ,cathedral of ,amiens2 #g1 from that of ,lyons 7nave pier72 #h1 the same from ,salisbury2 #aj1 from the porch of ,notre ,dame1 ,dijon1 having satellites of three magnitudes3 #i is one of the piers between the doors of the same church1 with shafts of four magnitudes1 and is an instance of the confusion of mind of the ,northern architects between piers proper and jamb mouldings 7noticed farther in the next chapter1 ,,xxxi473 for this fig4 #i1 which is an angle at the meeting of two jambs1 is treated like a rich independent shaft1 and the figure below1 #ab1 which is half of a true shaft1 is treated like a meeting of jambs4 ,all these four examples belonging to the oblique or ,northern system1 the curious trefoil plan1 #c1 lies between the two1 as the double quatrefoil next it unites the two4 ,the trefoil is from the ,frari1 ,venice1 and has a richly worked capital in the ,byzantine manner1--an imitation1 ,i think1 of the ,byzantine work by the ,gothic builders3 #a is to be compared with it1 being one of the earliest conditions of the cross shaft1 from the atrium of ,st4 ,ambrogio at ,milan4 #ac is the nave pier of ,st4 ,michele at ,pavia1 showing the same condition more fully developed3 and #aa another nave pier from ,vienne1 on the ,rhone1 of far more distinct ,roman derivation1 for the flat pilaster is set to the nave1 and is fluted like an antique one4 #ab is the grandest development ,i have ever seen of the cross shaft1 with satellite shafts in the nooks of it3 it is half of one of the great western piers of the cathedral of ,bourges1 measuring eight feet each side1 thirty-two round4#df ,then the one below 7#ae7 is half of a nave pier of ,rouen ,cathedral1 showing the mode in which such conditions as that of ,dijon 7#i7 and that of ,bourges 7#ab7 were fused together into forms of inextricable complexity 7inextricable ,i mean in the irregularity of proportion and projection1 for all of them are easily resolvable into simple systems in connexion with the roof ribs74 ,this pier of ,rouen is a type of the last condition of the good ,gothic2 from this point the small shafts begin to lose shape1 and run into narrow fillets and ridges1 projecting at the same time farther and farther in weak tongue-like sections1 as described in the ,seven ,lamps4 ,i have only here given one example of this family1 an unimportant but sufficiently characteristic one 7#af7 from ,st4 ,gervais of ,falaise4 ,one side of the nave of that church is ,norman1 the other ,flamboyant1 and the two piers #ad and #af stand opposite each other4 ,it would be useless to endeavor to trace farther the fantasticism of the later ,gothic shafts2 they become mere aggregations of mouldings very sharply and finely cut1 their bases at the same time running together in strange complexity and their capitals diminishing and disappearing4 ,some of their conditions1 which1 in their rich striation1 resemble crystals of beryl1 are very massy and grand2 others1 meagre1 harsh1 or effeminate in themselves1 are redeemed by richness and boldness of decoration2 and ,i have long had it in my mind to reason out the entire harmony of this ,french ,flamboyant system1 and fix its types and possible power4 ,but this inquiry is foreign altogether to our present purpose1 and we shall therefore turn back from the ,flamboyant to the ,norman side of the ,falaise aisle1 resolute for the future that all shafts of which we may have the ordering1 shall be permitted1 as with wisdom we may also permit men or cities1 to gather themselves into companies1 or constellate themselves into clusters1 but not to fuse themselves into mere masses of nebulous aggregation4 ,,footnotes3 #ch ,in saying this1 it is assumed that the interval is one which is to be traversed by men2 and that a certain relation of the shafts and intervals to the size of the human figure is therefore necessary4 ,when shafts are used in the upper stories of buildings1 or on a scale which ignores all relation to the human figure1 no such relative limits exist either to slenderness or solidity4 #ci ,vide the interesting discussion of this point in ,mr4 ,fergusson's account of the ,temple of ,karnak1 ,principles of ,beauty in ,art1 p4 #bai4 #dj ,i have assumed that the strength of similar shafts of equal height is as the squares of their diameters2 which1 though not actually a correct expression1 is sufficiently so for all our present purposes4 #da ,how far this condition limits the system of shaft grouping we shall see presently4 ,the reader must remember1 that we at present reason respecting shafts in the abstract only4 #db ,the capitals being formed by the flowers1 or by a representation of the bulging out of the reeds at the top1 under the weight of the architrave4 #dc ,i have not been at the pains to draw the complicated piers in this plate with absolute exactitude to the scale of each3 they are accurate enough for their purpose3 those of them respecting which we shall have farther question will be given on a much larger scale4 #dd ,the largest ,i remember support a monument in ,st4 ,zeno of ,verona2 they are of red marble1 some ten or twelve feet high4 #de ,the effect of this last is given in ,plate ,,vi4 of the folio series4 #df ,the entire development of this cross system in connexion with the vaulting ribs1 has been most clearly explained by ,professor ,willis 7,architecture of ,mid4 ,ages1 ,chap4 ,,iv472 and ,i strongly recommend every reader who is inclined to take pains in the matter1 to read that chapter4 ,i have been contented1 in my own text1 to pursue the abstract idea of shaft form4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,capital4 ,i4 ,the reader will remember that in ,chap4 ,,vii4 ,v4 it was said that the cornice of the wall1 being cut to pieces and gathered together1 formed the capital of the column4 ,we have now to follow it in its transformation4 ,we must1 of course1 take our simplest form or root of cornices 7a1 in ,fig4 ,v41 above74 ,we will take ,x and ,y there1 and we must necessarily gather them together as we did ,xb and ,yb in ,chap4 ,,vii4 ,look back to the tenth paragraph of ,chap4 ,,vii41 read or glance it over again1 substitute ,x and ,y for ,xb and ,yb1 read capital for base1 and1 as we said that the capital was the hand of the pillar1 while the base was its foot1 read also fingers for toes2 and as you look to the plate1 ,fig4 ,,xii41 turn it upside down4 ,then h1 in ,fig4 ,,xii41 becomes now your best general form of block capital1 as before of block base4 ,,ii4 ,you will thus have a perfect idea of the analogies between base and capital2 our farther inquiry is into their differences4 ,you cannot but have noticed that when ,fig4 ,,xii4 is turned upside down1 the square stone 7,y7 looks too heavy for the supporting stone 7,x72 and that in the profile of cornice 7a of ,fig4 ,v47 the proportions are altogether different4 ,you will feel the fitness of this in an instant when you consider that the principal function of the sloping part in ,fig4 ,,xii4 is as a prop to the pillar to keep it from slipping aside2 but the function of the sloping stone in the cornice and capital is to carry weight above4 ,the thrust of the slope in the one case should therefore be lateral1 in the other upwards4 ,,iii4 ,we will1 therefore1 take the two figures1 e and h of ,fig4 ,,xii41 and make this change in them as we reverse them1 using now the exact profile of the cornice a1--the father of cornices2 and we shall thus have a and b1 ,fig4 ,,xix4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xix4 ,both of these are sufficiently ugly1 the reader thinks2 so do ,i2 but we will mend them before we have done with them3 that at a is assuredly the ugliest1--like a tile on a flower-pot4 ,it is1 nevertheless1 the father of capitals2 being the simplest condition of the gathered father of cornices4 ,but it is to be observed that the diameter of the shaft here is arbitrarily assumed to be small1 in order more clearly to show the general relations of the sloping stone to the shaft and upper stone2 and this smallness of the shaft diameter is inconsistent with the serviceableness and beauty of the arrangement at a1 if it were to be realised 7as we shall see presently72 but it is not inconsistent with its central character1 as the representative of every species of possible capital2 nor is its tile and flower-pot look to be regretted1 as it may remind the reader of the reported origin of the ,corinthian capital4 ,the stones of the cornice1 hitherto called ,x and ,y1 receive1 now that they form the capital1 each a separate name2 the sloping stone is called the ,bell of the capital1 and that laid above it1 the ,abacus4 ,abacus means a board or tile3 ,i wish there were an ,english word for it1 but ,i fear there is no substitution possible1 the term having been long fixed1 and the reader will find it convenient to familiarise himself with the ,latin one4 ,,iv4 ,the form of base1 e of ,fig4 ,,xii41 which corresponds to this first form of capital1 a1 was said to be objectionable only because it looked insecure2 and the spurs were added as a kind of pledge of stability to the eye4 ,but evidently the projecting corners of the abacus at a1 ,fig4 ,,xix41 are actually insecure2 they may break off1 if great weight be laid upon them4 ,this is the chief reason of the ugliness of the form2 and the spurs in b are now no mere pledges of apparent stability1 but have very serious practical use in supporting the angle of the abacus4 ,if1 even with the added spur1 the support seems insufficient1 we may fill up the crannies between the spurs and the bell1 and we have the form c4 ,thus a1 though the germ and type of capitals1 is itself 7except under some peculiar conditions7 both ugly and insecure2 b is the first type of capitals which carry light weight2 c1 of capitals which carry excessive weight4 ,v4 ,i fear1 however1 the reader may think he is going slightly too fast1 and may not like having the capital forced upon him out of the cornice2 but would prefer inventing a capital for the shaft itself1 without reference to the cornice at all4 ,we will do so then2 though we shall come to the same result4 ,the shaft1 it will be remembered1 has to sustain the same weight as the long piece of wall which was concentrated into the shaft2 it is enabled to do this both by its better form and better knit materials2 and it can carry a greater weight than the space at the top of it is adapted to receive4 ,the first point1 therefore1 is to expand this space as far as possible1 and that in a form more convenient than the circle for the adjustment of the stones above4 ,in general the square is a more convenient form than any other2 but the hexagon or octagon is sometimes better fitted for masses of work which divide in six or eight directions4 ,then our first impulse would be to put a square or hexagonal stone on the top of the shaft1 projecting as far beyond it as might be safely ventured2 as at a1 ,fig4 ,,xx4 ,this is the abacus4 ,our next idea would be to put a conical shaped stone beneath this abacus1 to support its outer edge1 as at b4 ,this is the bell4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xx4 ,,vi4 ,now the entire treatment of the capital depends simply on the manner in which this bell-stone is prepared for fitting the shaft below and the abacus above4 ,placed as at a1 in ,fig4 ,,xix41 it gives us the simplest of possible forms2 with the spurs added1 as at b1 it gives the germ of the richest and most elaborate forms3 but there are two modes of treatment more dexterous than the one1 and less elaborate than the other1 which are of the highest possible importance1--modes in which the bell is brought to its proper form by truncation4 ,,vii4 ,let d and f1 ,fig4 ,,xix41 be two bell-stones2 d is part of a cone 7a sugar-loaf upside down1 with its point cut off72 f part of a four-sided pyramid4 ,then1 assuming the abacus to be square1 d will already fit the shaft1 but has to be chiselled to fit the abacus2 f will already fit the abacus1 but has to be chiselled to fit the shaft4 ,from the broad end of d chop or chisel off1 in four vertical planes1 as much as will leave its head an exact square4 ,the vertical cuttings will form curves on the sides of the cone 7curves of a curious kind1 which the reader need not be troubled to examine71 and we shall have the form at e1 which is the root of the greater number of ,norman capitals4 ,from f cut off the angles1 beginning at the corners of the square and widening the truncation downwards1 so as to give the form at g1 where the base of the bell is an octagon1 and its top remains a square4 ,a very slight rounding away of the angles of the octagon at the base of g will enable it to fit the circular shaft closely enough for all practical purposes1 and this form1 at g1 is the root of nearly all ,lombardic capitals4 ,if1 instead of a square1 the head of the bell were hexagonal or octagonal1 the operation of cutting would be the same on each angle2 but there would be produced1 of course1 six or eight curves on the sides of e1 and twelve or sixteen sides to the base of g4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxi4 ,,viii4 ,the truncations in e and g may of course be executed on concave or convex forms of d and f2 but e is usually worked on a straight-sided bell1 and the truncation of g often becomes concave while the bell remains straight2 for this simple reason1--that the sharp points at the angles of g1 being somewhat difficult to cut1 and easily broken off1 are usually avoided by beginning the truncation a little way down the side of the bell1 and then recovering the lost ground by a deeper cut inwards1 as here1 ,fig4 ,,xxi4 ,this is the actual form of the capitals of the balustrades of ,st4 ,mark's3 it is the root of all the ,byzantine ,arab capitals1 and of all the most beautiful capitals in the world1 whose function is to express lightness4 ,,ix4 ,we have hitherto proceeded entirely on the assumption that the form of cornice which was gathered together to produce the capital was the root of cornices1 a of ,fig4 ,v4 ,but this1 it will be remembered1 was said in ,,vi4 of ,chap4 ,,vi4 to be especially characteristic of southern work1 and that in northern and wet climates it took the form of a dripstone4 ,accordingly1 in the northern climates1 the dripstone gathered together forms a peculiar northern capital1 commonly called the ,early ,english1#dg owing to its especial use in that style4 ,there would have been no absurdity in this if shafts were always to be exposed to the weather2 but in ,gothic constructions the most important shafts are in the inside of the building4 ,the dripstone sections of their capitals are therefore unnecessary and ridiculous4 ,x4 ,they are1 however1 much worse than unnecessary4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxii4 ,the edge of the dripstone1 being undercut1 has no bearing power1 and the capital fails1 therefore1 in its own principal function2 and besides this1 the undercut contour admits of no distinctly visible decoration2 it is1 therefore1 left utterly barren1 and the capital looks as if it had been turned in a lathe4 ,the ,early ,english capital has1 therefore1 the three greatest faults that any design can have3 7#a7 it fails in its own proper purpose1 that of support2 7#b7 it is adapted to a purpose to which it can never be put1 that of keeping off rain2 7#c7 it cannot be decorated4 ,the ,early ,english capital is1 therefore1 a barbarism of triple grossness1 and degrades the style in which it is found1 otherwise very noble1 to one of second-rate order4 ,,xi4 ,dismissing1 therefore1 the ,early ,english capital1 as deserving no place in our system1 let us reassemble in one view the forms which have been legitimately developed1 and which are to become hereafter subjects of decoration4 ,to the forms a1 b1 and c1 ,fig4 ,,xix41 we must add the two simplest truncated forms e and g1 ,fig4 ,,xix41 putting their abaci on them 7as we considered their contours in the bells only71 and we shall have the five forms now given in parallel perspective in ,fig4 ,,xxii41 which are the roots of all good capitals existing1 or capable of existence1 and whose variations1 infinite and a thousand times infinite1 are all produced by introduction of various curvatures into their contours1 and the endless methods of decoration superinduced on such curvatures4 ,,xii4 ,there is1 however1 a kind of variation1 also infinite1 which takes place in these radical forms1 before they receive either curvature or decoration4 ,this is the variety of proportion borne by the different lines of the capital to each other1 and to the shafts4 ,this is a structural question1 at present to be considered as far as is possible4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxiii4 ,,xiii4 ,all the five capitals 7which are indeed five orders with legitimate distinction2 very different1 however1 from the five orders as commonly understood7 may be represented by the same profile1 a section through the sides of a1 b1 d1 and e1 or through the angles of c1 ,fig4 ,,xxii4 ,this profile we will put on the top of a shaft1 as at ,a1 ,fig4 ,,xxiii41 which shaft we will suppose of equal diameter above and below for the sake of greater simplicity3 in this simplest condition1 however1 relations of proportion exist between five quantities1 any one or any two1 or any three1 or any four of which may change1 irrespective of the others4 ,these five quantities are3 #a4 ,the height of the shaft1 a b2 #b4 ,its diameter1 b c2 #c4 ,the length of slope of bell1 b d2 #d4 ,the inclination of this slope1 or angle c b d2 #e4 ,the depth of abacus1 d e4 ,for every change in any one of these quantities we have a new proportion of capital3 five infinities1 supposing change only in one quantity at a time3 infinity of infinities in the sum of possible changes4 ,it is1 therefore1 only possible to note the general laws of change2 every scale of pillar1 and every weight laid upon it admitting1 within certain limits1 a variety out of which the architect has his choice2 but yet fixing limits which the proportion becomes ugly when it approaches1 and dangerous when it exceeds4 ,but the inquiry into this subject is too difficult for the general reader1 and ,i shall content myself with proving four laws1 easily understood and generally applicable2 for proof of which if the said reader care not1 he may miss the next four paragraphs without harm4 ,,xiv4 #a4 ,the more slender the shaft1 the greater1 proportionally1 may be the projection of the abacus4 ,for1 looking back to ,fig4 ,,xxiii41 let the height a b be fixed1 the length d b1 the angle d b c1 and the depth d e4 ,let the single quantity b c be variable1 let ,b be a capital and shaft which are found to be perfectly safe in proportion to the weight they bear1 and let the weight be equally distributed over the whole of the abacus4 ,then this weight may be represented by any number of equal divisions1 suppose four1 as l1 m1 n1 r1 of brickwork above1 of which each division is one fourth of the whole weight2 and let this weight be placed in the most trying way on the abacus1 that is to say1 let the masses l and r be detached from m and n1 and bear with their full weight on the outside of the capital4 ,we assume1 in ,b1 that the width of abacus e f is twice as great as that of the shaft1 b c1 and on these conditions we assume the capital to be safe4 ,but b c is allowed to be variable4 ,let it become b#b c#b at ,c1 which is a length representing about the diameter of a shaft containing half the substance of the shaft ,b1 and1 therefore1 able to sustain not more than half the weight sustained by ,b4 ,but the slope b d and depth d e remaining unchanged1 we have the capital of ,c1 which we are to load with only half the weight of l1 m1 n1 r1 i4e41 with l and r alone4 ,therefore the weight of l and r1 now represented by the masses l#b1 r#b1 is distributed over the whole of the capital4 ,but the weight r was adequately supported by the projecting piece of the first capital h f c3 much more is it now adequately supported by i h1 f#b c#b4 ,therefore1 if the capital of ,b was safe1 that of ,c is more than safe4 ,now in ,b the length e f was only twice b c2 but in ,c1 e#b f#b will be found more than twice that of b#b c#b4 ,therefore1 the more slender the shaft1 the greater may be the proportional excess of the abacus over its diameter4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxiv4 ,,xv4 #b4 ,the smaller the scale of the building1 the greater may be the excess of the abacus over the diameter of the shaft4 ,this principle requires1 ,i think1 no very lengthy proof3 the reader can understand at once that the cohesion and strength of stone which can sustain a small projecting mass1 will not sustain a vast one overhanging in the same proportion4 ,a bank even of loose earth1 six feet high1 will sometimes overhang its base a foot or two1 as you may see any day in the gravelly banks of the lanes of ,hampstead3 but make the bank of gravel1 equally loose1 six hundred feet high1 and see if you can get it to overhang a hundred or two6 much more if there be weight above it increased in the same proportion4 ,hence1 let any capital be given1 whose projection is just safe1 and no more1 on its existing scale2 increase its proportions every way equally1 though ever so little1 and it is unsafe2 diminish them equally1 and it becomes safe in the exact degree of the diminution4 ,let1 then1 the quantity e d1 and angle d b c1 at ,a of ,fig4 ,,xxiii41 be invariable1 and let the length d b vary3 then we shall have such a series of forms as may be represented by a1 b1 c1 ,fig4 ,,xxiv41 of which a is a proportion for a colossal building1 b for a moderately sized building1 while c could only be admitted on a very small scale indeed4 ,,xvi4 #c4 ,the greater the excess of abacus1 the steeper must be the slope of the bell1 the shaft diameter being constant4 ,this will evidently follow from the considerations in the last paragraph2 supposing only that1 instead of the scale of shaft and capital varying together1 the scale of the capital varies alone4 ,for it will then still be true1 that1 if the projection of the capital be just safe on a given scale1 as its excess over the shaft diameter increases1 the projection will be unsafe1 if the slope of the bell remain constant4 ,but it may be rendered safe by making this slope steeper1 and so increasing its supporting power4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxv4 ,thus let the capital a1 ,fig4 ,,xxv41 be just safe4 ,then the capital b1 in which the slope is the same but the excess greater1 is unsafe4 ,but the capital c1 in which1 though the excess equals that of b1 the steepness of the supporting slope is increased1 will be as safe as b1 and probably as strong as a4#dh ,,xvii4 #d4 ,the steeper the slope of the bell1 the thinner may be the abacus4 ,the use of the abacus is eminently to equalise the pressure over the surface of the bell1 so that the weight may not by any accident be directed exclusively upon its edges4 ,in proportion to the strength of these edges1 this function of the abacus is superseded1 and these edges are strong in proportion to the steepness of the slope4 ,thus in ,fig4 ,,xxvi41 the bell at a would carry weight safely enough without any abacus1 but that at c would not3 it would probably have its edges broken off4 ,the abacus superimposed might be on a very thin1 little more than formal1 as at b2 but on c must be thick1 as at d4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxvi4 ,,xviii4 ,these four rules are all that are necessary for general criticism2 and observe that these are only semi-imperative1--rules of permission1 not of compulsion4 ,thus ,law #a asserts that the slender shaft may have greater excess of capital than the thick shaft2 but it need not1 unless the architect chooses2 his thick shafts must have small excess1 but his slender ones need not have large4 ,so ,law #b says1 that as the building is smaller1 the excess may be greater2 but it need not1 for the excess which is safe in the large is still safer in the small4 ,so ,law #c says that capitals of great excess must have steep slopes2 but it does not say that capitals of small excess may not have steep slopes also1 if we choose4 ,and lastly1 ,law #d asserts the necessity of the thick abacus for the shallow bell2 but the steep bell may have a thick abacus also4 ,,xix4 ,it will be found1 however1 that in practice some confession of these laws will always be useful1 and especially of the two first4 ,the eye always requires1 on a slender shaft1 a more spreading capital than it does on a massy one1 and a bolder mass of capital on a small scale than on a large4 ,and1 in the application of the first rule1 it is to be noted that a shaft becomes slender either by diminution of diameter or increase of height2 that either mode of change presupposes the weight above it diminished1 and requires an expansion of abacus4 ,i know no mode of spoiling a noble building more frequent in actual practice than the imposition of flat and slightly expanded capitals on tall shafts4 ,,xx4 ,the reader must observe1 also1 that1 in the demonstration of the four laws1 ,i always assumed the weight above to be given4 ,by the alteration of this weight1 therefore1 the architect has it in his power to relieve1 and therefore alter1 the forms of his capitals4 ,by its various distribution on their centres or edges1 the slope of their bells and thickness of abaci will be affected also2 so that he has countless expedients at his command for the various treatment of his design4 ,he can divide his weights among more shafts2 he can throw them in different places and different directions on the abaci2 he can alter slope of bells or diameter of shafts2 he can use spurred or plain bells1 thin or thick abaci2 and all these changes admitting of infinity in their degrees1 and infinity a thousand times told in their relations3 and all this without reference to decoration1 merely with the five forms of block capital6 ,,xxi4 ,in the harmony of these arrangements1 in their fitness1 unity1 and accuracy1 lies the true proportion of every building1--proportion utterly endless in its infinities of change1 with unchanged beauty4 ,and yet this connexion of the frame of their building into one harmony has1 ,i believe1 never been so much as dreamed of by architects4 ,it has been instinctively done in some degree by many1 empirically in some degree by many more2 thoughtfully and thoroughly1 ,i believe1 by none4 ,,xxii4 ,we have hitherto considered the abacus as necessarily a separate stone from the bell3 evidently1 however1 the strength of the capital will be undiminished if both are cut out of one block4 ,this is actually the case in many capitals1 especially those on a small scale2 and in others the detached upper stone is a mere representative of the abacus1 and is much thinner than the form of the capital requires1 while the true abacus is united with the bell1 and concealed by its decoration1 or made part of it4 ,,xxiii4 ,farther4 ,we have hitherto considered bell and abacus as both derived from the concentration of the cornice4 ,but it must at once occur to the reader1 that the projection of the under stone and the thickness of the upper1 which are quite enough for the work of the continuous cornice1 may not be enough always1 or rather are seldom likely to be so1 for the harder work of the capital4 ,both may have to be deepened and expanded3 but as this would cause a want of harmony in the parts1 when they occur on the same level1 it is better in such case to let the entire cornice form the abacus of the capital1 and put a deep capital bell beneath it4 ,,xxiv4 ,the reader will understand both arrangements instantly by two examples4 ,fig4 ,,xxvii4 represents two windows1 more than usually beautiful examples of a very frequent ,venetian form4 ,here the deep cornice or string course which runs along the wall of the house is quite strong enough for the work of the capitals of the slender shafts3 its own upper stone is therefore also theirs2 its own lower stone1 by its revolution or concentration1 forms their bells3 but to mark the increased importance of its function in so doing1 it receives decoration1 as the bell of the capital1 which it did not receive as the under stone of the cornice4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxvii4 ,in ,fig4 ,,xxviii41 a little bit of the church of ,santa ,fosca at ,torcello1 the cornice or string course1 which goes round every part of the church1 is not strong enough to form the capitals of the shafts4 ,it therefore forms their abaci only2 and in order to mark the diminished importance of its function1 it ceases to receive1 as the abacus of the capital1 the decoration which it received as the string course of the wall4 ,this last arrangement is of great frequency in ,venice1 occurring most characteristically in ,st4 ,mark's3 and in the ,gothic of ,st4 ,john and ,paul we find the two arrangements beautifully united1 though in great simplicity2 the string courses of the walls form the capitals of the shafts of the traceries2 and the abaci of the vaulting shafts of the apse4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxviii4 ,,xxv4 ,we have hitherto spoken of capitals of circular shafts only3 those of square piers are more frequently formed by the cornice only2 otherwise they are like those of circular piers1 without the difficulty of reconciling the base of the bell with its head4 ,,xxvi4 ,when two or more shafts are grouped together1 their capitals are usually treated as separate1 until they come into actual contact4 ,if there be any awkwardness in the junction1 it is concealed by the decoration1 and one abacus serves1 in most cases1 for all4 ,the double group1 ,fig4 ,,xxvii41 is the simplest possible type of the arrangement4 ,in the richer ,northern ,gothic groups of eighteen or twenty shafts cluster together1 and sometimes the smaller shafts crouch under the capitals of the larger1 and hide their heads in the crannies1 with small nominal abaci of their own1 while the larger shafts carry the serviceable abacus of the whole pier1 as in the nave of ,rouen4 ,there is1 however1 evident sacrifice of sound principle in this system1 the smaller abaci being of no use4 ,they are the exact contrary of the rude early abacus at ,milan1 given in ,plate ,,xvii4 ,there one poor abacus stretched itself out to do all the work3 here there are idle abaci getting up into corners and doing none4 ,,xxvii4 ,finally1 we have considered the capital hitherto entirely as an expansion of the bearing power of the shaft1 supposing the shaft composed of a single stone4 ,but1 evidently1 the capital has a function1 if possible1 yet more important1 when the shaft is composed of small masonry4 ,it enables all that masonry to act together1 and to receive the pressure from above collectively and with a single strength4 ,and thus1 considered merely as a large stone set on the top of the shaft1 it is a feature of the highest architectural importance1 irrespective of its expansion1 which indeed is1 in some very noble capitals1 exceedingly small4 ,and thus every large stone set at any important point to reassemble the force of smaller masonry and prepare it for the sustaining of weight1 is a capital or head stone 7the true meaning of the word7 whether it project or not4 ,thus at #f1 in ,plate ,,iv41 the stones which support the thrust of the brickwork are capitals1 which have no projection at all2 and the large stones in the window above are capitals projecting in one direction only4 ,,xxviii4 ,the reader is now master of all he need know respecting construction of capitals2 and from what has been laid before him1 must assuredly feel that there can never be any new system of architectural forms invented2 but that all vertical support must be1 to the end of time1 best obtained by shafts and capitals4 ,it has been so obtained by nearly every nation of builders1 with more or less refinement in the management of the details2 and the later ,gothic builders of the ,north stand almost alone in their effort to dispense with the natural development of the shaft1 and banish the capital from their compositions4 ,they were gradually led into this error through a series of steps which it is not here our business to trace4 ,but they may be generalised in a few words4 ,,xxix4 ,all classical architecture1 and the ,romanesque which is legitimately descended from it1 is composed of bold independent shafts1 plain or fluted1 with bold detached capitals1 forming arcades or colonnades where they are needed2 and of walls whose apertures are surrounded by courses of parallel lines called mouldings1 which are continuous round the apertures1 and have neither shafts nor capitals4 ,the shaft system and moulding system are entirely separate4 ,the ,gothic architects confounded the two4 ,they clustered the shafts till they looked like a group of mouldings4 ,they shod and capitaled the mouldings till they looked like a group of shafts4 ,so that a pier became merely the side of a door or window rolled up1 and the side of the window a pier unrolled 7vide last ,chapter1 ,,xxx471 both being composed of a series of small shafts1 each with base and capital4 ,the architect seemed to have whole mats of shafts at his disposal1 like the rush mats which one puts under cream cheese4 ,if he wanted a great pier he rolled up the mat2 if he wanted the side of a door he spread out the mat3 and now the reader has to add to the other distinctions between the ,egyptian and the ,gothic shaft1 already noted in ,,xxvi4 of ,chap4 ,,viii41 this one more--the most important of all--that while the ,egyptian rush cluster has only one massive capital altogether1 the ,gothic rush mat has a separate tiny capital to every several rush4 ,,xxx4 ,the mats were gradually made of finer rushes1 until it became troublesome to give each rush its capital4 ,in fact1 when the groups of shafts became excessively complicated1 the expansion of their small abaci was of no use3 it was dispensed with altogether1 and the mouldings of pier and jamb ran up continuously into the arches4 ,this condition1 though in many respects faulty and false1 is yet the eminently characteristic state of ,gothic3 it is the definite formation of it as a distinct style1 owing no farther aid to classical models2 and its lightness and complexity render it1 when well treated1 and enriched with ,flamboyant decoration1 a very glorious means of picturesque effect4 ,it is1 in fact1 this form of ,gothic which commends itself most easily to the general mind1 and which has suggested the innumerable foolish theories about the derivation of ,gothic from tree trunks and avenues1 which have from time to time been brought forward by persons ignorant of the history of architecture4 ,,xxxi4 ,when the sense of picturesqueness1 as well as that of justness and dignity1 had been lost1 the spring of the continuous mouldings was replaced by what ,professor ,willis calls the ,discontinuous impost2 which1 being a barbarism of the basest and most painful kind1 and being to architecture what the setting of a saw is to music1 ,i shall not trouble the reader to examine4 ,for it is not in my plan to note for him all the various conditions of error1 but only to guide him to the appreciation of the right2 and ,i only note even the true ,continuous or ,flamboyant ,gothic because this is redeemed by its beautiful decoration1 afterwards to be considered4 ,for1 as far as structure is concerned1 the moment the capital vanishes from the shaft1 that moment we are in error3 all good ,gothic has true capitals to the shafts of its jambs and traceries1 and all ,gothic is debased the instant the shaft vanishes4 ,it matters not how slender1 or how small1 or how low1 the shaft may be3 wherever there is indication of concentrated vertical support1 then the capital is a necessary termination4 ,i know how much ,gothic1 otherwise beautiful1 this sweeping principle condemns2 but it condemns not altogether4 ,we may still take delight in its lovely proportions1 its rich decoration1 or its elastic and reedy moulding2 but be assured1 wherever shafts1 or any approximations to the forms of shafts1 are employed1 for whatever office1 or on whatever scale1 be it in jambs or piers1 or balustrades1 or traceries1 without capitals1 there is a defiance of the natural laws of construction2 and that1 wherever such examples are found in ancient buildings1 they are either the experiments of barbarism1 or the commencements of decline4 ,,footnotes3 #dg ,appendix #ai1 ,early ,english ,capitals4 #dh ,in this case the weight borne is supposed to increase as the abacus widens2 the illustration would have been clearer if ,i had assumed the breadth of abacus to be constant1 and that of the shaft to vary4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,the ,,arch ,,line4 ,i4 ,we have seen in the last section how our means of vertical support may1 for the sake of economy both of space and material1 be gathered into piers or shafts1 and directed to the sustaining of particular points4 ,the next question is how to connect these points or tops of shafts with each other1 so as to be able to lay on them a continuous roof4 ,this the reader1 as before1 is to favor me by finding out for himself1 under these following conditions4 ,let s1 s1 ,fig4 ,,xxix4 opposite1 be two shafts1 with their capitals ready prepared for their work2 and a1 b1 b1 and c1 c1 c1 be six stones of different sizes1 one very long and large1 and two smaller1 and three smaller still1 of which the reader is to choose which he likes best1 in order to connect the tops of the shafts4 ,i suppose he will first try if he can lift the great stone a1 and if he can1 he will put it very simply on the tops of the two pillars1 as at ,a4 ,very well indeed3 he has done already what a number of ,greek architects have been thought very clever for having done4 ,but suppose he cannot lift the great stone a1 or suppose ,i will not give it to him1 but only the two smaller stones at b1 b2 he will doubtless try to put them up1 tilted against each other1 as at d4 ,very awkward this2 worse than card-house building4 ,but if he cuts off the corners of the stones1 so as to make each of them of the form e1 they will stand up very securely1 as at ,b4 ,but suppose he cannot lift even these less stones1 but can raise those at c1 c1 c4 ,then1 cutting each of them into the form at e1 he will doubtless set them up as at f4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxix4 ,,ii4 ,this last arrangement looks a little dangerous4 ,is there not a chance of the stone in the middle pushing the others out1 or tilting them up and aside1 and slipping down itself between them8 ,there is such a chance3 and if by somewhat altering the form of the stones1 we can diminish this chance1 all the better4 ,i must say we now1 for perhaps ,i may have to help the reader a little4 ,the danger is1 observe1 that the midmost stone at f pushes out the side ones3 then if we can give the side ones such a shape as that1 left to themselves1 they would fall heavily forward1 they will resist this push out by their weight1 exactly in proportion to their own particular inclination or desire to tumble in4 ,take one of them separately1 standing up as at g2 it is just possible it may stand up as it is1 like the ,tower of ,pisa3 but we want it to fall forward4 ,suppose we cut away the parts that are shaded at h and leave it as at i1 it is very certain it cannot stand alone now1 but will fall forward to our entire satisfaction4 ,farther3 the midmost stone at f is likely to be troublesome chiefly by its weight1 pushing down between the others2 the more we lighten it the better3 so we will cut it into exactly the same shape as the side ones1 chiselling away the shaded parts1 as at h4 ,we shall then have all the three stones k1 l1 m1 of the same shape2 and now putting them together1 we have1 at ,c1 what the reader1 ,i doubt not1 will perceive at once to be a much more satisfactory arrangement than that at f4 ,,iii4 ,we have now got three arrangements2 in one using only one piece of stone1 in the second two1 and in the third three4 ,the first arrangement has no particular name1 except the horizontal3 but the single stone 7or beam1 it may be17 is called a lintel2 the second arrangement is called a ,gable2 the third an ,arch4 ,we might have used pieces of wood instead of stone in all these arrangements1 with no difference in plan1 so long as the beams were kept loose1 like the stones2 but as beams can be securely nailed together at the ends1 we need not trouble ourselves so much about their shape or balance1 and therefore the plan at f is a peculiarly wooden construction 7the reader will doubtless recognise in it the profile of many a farm-house roof73 and again1 because beams are tough1 and light1 and long1 as compared with stones1 they are admirably adapted for the constructions at ,a and ,b1 the plain lintel and gable1 while that at ,c is1 for the most part1 left to brick and stone4 ,,iv4 ,but farther4 ,the constructions1 ,a1 ,b1 and ,c1 though very conveniently to be first considered as composed of one1 two1 and three pieces1 are by no means necessarily so4 ,when we have once cut the stones of the arch into a shape like that of k1 l1 and m1 they will hold together1 whatever their number1 place1 or size1 as at n2 and the great value of the arch is1 that it permits small stones to be used with safety instead of large ones1 which are not always to be had4 ,stones cut into the shape of k1 l1 and m1 whether they be short or long 7,i have drawn them all sizes at n on purpose71 are called ,voussoirs2 this is a hard1 ugly ,french name2 but the reader will perhaps be kind enough to recollect it2 it will save us both some trouble3 and to make amends for this infliction1 ,i will relieve him of the term keystone4 ,one voussoir is as much a keystone as another2 only people usually call the stone which is last put in the keystone2 and that one happens generally to be at the top or middle of the arch4 ,v4 ,not only the arch1 but even the lintel1 may be built of many stones or bricks4 ,the reader may see lintels built in this way over most of the windows of our brick ,london houses1 and so also the gable3 there are1 therefore1 two distinct questions respecting each arrangement2--,first1 what is the line or direction of it1 which gives it its strength8 and1 secondly1 what is the manner of masonry of it1 which gives it its consistence8 ,the first of these ,i shall consider in this ,chapter under the head of the ,arch ,line1 using the term arch as including all manner of construction 7though we shall have no trouble except about curves72 and in the next ,chapter ,i shall consider the second1 under the head1 ,arch ,masonry4 ,,vi4 ,now the arch line is the ghost or skeleton of the arch2 or rather it is the spinal marrow of the arch1 and the voussoirs are the vertebr1 which keep it safe and sound1 and clothe it4 ,this arch line the architect has first to conceive and shape in his mind1 as opposed to1 or having to bear1 certain forces which will try to distort it this way and that2 and against which he is first to direct and bend the line itself into as strong resistance as he may1 and then1 with his voussoirs and what else he can1 to guard it1 and help it1 and keep it to its duty and in its shape4 ,so the arch line is the moral character of the arch1 and the adverse forces are its temptations2 and the voussoirs1 and what else we may help it with1 are its armor and its motives to good conduct4 ,,vii4 ,this moral character of the arch is called by architects its ,line of ,resistance4 ,there is a great deal of nicety in calculating it with precision1 just as there is sometimes in finding out very precisely what is a man's true line of moral conduct2 but this1 in arch morality and in man morality1 is a very simple and easily to be understood principle1--that if either arch or man expose themselves to their special temptations or adverse forces1 outside of the voussoirs or proper and appointed armor1 both will fall4 ,an arch whose line of resistance is in the middle of its voussoirs is perfectly safe3 in proportion as the said line runs near the edge of its voussoirs1 the arch is in danger1 as the man is who nears temptation2 and the moment the line of resistance emerges out of the voussoirs the arch falls4 ,,viii4 ,there are1 therefore1 properly speaking1 two arch lines4 ,one is the visible direction or curve of the arch1 which may generally be considered as the under edge of its voussoirs1 and which has often no more to do with the real stability of the arch1 than a man's apparent conduct has with his heart4 ,the other line1 which is the line of resistance1 or line of good behavior1 may or may not be consistent with the outward and apparent curves of the arch2 but if not1 then the security of the arch depends simply upon this1 whether the voussoirs which assume or pretend to the one line are wide enough to include the other4 ,,ix4 ,now when the reader is told that the line of resistance varies with every change either in place or quantity of the weight above the arch1 he will see at once that we have no chance of arranging arches by their moral characters3 we can only take the apparent arch line1 or visible direction1 as a ground of arrangement4 ,we shall consider the possible or probable forms or contours of arches in the present ,chapter1 and in the succeeding one the forms of voussoir and other help which may best fortify these visible lines against every temptation to lose their consistency4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxx4 ,x4 ,look back to ,fig4 ,,xxix4 ,evidently the abstract or ghost line of the arrangement at ,a is a plain horizontal line1 as here at a1 ,fig4 ,,xxx4 ,the abstract line of the arrangement at ,b1 ,fig4 ,,xxix41 is composed of two straight lines1 set against each other1 as here at b4 ,the abstract line of ,c1 ,fig4 ,,xxix41 is a curve of some kind1 not at present determined1 suppose c1 ,fig4 ,,xxx4 ,then1 as b is two of the straight lines at a1 set up against each other1 we may conceive an arrangement1 d1 made up of two of the curved lines at c1 set against each other4 ,this is called a pointed arch1 which is a contradiction in terms3 it ought to be called a curved gable2 but it must keep the name it has got4 ,now a1 b1 c1 d1 ,fig4 ,,xxx41 are the ghosts of the lintel1 the gable1 the arch1 and the pointed arch4 ,with the poor lintel ghost we need trouble ourselves no farther2 there are no changes in him3 but there is much variety in the other three1 and the method of their variety will be best discerned by studying b and d1 as subordinate to and connected with the simple arch at c4 ,,xi4 ,many architects1 especially the worst1 have been very curious in designing out of the way arches1--elliptical arches1 and four-centred arches1 so called1 and other singularities4 ,the good architects have generally been content1 and we for the present will be so1 with ,god's arch1 the arch of the rainbow and of the apparent heaven1 and which the sun shapes for us as it sets and rises4 ,let us watch the sun for a moment as it climbs3 when it is a quarter up1 it will give us the arch a1 ,fig4 ,,xxxi42 when it is half up1 b1 and when three quarters up1 c4 ,there will be an infinite number of arches between these1 but we will take these as sufficient representatives of all4 ,then a is the low arch1 b the central or pure arch1 c the high arch1 and the rays of the sun would have drawn for us their voussoirs4 ,,xii4 ,we will take these several arches successively1 and fixing the top of each accurately1 draw two right lines thence to its base1 d1 e1 f1 ,fig4 ,,xxxi4 ,then these lines give us the relative gables of each of the arches2 d is the ,italian or southern gable1 e the central gable1 f the ,gothic gable4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxxi4 ,,xiii4 ,we will again take the three arches with their gables in succession1 and on each of the sides of the gable1 between it and the arch1 we will describe another arch1 as at g1 h1 i4 ,then the curves so described give the pointed arches belonging to each of the round arches2 g1 the flat pointed arch1 h1 the central pointed arch1 and i1 the lancet pointed arch4 ,,xiv4 ,if the radius with which these intermediate curves are drawn be the base of f1 the last is the equilateral pointed arch1 one of great importance in ,gothic work4 ,but between the gable and circle1 in all the three figures1 there are an infinite number of pointed arches1 describable with different radii2 and the three round arches1 be it remembered1 are themselves representatives of an infinite number1 passing from the flattest conceivable curve1 through the semicircle and horseshoe1 up to the full circle4 ,the central and the last group are the most important4 ,the central round1 or semicircle1 is the ,roman1 the ,byzantine1 and ,norman arch2 and its relative pointed includes one wide branch of ,gothic4 ,the horseshoe round is the ,arabic and ,moorish arch1 and its relative pointed includes the whole range of ,arabic and lancet1 or ,early ,english and ,french ,gothics4 ,i mean of course by the relative pointed1 the entire group of which the equilateral arch is the representative4 ,between it and the outer horseshoe1 as this latter rises higher1 the reader will find1 on experiment1 the great families of what may be called the horseshoe pointed1--curves of the highest importance1 but which are all included1 with ,english lancet1 under the term1 relative pointed of the horseshoe arch4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxxii4 ,,xv4 ,the groups above described are all formed of circular arcs1 and include all truly useful and beautiful arches for ordinary work4 ,i believe that singular and complicated curves are made use of in modern engineering1 but with these the general reader can have no concern3 the ,ponte della ,trinita at ,florence is the most graceful instance ,i know of such structure2 the arch made use of being very subtle1 and approximating to the low ellipse2 for which1 in common work1 a barbarous pointed arch1 called four-centred1 and composed of bits of circles1 is substituted by the ,english builders4 ,the high ellipse1 ,i believe1 exists in eastern architecture4 ,i have never myself met with it on a large scale2 but it occurs in the niches of the later portions of the ,ducal palace at ,venice1 together with a singular hyperbolic arch1 a in ,fig4 ,,xxxiii41 to be described hereafter3 with such caprices we are not here concerned4 ,,xvi4 ,we are1 however1 concerned to notice the absurdity of another form of arch1 which1 with the four-centred1 belongs to the ,english perpendicular ,gothic4 ,taking the gable of any of the groups in ,fig4 ,,xxxi4 7suppose the equilateral71 here at b1 in ,fig4 ,,xxxiii41 the dotted line representing the relative pointed arch1 we may evidently conceive an arch formed by reversed curves on the inside of the gable1 as here shown by the inner curved lines4 ,i imagine the reader by this time knows enough of the nature of arches to understand that1 whatever strength or stability was gained by the curve on the outside of the gable1 exactly so much is lost by curves on the inside4 ,the natural tendency of such an arch to dissolution by its own mere weight renders it a feature of detestable ugliness1 wherever it occurs on a large scale4 ,it is eminently characteristic of ,tudor work1 and it is the profile of the ,chinese roof 7,i say on a large scale1 because this as well as all other capricious arches1 may be made secure by their masonry when small1 but not otherwise74 ,some allowable modifications of it will be noticed in the chapter on ,roofs4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxxiii4 ,,xvii4 ,there is only one more form of arch which we have to notice4 ,when the last described arch is used1 not as the principal arrangement1 but as a mere heading to a common pointed arch1 we have the form c1 ,fig4 ,,xxxiii4 ,now this is better than the entirely reversed arch for two reasons2 first1 less of the line is weakened by reversing2 secondly1 the double curve has a very high sthetic value1 not existing in the mere segments of circles4 ,for these reasons arches of this kind are not only admissible1 but even of great desirableness1 when their scale and masonry render them secure1 but above a certain scale they are altogether barbarous2 and1 with the reversed ,tudor arch1 wantonly employed1 are the characteristics of the worst and meanest schools of architecture1 past or present4 ,this double curve is called the ,ogee2 it is the profile of many ,german leaden roofs1 of many ,turkish domes 7there more excusable1 because associated and in sympathy with exquisitely managed arches of the same line in the walls below71 of ,tudor turrets1 as in ,henry the ,seventh's ,chapel1 and it is at the bottom or top of sundry other blunders all over the world4 ,,xviii4 ,the varieties of the ogee curve are infinite1 as the reversed portion of it may be engrafted on every other form of arch1 horseshoe1 round1 or pointed4 ,whatever is generally worthy of note in these varieties1 and in other arches of caprice1 we shall best discover by examining their masonry2 for it is by their good masonry only that they are rendered either stable or beautiful4 ,to this question1 then1 let us address ourselves4 ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,the ,,arch ,,masonry4 ,i4 ,on the subject of the stability of arches1 volumes have been written and volumes more are required4 ,the reader will not1 therefore1 expect from me any very complete explanation of its conditions within the limits of a single chapter4 ,but that which is necessary for him to know is very simple and very easy2 and yet1 ,i believe1 some part of it is very little known1 or noticed4 ,we must first have a clear idea of what is meant by an arch4 ,it is a curved shell of firm materials1 on whose back a burden is to be laid of loose materials4 ,so far as the materials above it are not loose1 but themselves hold together1 the opening below is not an arch1 but an excavation4 ,note this difference very carefully4 ,if the ,king of ,sardinia tunnels through the ,mont ,cenis1 as he proposes1 he will not require to build a brick arch under his tunnel to carry the weight of the ,mont ,cenis3 that would need scientific masonry indeed4 ,the ,mont ,cenis will carry itself1 by its own cohesion1 and a succession of invisible granite arches1 rather larger than the tunnel4 ,but when ,mr4 ,brunel tunnelled the ,thames bottom1 he needed to build a brick arch to carry the six or seven feet of mud and the weight of water above4 ,that is a type of all arches proper4 ,,ii4 ,now arches1 in practice1 partake of the nature of the two4 ,so far as their masonry above is ,mont-,cenisian1 that is to say1 colossal in comparison of them1 and granitic1 so that the arch is a mere hole in the rock substance of it1 the form of the arch is of no consequence whatever3 it may be rounded1 or lozenged1 or ogee'd1 or anything else2 and in the noblest architecture there is always some character of this kind given to the masonry4 ,it is independent enough not to care about the holes cut in it1 and does not subside into them like sand4 ,but the theory of arches does not presume on any such condition of things2 it allows itself only the shell of the arch proper2 the vertebr1 carrying their marrow of resistance2 and1 above this shell1 it assumes the wall to be in a state of flux1 bearing down on the arch1 like water or sand1 with its whole weight4 ,and farther1 the problem which is to be solved by the arch builder is not merely to carry this weight1 but to carry it with the least thickness of shell4 ,it is easy to carry it by continually thickening your voussoirs3 if you have six feet depth of sand or gravel to carry1 and you choose to employ granite voussoirs six feet thick1 no question but your arch is safe enough4 ,but it is perhaps somewhat too costly3 the thing to be done is to carry the sand or gravel with brick voussoirs1 six inches thick1 or1 at any rate1 with the least thickness of voussoir which will be safe2 and to do this requires peculiar arrangement of the lines of the arch4 ,there are many arrangements1 useful all in their way1 but we have only to do1 in the best architecture1 with the simplest and most easily understood4 ,we have first to note those which regard the actual shell of the arch1 and then we shall give a few examples of the superseding of such expedients by ,mont-,cenisian masonry4 ,,iii4 ,what we have to say will apply to all arches1 but the central pointed arch is the best for general illustration4 ,let a1 ,plate ,,iii41 be the shell of a pointed arch with loose loading above2 and suppose you find that shell not quite thick enough2 and that the weight bears too heavily on the top of the arch1 and is likely to break it in3 you proceed to thicken your shell1 but need you thicken it all equally8 ,not so2 you would only waste your good voussoirs4 ,if you have any common sense you will thicken it at the top1 where a ,mylodon's skull is thickened for the same purpose 7and some human skulls1 ,i fancy71 as at b4 ,the pebbles and gravel above will now shoot off it right and left1 as the bullets do off a cuirassier's breastplate1 and will have no chance of beating it in4 ,if still it be not strong enough1 a farther addition may be made1 as at c1 now thickening the voussoirs a little at the base also4 ,but as this may perhaps throw the arch inconveniently high1 or occasion a waste of voussoirs at the top1 we may employ another expedient4 ,,iv4 ,i imagine the reader's common sense1 if not his previous knowledge1 will enable him to understand that if the arch at a1 ,plate ,,iii41 burst in at the top1 it must burst out at the sides4 ,set up two pieces of pasteboard1 edge to edge1 and press them down with your hand1 and you will see them bend out at the sides4 ,therefore1 if you can keep the arch from starting out at the points p1 p1 it cannot curve in at the top1 put what weight on it you will1 unless by sheer crushing of the stones to fragments4 ,v4 ,now you may keep the arch from starting out at p by loading it at p1 putting more weight upon it and against it at that point2 and this1 in practice1 is the way it is usually done4 ,but we assume at present that the weight above is sand or water1 quite unmanageable1 not to be directed to the points we choose2 and in practice1 it may sometimes happen that we cannot put weight upon the arch at p4 ,we may perhaps want an opening above it1 or it may be at the side of the building1 and many other circumstances may occur to hinder us4 ,,vi4 ,but if we are not sure that we can put weight above it1 we are perfectly sure that we can hang weight under it4 ,you may always thicken your shell inside1 and put the weight upon it as at x x1 in d1 ,plate ,,iii4 ,not much chance of its bursting out at p1 now1 is there8 ,,vii4 ,whenever1 therefore1 an arch has to bear vertical pressure1 it will bear it better when its shell is shaped as at b or d1 than as at a3 b and d are1 therefore1 the types of arches built to resist vertical pressure1 all over the world1 and from the beginning of architecture to its end4 ,none others can be compared with them3 all are imperfect except these4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,iii4 ,,arch ,,masonry4 ,the added projections at x x1 in d1 are called ,,cusps1 and they are the very soul and life of the best northern ,gothic2 yet never thoroughly understood nor found in perfection1 except in ,italy1 the northern builders working often1 even in the best times1 with the vulgar form at a4 ,the form at b is rarely found in the north3 its perfection is in the ,lombardic ,gothic2 and branches of it1 good and bad according to their use1 occur in ,saracenic work4 ,,viii4 ,the true and perfect cusp is single only4 ,but it was probably invented 7by the ,arabs87 not as a constructive1 but a decorative feature1 in pure fantasy2 and in early northern work it is only the application to the arch of the foliation1 so called1 of penetrated spaces in stone surfaces1 already enough explained in the ,seven ,lamps1 ,chap4 ,,iii41 p4 #he et seq4 ,it is degraded in dignity1 and loses its usefulness1 exactly in proportion to its multiplication on the arch4 ,in later architecture1 especially ,english ,tudor1 it is sunk into dotage1 and becomes a simple excrescence1 a bit of stone pinched up out of the arch1 as a cook pinches the paste at the edge of a pie4 ,,ix4 ,the depth and place of the cusp1 that is to say1 its exact application to the shoulder of the curve of the arch1 varies with the direction of the weight to be sustained4 ,i have spent more than a month1 and that in hard work too1 in merely trying to get the forms of cusps into perfect order3 whereby the reader may guess that ,i have not space to go into the subject now2 but ,i shall hereafter give a few of the leading and most perfect examples1 with their measures and masonry4 ,x4 ,the reader now understands all that he need about the shell of the arch1 considered as an united piece of stone4 ,he has next to consider the shape of the voussoirs4 ,this1 as much as is required1 he will be able best to comprehend by a few examples2 by which ,i shall be able also to illustrate1 or rather which will force me to illustrate1 some of the methods of ,mont-,cenisian masonry1 which were to be the second part of our subject4 ,,xi4 #a and #b1 ,plate ,,iv41 are two cornices2 #a from ,st4 ,antonio1 ,padua2 #b1 from the ,cathedral of ,sens4 ,i want them for cornices2 but ,i have put them in this plate because1 though their arches are filled up behind1 and are in fact mere blocks of stone with arches cut into their faces1 they illustrate the constant masonry of small arches1 both in ,italian and ,northern ,romanesque1 but especially ,italian1 each arch being cut out of its own proper block of stone3 this is ,mont-,cenisian enough1 on a small scale4 #c is a window from ,carnarvon ,castle1 and very primitive and interesting in manner1--one of its arches being of one stone1 the other of two4 ,and here we have an instance of a form of arch which would be barbarous enough on a large scale1 and of many pieces2 but quaint and agreeable thus massively built4 #d is from a little belfry in a ,swiss village above ,vevay2 one fancies the window of an absurd form1 seen in the distance1 but one is pleased with it on seeing its masonry4 ,it could hardly be stronger4 ,,xii4 ,these then are arches cut of one block4 ,the next step is to form them of two pieces1 set together at the head of the arch4 #f1 from the ,eremitani1 ,padua1 is very quaint and primitive in manner3 it is a curious church altogether1 and has some strange traceries cut out of single blocks4 ,one is given in the ,seven ,lamps1 ,plate ,,vii41 in the left-hand corner at the bottom4 #g1 from the ,frari1 ,venice1 very firm and fine1 and admirably decorated1 as we shall see hereafter4 #e1 the simple two-pieced construction1 wrought with the most exquisite proportion and precision of workmanship1 as is everything else in the glorious church to which it belongs1 ,san ,fermo of ,verona4 ,the addition of the top piece1 which completes the circle1 does not affect the plan of the beautiful arches1 with their simple and perfect cusps2 but it is highly curious1 and serves to show how the idea of the cusp rose out of mere foliation4 ,the whole of the architecture of this church may be characterised as exhibiting the maxima of simplicity in construction1 and perfection in workmanship1--a rare unison3 for1 in general1 simple designs are rudely worked1 and as the builder perfects his execution1 he complicates his plan4 ,nearly all the arches of ,san ,fermo are two-pieced4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,iv4 ,,arch ,,masonry4 ,,xiii4 ,we have seen the construction with one and two pieces3 a and b1 ,fig4 #h1 ,plate ,,iv41 are the general types of the construction with three pieces1 uncusped and cusped2 c and d with five pieces1 uncusped and cusped4 ,of these the three-pieced construction is of enormous importance1 and must detain us some time4 ,the five-pieced is the three-pieced with a joint added on each side1 and is also of great importance4 ,the four-pieced1 which is the two-pieced with added joints1 rarely occurs1 and need not detain us4 ,,xiv4 ,it will be remembered that in first working out the principle of the arch1 we composed the arch of three pieces4 ,three is the smallest number which can exhibit the real principle of arch masonry1 and it may be considered as representative of all arches built on that principle2 the one and two-pieced arches being microscopic ,mont-,cenisian1 mere caves in blocks of stone1 or gaps between two rocks leaning together4 ,but the three-pieced arch is properly representative of all2 and the larger and more complicated constructions are merely produced by keeping the central piece for what is called a keystone1 and putting additional joints at the sides4 ,now so long as an arch is pure circular or pointed1 it does not matter how many joints or voussoirs you have1 nor where the joints are2 nay1 you may joint your keystone itself1 and make it two-pieced4 ,but if the arch be of any bizarre form1 especially ogee1 the joints must be in particular places1 and the masonry simple1 or it will not be thoroughly good and secure2 and the fine schools of the ogee arch have only arisen in countries where it was the custom to build arches of few pieces4 ,,xv4 ,the typical pure pointed arch of ,venice is a five-pieced arch1 with its stones in three orders of magnitude1 the longest being the lowest1 as at b#b1 ,plate ,,iii4 ,if the arch be very large1 a fourth order of magnitude is added1 as at a#b4 ,the portals of the palaces of ,venice have one or other of these masonries1 almost without exception4 ,now1 as one piece is added to make a larger door1 one piece is taken away to make a smaller one1 or a window1 and the masonry type of the ,venetian ,gothic window is consequently three-pieced1 c#b4 ,,xvi4 ,the reader knows already where a cusp is useful4 ,it is wanted1 he will remember1 to give weight to those side stones1 and draw them inwards against the thrust of the top stone4 ,take one of the side stones of c#b out for a moment1 as at d4 ,now the proper place of the cusp upon it varies with the weight which it bears or requires2 but in practice this nicety is rarely observed2 the place of the cusp is almost always determined by sthetic considerations1 and it is evident that the variations in its place may be infinite4 ,consider the cusp as a wave passing up the side stone from its bottom to its top2 then you will have the succession of forms from e to g 7,plate ,,iii471 with infinite degrees of transition from each to each2 but of which you may take e1 f1 and g1 as representing three great families of cusped arches4 ,use e for your side stones1 and you have an arch as that at h below1 which may be called a down-cusped arch4 ,use f for the side stone1 and you have i1 which may be called a mid-cusped arch4 ,use g1 and you have k1 an up-cusped arch4 ,,xvii4 ,the reader will observe that ,i call the arch mid-cusped1 not when the cusped point is in the middle of the curve of the arch1 but when it is in the middle of the side piece1 and also that where the side pieces join the keystone there will be a change1 perhaps somewhat abrupt1 in the curvature4 ,i have preferred to call the arch mid-cusped with respect to its side piece than with respect to its own curve1 because the most beautiful ,gothic arches in the world1 those of the ,lombard ,gothic1 have1 in all the instances ,i have examined1 a form more or less approximating to this mid-cusped one at i 7,plate ,,iii471 but having the curvature of the cusp carried up into the keystone1 as we shall see presently3 where1 however1 the arch is built of many voussoirs1 a mid-cusped arch will mean one which has the point of the cusp midway between its own base and apex4 ,the ,gothic arch of ,venice is almost invariably up-cusped1 as at k4 ,the reader may note that1 in both down-cusped and up-cusped arches1 the piece of stone1 added to form the cusp1 is of the shape of a scymitar1 held down in the one case and up in the other4 ,,xviii4 ,now1 in the arches h1 i1 k1 a slight modification has been made in the form of the central piece1 in order that it may continue the curve of the cusp4 ,this modification is not to be given to it in practice without considerable nicety of workmanship2 and some curious results took place in ,venice from this difficulty4 ,at l 7,plate ,,iii47 is the shape of the ,venetian side stone1 with its cusp detached from the arch4 ,nothing can possibly be better or more graceful1 or have the weight better disposed in order to cause it to nod forwards against the keystone1 as above explained1 ,ch4 ,x4 ,,ii41 where ,i developed the whole system of the arch from three pieces1 in order that the reader might now clearly see the use of the weight of the cusp4 ,now a ,venetian ,gothic palace has usually at least three stories2 with perhaps ten or twelve windows in each story1 and this on two or three of its sides1 requiring altogether some hundred to a hundred and fifty side pieces4 ,i have no doubt1 from observation of the way the windows are set together1 that the side pieces were carved in pairs1 like hooks1 of which the keystones were to be the eyes2 that these side pieces were ordered by the architect in the gross1 and were used by him sometimes for wider1 sometimes for narrower windows2 bevelling the two ends as required1 fitting in keystones as he best could1 and now and then varying the arrangement by turning the side pieces upside down4 ,there were various conveniences in this way of working1 one of the principal being that the side pieces with their cusps were always cut to their complete form1 and that no part of the cusp was carried out into the keystone1 which followed the curve of the outer arch itself4 ,the ornaments of the cusp might thus be worked without any troublesome reference to the rest of the arch4 ,,xix4 ,now let us take a pair of side pieces1 made to order1 like that at l1 and see what we can make of them4 ,we will try to fit them first with a keystone which continues the curve of the outer arch1 as at m4 ,this the reader assuredly thinks an ugly arch4 ,there are a great many of them in ,venice1 the ugliest things there1 and the ,venetian builders quickly began to feel them so4 ,what could they do to better them8 ,the arch at m has a central piece of the form r4 ,substitute for it a piece of the form s1 and we have the arch at n4 ,,xx4 ,this arch at n is not so strong as that at m2 but1 built of good marble1 and with its pieces of proper thickness1 it is quite strong enough for all practical purposes on a small scale4 ,i have examined at least two thousand windows of this kind and of the other ,venetian ogees1 of which that at y 7in which the plain side-piece d is used instead of the cusped one7 is the simplest2 and ,i never found one1 even in the most ruinous palaces 7in which they had had to sustain the distorted weight of falling walls7 in which the central piece was fissured2 and this is the only danger to which the window is exposed2 in other respects it is as strong an arch as can be built4 ,it is not to be supposed that the change from the r keystone to the s keystone was instantaneous4 ,it was a change wrought out by many curious experiments1 which we shall have to trace hereafter1 and to throw the resultant varieties of form into their proper groups4 ,,xxi4 ,one step more3 ,i take a mid-cusped side piece in its block form at t1 with the bricks which load the back of it4 ,now1 as these bricks support it behind1 and since1 as far as the use of the cusp is concerned1 it matters not whether its weight be in marble or bricks1 there is nothing to hinder us from cutting out some of the marble1 as at u1 and filling up the space with bricks4 7,why we should take a fancy to do this1 ,i do not pretend to guess at present2 all ,i have to assert is1 that1 if the fancy should strike us1 there would be no harm in it74 ,substituting this side piece for the other in the window n1 we have that at w1 which may1 perhaps1 be of some service to us afterwards2 here we have nothing more to do with it than to note that1 thus built1 and properly backed by brickwork1 it is just as strong and safe a form as that at n2 but that this1 as well as every variety of ogee arch1 depends entirely for its safety1 fitness1 and beauty1 on the masonry which we have just analysed2 and that1 built on a large scale1 and with many voussoirs1 all such arches would be unsafe and absurd in general architecture4 ,yet they may be used occasionally for the sake of the exquisite beauty of which their rich and fantastic varieties admit1 and sometimes for the sake of another merit1 exactly the opposite of the constructional ones we are at present examining1 that they seem to stand by enchantment4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,v4 ,arch ,masonry4 ,,bruletto ,,of ,,como4 ,,xxii4 ,in the above reasonings1 the inclination of the joints of the voussoirs to the curves of the arch has not been considered4 ,it is a question of much nicety1 and which ,i have not been able as yet fully to investigate3 but the natural idea of the arrangement of these lines 7which in round arches are of course perpendicular to the curve7 would be that every voussoir should have the lengths of its outer and inner arched surface in the same proportion to each other4 ,either this actual law1 or a close approximation to it1 is assuredly enforced in the best ,gothic buildings4 ,,xxiii4 ,i may sum up all that it is necessary for the reader to keep in mind of the general laws connected with this subject1 by giving him an example of each of the two forms of the perfect ,gothic arch1 uncusped and cusped1 treated with the most simple and magnificent masonry1 and partly1 in both cases1 ,mont-,cenisian4 ,the first1 ,plate ,v41 is a window from the ,broletto of ,como4 ,it shows1 in its filling1 first1 the single-pieced arch1 carried on groups of four shafts1 and a single slab of marble filling the space above1 and pierced with a quatrefoil 7,mont-,cenisian1 this71 while the mouldings above are each constructed with a separate system of voussoirs1 all of them shaped1 ,i think1 on the principle above stated1 ,,xxii41 in alternate serpentine and marble2 the outer arch being a noble example of the pure uncusped ,gothic construction1 b of ,plate ,,iii4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxxiv4 ,,xxiv4 ,fig4 ,,xxxiv4 is the masonry of the side arch of1 as far as ,i know or am able to judge1 the most perfect ,gothic sepulchral monument in the world1 the foursquare canopy of the 7nameless87#di tomb standing over the small cemetery gate of the ,church of ,st4 ,anastasia at ,verona4 ,i shall have frequent occasion to recur to this monument1 and1 ,i believe1 shall be able sufficiently to justify the terms in which ,i speak of it3 meanwhile1 ,i desire only that the reader should observe the severity and simplicity of the arch lines1 the exquisitely delicate suggestion of the ogee curve in the apex1 and chiefly the use of the cusp in giving inward weight to the great pieces of stone on the flanks of the arch1 and preventing their thrust outwards from being severely thrown on the lowermost stones4 ,the effect of this arrangement is1 that the whole massy canopy is sustained safely by four slender pillars 7as will be seen hereafter in the careful plate ,i hope to give of it71 these pillars being rather steadied than materially assisted against the thrust1 by iron bars1 about an inch thick1 connecting them at the heads of the abaci2 a feature of peculiar importance in this monument1 inasmuch as we know it to be part of the original construction1 by a beautiful little ,gothic wreathed pattern1 like one of the hems of garments of ,fra ,angelico1 running along the iron bar itself4 ,so carefully1 and so far1 is the system of decoration carried out in this pure and lovely monument1 my most beloved throughout all the length and breadth of ,italy2--chief1 as ,i think1 among all the sepulchral marbles of a land of mourning4 ,,footnotes3 #di ,at least ,i cannot find any account of it in ,maffei's ,verona1 nor anywhere else1 to be depended upon4 ,it is1 ,i doubt not1 a work of the beginning of the thirteenth century4 ,vide ,appendix #ai1 ,tombs at ,st4 ,anastasia4 ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,the ,,arch ,,load4 ,i4 ,in the preceding enquiry we have always supposed either that the load upon the arch was perfectly loose1 as of gravel or sand1 or that it was ,mont-,cenisian1 and formed one mass with the arch voussoirs1 of more or less compactness4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxxv4 ,in practice1 the state is usually something between the two4 ,over bridges and tunnels it sometimes approaches to the condition of mere dust or yielding earth2 but in architecture it is mostly firm masonry1 not altogether acting with the voussoirs1 yet by no means bearing on them with perfectly dead weight1 but locking itself together above them1 and capable of being thrown into forms which relieve them1 in some degree1 from its pressure4 ,,ii4 ,it is evident that if we are to place a continuous roof above the line of arches1 we must fill up the intervals between them on the tops of the columns4 ,we have at present nothing granted us but the bare masonry1 as here at a1 ,fig4 ,,xxxv41 and we must fill up the intervals between the semicircle so as to obtain a level line of support4 ,we may first do this simply as at b1 with plain mass of wall2 so laying the roof on the top1 which is the method of the pure ,byzantine and ,italian ,romanesque4 ,but if we find too much stress is thus laid on the arches1 we may introduce small second shafts on the top of the great shaft1 a1 ,fig4 ,,xxxvi41 which may assist in carrying the roof1 conveying great part of its weight at once to the heads of the main shafts1 and relieving from its pressure the centres of the arches4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxxvi4 ,,iii4 ,the new shaft thus introduced may either remain lifted on the head of the great shaft1 or may be carried to the ground in front of it1 or through it1 b1 ,fig4 ,,xxxvi42 in which latter case the main shaft divides into two or more minor shafts1 and forms a group with the shaft brought down from above4 ,,iv4 ,when this shaft1 brought from roof to ground1 is subordinate to the main pier1 and either is carried down the face of it1 or forms no large part of the group1 the principle is ,romanesque or ,gothic1 b1 ,fig4 ,,xxxvi4 ,when it becomes a bold central shaft1 and the main pier splits into two minor shafts on its sides1 the principle is ,classical or ,palladian1 c1 ,fig4 ,,xxxvi4 ,which latter arrangement becomes absurd or unsatisfactory in proportion to the sufficiency of the main shaft to carry the roof without the help of the minor shafts or arch1 which in many instances of ,palladian work look as if they might be removed without danger to the building4 ,v4 ,the form a is a more pure ,northern ,gothic type than even b1 which is the connecting link between it and the classical type4 ,it is found chiefly in ,english and other northern ,gothic1 and in early ,lombardic1 and is1 ,i doubt not1 derived as above explained1 ,chap4 ,i4 ,,xxvii4 b is a general ,french ,gothic and ,french ,romanesque form1 as in great purity at ,valence4 ,the small shafts of the form a and b1 as being northern1 are generally connected with steep vaulted roofs1 and receive for that reason the name of vaulting shafts4 ,,vi4 ,of these forms b1 ,fig4 ,,xxxv41 is the purest and most sublime1 expressing the power of the arch most distinctly4 ,all the others have some appearance of dovetailing and morticing of timber rather than stonework2 nor have ,i ever yet seen a single instance1 quite satisfactory1 of the management of the capital of the main shaft1 when it had either to sustain the base of the vaulting shaft1 as in a1 or to suffer it to pass through it1 as in b1 ,fig4 ,,xxxvi4 ,nor is the bracket which frequently carries the vaulting shaft in ,english work a fitting support for a portion of the fabric which is at all events presumed to carry a considerable part of the weight of the roof4 ,,vii4 ,the triangular spaces on the flanks of the arch are called ,spandrils1 and if the masonry of these should be found1 in any of its forms1 too heavy for the arch1 their weight may be diminished1 while their strength remains the same1 by piercing them with circular holes or lights4 ,this is rarely necessary in ordinary architecture1 though sometimes of great use in bridges and iron roofs 7a succession of such circles may be seen1 for instance1 in the spandrils at the ,euston ,square station72 but1 from its constructional value1 it becomes the best form in which to arrange spandril decorations1 as we shall see hereafter4 ,,viii4 ,the height of the load above the arch is determined by the needs of the building and possible length of the shaft2 but with this we have at present nothing to do1 for we have performed the task which was set us4 ,we have ascertained1 as it was required that we should in ,,vi4 of ,chap4 ,,iii4 7,a71 the construction of walls2 7,b71 that of piers2 7,c71 that of piers with lintels or arches prepared for roofing4 ,we have next1 therefore1 to examine 7,d7 the structure of the roof4 ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,,the ,,roof4 ,i4 ,hitherto our enquiry has been unembarrassed by any considerations relating exclusively either to the exterior or interior of buildings4 ,but it can remain so no longer4 ,as far as the architect is concerned1 one side of a wall is generally the same as another2 but in the roof there are usually two distinct divisions of the structure2 one1 a shell1 vault1 or flat ceiling1 internally visible1 the other1 an upper structure1 built of timber1 to protect the lower2 or of some different form1 to support it4 ,sometimes1 indeed1 the internally visible structure is the real roof1 and sometimes there are more than two divisions1 as in ,st4 ,paul's1 where we have a central shell with a mask below and above4 ,still it will be convenient to remember the distinction between the part of the roof which is usually visible from within1 and whose only business is to stand strongly1 and not fall in1 which ,i shall call the ,roof ,proper2 and1 secondly1 the upper roof1 which1 being often partly supported by the lower1 is not so much concerned with its own stability as with the weather1 and is appointed to throw off snow1 and get rid of rain1 as fast as possible1 which ,i shall call the ,roof ,mask4 ,,ii4 ,it is1 however1 needless for me to engage the reader in the discussion of the various methods of construction of ,roofs ,proper1 for this simple reason1 that no person without long experience can tell whether a roof be wisely constructed or not2 nor tell at all1 even with help of any amount of experience1 without examination of the several parts and bearings of it1 very different from any observation possible to the general critic3 and more than this1 the enquiry would be useless to us in our ,venetian studies1 where the roofs are either not contemporary with the buildings1 or flat1 or else vaults of the simplest possible constructions1 which have been admirably explained by ,willis in his ,architecture of the ,middle ,ages1 ,chap4 ,,vii41 to which ,i may refer the reader for all that it would be well for him to know respecting the connexion of the different parts of the vault with the shafts4 ,he would also do well to read the passages on ,tudor vaulting1 pp4 #ahe-aic1 in ,mr4 ,garbett's rudimentary ,treatise on ,design1 before alluded to4#ej ,i shall content myself therefore with noting one or two points on which neither writer has had occasion to touch1 respecting the ,roof ,mask4 ,,iii4 ,it was said in ,v4 of ,chapter ,,iii4 that we should not have occasion1 in speaking of roof construction1 to add materially to the forms then suggested4 ,the forms which we have to add are only those resulting from the other curves of the arch developed in the last chapter2 that is to say1 the various eastern domes and cupolas arising out of the revolution of the horseshoe and ogee curves1 together with the well-known ,chinese concave roof4 ,all these forms are of course purely decorative1 the bulging outline1 or concave surface1 being of no more use1 or rather of less1 in throwing off snow or rain1 than the ordinary spire and gable2 and it is rather curious1 therefore1 that all of them1 on a small scale1 should have obtained so extensive use in ,germany and ,switzerland1 their native climate being that of the east1 where their purpose seems rather to concentrate light upon their orbed surfaces4 ,i much doubt their applicability1 on a large scale1 to architecture of any admirable dignity2 their chief charm is1 to the ,european eye1 that of strangeness2 and it seems to me possible that in the east the bulging form may be also delightful1 from the idea of its enclosing a volume of cool air4 ,i enjoy them in ,st4 ,mark's1 chiefly because they increase the fantastic and unreal character of ,st4 ,mark's ,place2 and because they appear to sympathise with an expression1 common1 ,i think1 to all the buildings of that group1 of a natural buoyancy1 as if they floated in the air or on the surface of the sea4 ,but1 assuredly1 they are not features to be recommended for imitation4#ea ,,iv4 ,one form1 closely connected with the ,chinese concave1 is1 however1 often constructively right1--the gable with an inward angle1 occurring with exquisitely picturesque effect throughout the domestic architecture of the north1 especially ,germany and ,switzerland2 the lower slope being either an attached external penthouse roof1 for protection of the wall1 as in ,fig4 ,,xxxvii41 or else a kind of buttress set on the angle of the tower2 and in either case the roof itself being a simple gable1 continuous beneath it4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxxvii4 ,v4 ,the true gable1 as it is the simplest and most natural1 so ,i esteem it the grandest of roofs2 whether rising in ridgy darkness1 like a grey slope of slaty mountains1 over the precipitous walls of the northern cathedrals1 or stretched in burning breadth above the white and square-set groups of the southern architecture4 ,but this difference between its slope in the northern and southern structure is a matter of far greater importance than is commonly supposed1 and it is this to which ,i would especially direct the reader's attention4 ,,vi4 ,one main cause of it1 the necessity of throwing off snow in the north1 has been a thousand times alluded to3 another ,i do not remember having seen noticed1 namely1 that rooms in a roof are comfortably habitable in the north1 which are painful sotto piombi in ,italy2 and that there is in wet climates a natural tendency in all men to live as high as possible1 out of the damp and mist4 ,these two causes1 together with accessible quantities of good timber1 have induced in the north a general steep pitch of gable1 which1 when rounded or squared above a tower1 becomes a spire or turret2 and this feature1 worked out with elaborate decoration1 is the key-note of the whole system of aspiration1 so called1 which the ,german critics have so ingeniously and falsely ascribed to a devotional sentiment pervading the ,northern ,gothic3 ,i entirely and boldly deny the whole theory2 our cathedrals were for the most part built by worldly people1 who loved the world1 and would have gladly staid in it for ever2 whose best hope was the escaping hell1 which they thought to do by building cathedrals1 but who had very vague conceptions of ,heaven in general1 and very feeble desires respecting their entrance therein2 and the form of the spired cathedral has no more intentional reference to ,heaven1 as distinguished from the flattened slope of the ,greek pediment1 than the steep gable of a ,norman house has1 as distinguished from the flat roof of a ,syrian one4 ,we may now1 with ingenious pleasure1 trace such symbolic characters in the form2 we may now use it with such definite meaning2 but we only prevent ourselves from all right understanding of history1 by attributing much influence to these poetical symbolisms in the formation of a national style4 ,the human race are1 for the most part1 not to be moved by such silken cords2 and the chances of damp in the cellar1 or of loose tiles in the roof1 have1 unhappily1 much more to do with the fashions of a man's house building than his ideas of celestial happiness or angelic virtue4 ,associations of affection have far higher power1 and forms which can be no otherwise accounted for may often be explained by reference to the natural features of the country1 or to anything which habit must have rendered familiar1 and therefore delightful2 but the direct symbolisation of a sentiment is a weak motive with all men1 and far more so in the practical minds of the north than among the early ,christians1 who were assuredly quite as heavenly-minded1 when they built basilicas1 or cut conchas out of the catacombs1 as were ever the ,norman barons or monks4 ,,vii4 ,there is1 however1 in the north an animal activity which materially aided the system of building begun in mere utility1--an animal life1 naturally expressed in erect work1 as the languor of the south in reclining or level work4 ,imagine the difference between the action of a man urging himself to his work in a snow storm1 and the inaction of one laid at his length on a sunny bank among cicadas and fallen olives1 and you will have the key to a whole group of sympathies which were forcefully expressed in the architecture of both2 remembering always that sleep would be to the one luxury1 to the other death4 ,,viii4 ,and to the force of this vital instinct we have farther to add the influence of natural scenery2 and chiefly of the groups and wildernesses of the tree which is to the ,german mind what the olive or palm is to the southern1 the spruce fir4 ,the eye which has once been habituated to the continual serration of the pine forest1 and to the multiplication of its infinite pinnacles1 is not easily offended by the repetition of similar forms1 nor easily satisfied by the simplicity of flat or massive outlines4 ,add to the influence of the pine1 that of the poplar1 more especially in the valleys of ,france2 but think of the spruce chiefly1 and meditate on the difference of feeling with which the ,northman would be inspired by the frostwork wreathed upon its glittering point1 and the ,italian by the dark green depth of sunshine on the broad table of the stone-pine#eb 7and consider by the way whether the spruce fir be a more heavenly-minded tree than those dark canopies of the ,mediterranean isles74 ,,ix4 ,circumstance and sentiment1 therefore1 aiding each other1 the steep roof becomes generally adopted1 and delighted in1 throughout the north2 and then1 with the gradual exaggeration with which every pleasant idea is pursued by the human mind1 it is raised into all manner of peaks1 and points1 and ridges2 and pinnacle after pinnacle is added on its flanks1 and the walls increased in height1 in proportion1 until we get indeed a very sublime mass1 but one which has no more principle of religious aspiration in it than a child's tower of cards4 ,what is more1 the desire to build high is complicated with the peculiar love of the grotesque#ec which is characteristic of the north1 together with especial delight in multiplication of small forms1 as well as in exaggerated points of shade and energy1 and a certain degree of consequent insensibility to perfect grace and quiet truthfulness2 so that a northern architect could not feel the beauty of the ,elgin marbles1 and there will always be 7in those who have devoted themselves to this particular school7 a certain incapacity to taste the finer characters of ,greek art1 or to understand ,titian1 ,tintoret1 or ,raphael3 whereas among the ,italian ,gothic workmen1 this capacity was never lost1 and ,nino ,pisano and ,orcagna could have understood the ,theseus in an instant1 and would have received from it new life4 ,there can be no question that theirs was the greatest school1 and carried out by the greatest men2 and that while those who began with this school could perfectly well feel ,rouen ,cathedral1 those who study the ,northern ,gothic remain in a narrowed field--one of small pinnacles1 and dots1 and crockets1 and twitched faces--and cannot comprehend the meaning of a broad surface or a grand line4 ,nevertheless the northern school is an admirable and delightful thing1 but a lower thing than the southern4 ,the ,gothic of the ,ducal ,palace of ,venice is in harmony with all that is grand in all the world3 that of the north is in harmony with the grotesque northern spirit only4 ,x4 ,we are1 however1 beginning to lose sight of our roof structure in its spirit1 and must return to our text4 ,as the height of the walls increased1 in sympathy with the rise of the roof1 while their thickness remained the same1 it became more and more necessary to support them by buttresses2 but--and this is another point that the reader must specially note--it is not the steep roof mask which requires the buttress1 but the vaulting beneath it2 the roof mask being a mere wooden frame tied together by cross timbers1 and in small buildings often put together on the ground1 raised afterwards1 and set on the walls like a hat1 bearing vertically upon them2 and farther1 ,i believe in most cases the northern vaulting requires its great array of external buttress1 not so much from any peculiar boldness in its own forms1 as from the greater comparative thinness and height of the walls1 and more determined throwing of the whole weight of the roof on particular points4 ,now the connexion of the interior frame-work 7or true roof7 with the buttress1 at such points1 is not visible to the spectators from without2 but the relation of the roof mask to the top of the wall which it protects1 or from which it springs1 is perfectly visible2 and it is a point of so great importance in the effect of the building1 that it will be well to make it a subject of distinct consideration in the following ,chapter4 ,,footnotes3 #ej ,appendix #ag #ea ,i do not speak of the true dome1 because ,i have not studied its construction enough to know at what largeness of scale it begins to be rather a tour de force than a convenient or natural form of roof1 and because the ordinary spectator's choice among its various outlines must always be dependent on sthetic considerations only1 and can in no wise be grounded on any conception of its infinitely complicated structural principles4 #eb ,i shall not be thought to have overrated the effect of forest scenery on the northern mind2 but ,i was glad to hear a ,spanish gentleman1 the other day1 describing1 together with his own1 the regret which the peasants in his neighborhood had testified for the loss of a noble stone-pine1 one of the grandest in ,spain1 which its proprietor had suffered to be cut down for small gain4 ,he said that the mere spot where it had grown was still popularly known as ,el ,pino4 #ec ,appendix #h4 ,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,roof ,,cornice4 ,i4 ,it will be remembered that in the ,sixth ,chapter we paused 7 ,x47 at the point where the addition of brackets to the ordinary wall cornice would have converted it into a structure proper for sustaining a roof4 ,now the wall cornice was treated throughout our enquiry 7compare ,chapter ,,vii4 ,v47 as the capital of the wall1 and as forming1 by its concentration1 the capital of the shaft4 ,but we must not reason back from the capital to the cornice1 and suppose that an extension of the principles of the capital to the whole length of the wall1 will serve for the roof cornice2 for all our conclusions respecting the capital were based on the supposition of its being adapted to carry considerable weight condensed on its abacus3 but the roof cornice is1 in most cases1 required rather to project boldly than to carry weight2 and arrangements are therefore to be adopted for it which will secure the projection of large surfaces without being calculated to resist extraordinary pressure4 ,this object is obtained by the use of brackets at intervals1 which are the peculiar distinction of the roof cornice4 ,,ii4 ,roof cornices are generally to be divided into two great families3 the first and simplest1 those which are composed merely by the projection of the edge of the roof mask over the wall1 sustained by such brackets or spurs as may be necessary2 the second1 those which provide a walk round the edge of the roof1 and which require1 therefore1 some stronger support1 as well as a considerable mass of building above or beside the roof mask1 and a parapet4 ,these two families we shall consider in succession4 ,,iii4 #a4 ,the ,eaved ,cornice4 ,we may give it this name1 as represented in the simplest form by cottage eaves4 ,it is used1 however1 in bold projection1 both in north1 and south1 and east2 its use being1 in the north1 to throw the rain well away from the wall of the building2 in the south to give it shade2 and it is ordinarily constructed of the ends of the timbers of the roof mask 7with their tiles or shingles continued to the edge of the cornice71 and sustained by spurs of timber4 ,this is its most picturesque and natural form2 not inconsistent with great splendor of architecture in the medival ,italian domestic buildings1 superb in its mass of cast shadow1 and giving rich effect to the streets of ,swiss towns1 even when they have no other claim to interest4 ,a farther value is given to it by its waterspouts1 for in order to avoid loading it with weight of water in the gutter at the edge1 where it would be a strain on the fastenings of the pipe1 it has spouts of discharge at intervals of three or four feet1--rows of magnificent leaden or iron dragons' heads1 full of delightful character1 except to any person passing along the middle of the street in a heavy shower4 ,i have had my share of their kindness in my time1 but owe them no grudge2 on the contrary1 much gratitude for the delight of their fantastic outline on the calm blue sky1 when they had no work to do but to open their iron mouths and pant in the sunshine4 ,,iv4 ,when1 however1 light is more valuable than shadow1 or when the architecture of the wall is too fair to be concealed1 it becomes necessary to draw the cornice into narrower limits2 a change of considerable importance1 in that it permits the gutter1 instead of being of lead and hung to the edge of the cornice1 to be of stone1 and supported by brackets in the wall1 these brackets becoming proper recipients of after decoration 7and sometimes associated with the stone channels of discharge1 called gargoyles1 which belong1 however1 more properly to the other family of cornices74 ,the most perfect and beautiful example of this kind of cornice is the ,venetian1 in which the rain from the tiles is received in a stone gutter supported by small brackets1 delicately moulded1 and having its outer lower edge decorated with the ,english dogtooth moulding1 whose sharp zigzag mingles richly with the curved edges of the tiling4 ,i know no cornice more beautiful in its extreme simplicity and serviceableness4 ,v4 ,the cornice of the ,greek ,doric is a condition of the same kind1 in which1 however1 there are no brackets1 but useless appendages hung to the bottom of the gutter 7giving1 however1 some impression of support as seen from a distance71 and decorated with stone symbolisms of raindrops4 ,the brackets are not allowed1 because they would interfere with the sculpture1 which in this architecture is put beneath the cornice2 and the overhanging form of the gutter is nothing more than a vast dripstone moulding1 to keep the rain from such sculpture3 its decoration of gutt1 seen in silver points against the shadow1 is pretty in feeling1 with a kind of continual refreshment and remembrance of rain in it2 but the whole arrangement is awkward and meagre1 and is only endurable when the eye is quickly drawn away from it to sculpture4 ,,vi4 ,in later cornices1 invented for the ,greek orders1 and farther developed by the ,romans1 the bracket appears in true importance1 though of barbarous and effeminate outline3 and gorgeous decorations are applied to it1 and to the various horizontal mouldings which it carries1 some of them of great beauty1 and of the highest value to the medival architects who imitated them4 ,but a singularly gross mistake was made in the distribution of decoration on these rich cornices 7,i do not know when first1 nor does it matter to me or to the reader71 namely1 the charging with ornament the under surface of the cornice between the brackets1 that is to say1 the exact piece of the whole edifice1 from top to bottom1 where ornament is least visible4 ,i need hardly say much respecting the wisdom of this procedure1 excusable only if the whole building were covered with ornament2 but it is curious to see the way in which modern architects have copied it1 even when they had little enough ornament to spare4 ,for instance1 ,i suppose few persons look at the ,athenum ,club-house without feeling vexed at the meagreness and meanness of the windows of the ground floor3 if1 however1 they look up under the cornice1 and have good eyes1 they will perceive that the architect has reserved his decorations to put between the brackets2 and by going up to the first floor1 and out on the gallery1 they may succeed in obtaining some glimpses of the designs of the said decorations4 ,,vii4 ,such as they are1 or were1 these cornices were soon considered essential parts of the order to which they belonged2 and the same wisdom which endeavored to fix the proportions of the orders1 appointed also that no order should go without its cornice4 ,the reader has probably heard of the architectural division of superstructure into architrave1 frieze1 and cornice2 parts which have been appointed by great architects to all their work1 in the same spirit in which great rhetoricians have ordained that every speech shall have an exordium1 and narration1 and peroration4 ,the reader will do well to consider that it may be sometimes just as possible to carry a roof1 and get rid of rain1 without such an arrangement1 as it is to tell a plain fact without an exordium or peroration2 but he must very absolutely consider that the architectural peroration or cornice is strictly and sternly limited to the end of the wall's speech1--that is1 to the edge of the roof2 and that it has nothing whatever to do with shafts nor the orders of them4 ,and he will then be able fully to enjoy the farther ordinance of the late ,roman and ,renaissance architects1 who1 attaching it to the shaft as if it were part of its shadow1 and having to employ their shafts often in places where they came not near the roof1 forthwith cut the roof-cornice to pieces and attached a bit of it to every column2 thenceforward to be carried by the unhappy shaft wherever it went1 in addition to any other work on which it might happen to be employed4 ,i do not recollect among any living beings1 except ,renaissance architects1 any instance of a parallel or comparable stupidity3 but one can imagine a savage getting hold of a piece of one of our iron wire ropes1 with its rings upon it at intervals to bind it together1 and pulling the wires asunder to apply them to separate purposes2 but imagining there was magic in the ring that bound them1 and so cutting that to pieces also1 and fastening a little bit of it to every wire4 ,,viii4 ,thus much may serve us to know respecting the first family of wall cornices4 ,the second is immeasurably more important1 and includes the cornices of all the best buildings in the world4 ,it has derived its best form from medival military architecture1 which imperatively required two things2 first1 a parapet which should permit sight and offence1 and afford defence at the same time2 and secondly1 a projection bold enough to enable the defenders to rake the bottom of the wall with falling bodies2 projection which1 if the wall happened to slope inwards1 required not to be small4 ,the thoroughly magnificent forms of cornice thus developed by necessity in military buildings1 were adopted1 with more or less of boldness or distinctness1 in domestic architecture1 according to the temper of the times and the circumstances of the individual--decisively in the baron's house1 imperfectly in the burgher's3 gradually they found their way into ecclesiastical architecture1 under wise modifications in the early cathedrals1 with infinite absurdity in the imitations of them2 diminishing in size as their original purpose sank into a decorative one1 until we find battlements1 two-and-a-quarter inches square1 decorating the gates of the ,philanthropic ,society4 ,,ix4 ,there are1 therefore1 two distinct features in all cornices of this kind2 first1 the bracket1 now become of enormous importance and of most serious practical service2 the second1 the parapet3 and these two features we shall consider in succession1 and in so doing1 shall learn all that is needful for us to know1 not only respecting cornices1 but respecting brackets in general1 and balconies4 ,x4 #a4 ,the ,bracket4 ,in the simplest form of military cornice1 the brackets are composed of two or more long stones1 supporting each other in gradually increasing projection1 with roughly rounded ends1 ,fig4 ,,xxxviii41 and the parapet is simply a low wall carried on the ends of these1 leaving1 of course1 behind1 or within it1 a hole between each bracket for the convenient dejection of hot sand and lead4 ,this form is best seen1 ,i think1 in the old ,scotch castles2 it is very grand1 but has a giddy look1 and one is afraid of the whole thing toppling off the wall4 ,the next step was to deepen the brackets1 so as to get them propped against a great depth of the main rampart1 and to have the inner ends of the stones held by a greater weight of that main wall above2 while small arches were thrown from bracket to bracket to carry the parapet wall more securely4 ,this is the most perfect form of cornice1 completely satisfying the eye of its security1 giving full protection to the wall1 and applicable to all architecture1 the interstices between the brackets being filled up1 when one does not want to throw boiling lead on any body below1 and the projection being always delightful1 as giving greater command and view of the building1 from its angles1 to those walking on the rampart4 ,and as1 in military buildings1 there were usually towers at the angles 7round which the battlements swept7 in order to flank the walls1 so often in the translation into civil or ecclesiastical architecture1 a small turret remained at the angle1 or a more bold projection of balcony1 to give larger prospect to those upon the rampart4 ,this cornice1 perfect in all its parts1 as arranged for ecclesiastical architecture1 and exquisitely decorated1 is the one employed in the duomo of ,florence and campanile of ,giotto1 of which ,i have already spoken as1 ,i suppose1 the most perfect architecture in the world4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxxviii4 ,,xi4 ,in less important positions and on smaller edifices1 this cornice diminishes in size1 while it retains its arrangement1 and at last we find nothing but the spirit and form of it left2 the real practical purpose having ceased1 and arch1 brackets and all1 being cut out of a single stone4 ,thus we find it used in early buildings throughout the whole of the north and south of ,europe1 in forms sufficiently represented by the two examples in ,plate ,,iv43 #a1 from ,st4 ,antonio1 ,padua2 #b1 from ,sens in ,france4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xxxix4 ,,xii4 ,i wish1 however1 at present to fix the reader's attention on the form of the bracket itself2 a most important feature in modern as well as ancient architecture4 ,the first idea of a bracket is that of a long stone or piece of timber projecting from the wall1 as a1 ,fig4 ,,xxxix41 of which the strength depends on the toughness of the stone or wood1 and the stability on the weight of wall above it 7unless it be the end of a main beam74 ,but let it be supposed that the structure at a1 being of the required projection1 is found too weak3 then we may strengthen it in one of three ways2 7#a7 by putting a second or third stone beneath it1 as at b2 7#b7 by giving it a spur1 as at c2 7#c7 by giving it a shaft and another bracket below1 d2 the great use of this arrangement being that the lowermost bracket has the help of the weight of the shaft-length of wall above its insertion1 which is1 of course1 greater than the weight of the small shaft3 and then the lower bracket may be farther helped by the structure at b or c4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xl4 ,,xiii4 ,of these structures1 a and c are evidently adapted especially for wooden buildings2 b and d for stone ones2 the last1 of course1 susceptible of the richest decoration1 and superbly employed in the cornice of the cathedral of ,monza3 but all are beautiful in their way1 and are the means of1 ,i think1 nearly half the picturesqueness and power of medival building2 the forms b and c being1 of course1 the most frequent2 a1 when it occurs1 being usually rounded off1 as at a1 ,fig4 ,,xl42 b1 also1 as in ,fig4 ,,xxxviii41 or else itself composed of a single stone cut into the form of the group b here1 ,fig4 ,,xl41 or plain1 as at c1 which is also the proper form of the brick bracket1 when stone is not to be had4 ,the reader will at once perceive that the form d is a barbarism 7unless when the scale is small and the weight to be carried exceedingly light73 it is of course1 therefore1 a favorite form with the ,renaissance architects2 and its introduction is one of the first corruptions of the ,venetian architecture4 ,,xiv4 ,there is one point necessary to be noticed1 though bearing on decoration more than construction1 before we leave the subject of the bracket4 ,the whole power of the construction depends upon the stones being well let into the wall2 and the first function of the decoration should be to give the idea of this insertion1 if possible2 at all events1 not to contradict this idea4 ,if the reader will glance at any of the brackets used in the ordinary architecture of ,london1 he will find them of some such character as ,fig4 ,,xli42 not a bad form in itself1 but exquisitely absurd in its curling lines1 which give the idea of some writhing suspended tendril1 instead of a stiff support1 and by their careful avoidance of the wall make the bracket look pinned on1 and in constant danger of sliding down4 ,this is1 also1 a ,classical and ,renaissance decoration4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xli4 ,,xv4 #b4 ,the ,parapet4 ,its forms are fixed in military architecture by the necessities of the art of war at the time of building1 and are always beautiful wherever they have been really thus fixed2 delightful in the variety of their setting1 and in the quaint darkness of their shot-holes1 and fantastic changes of elevation and outline4 ,nothing is more remarkable than the swiftly discerned difference between the masculine irregularity of such true battlements1 and the formal pitifulness of those which are set on modern buildings to give them a military air1--as on the jail at ,edinburgh4 ,,xvi4 ,respecting the ,parapet for mere safeguard upon buildings not military1 there are just two fixed laws4 ,it should be pierced1 otherwise it is not recognised from below for a parapet at all1 and it should not be in the form of a battlement1 especially in church architecture4 ,the most comfortable heading of a true parapet is a plain level on which the arm can be rested1 and along which it can glide4 ,any jags or elevations are disagreeable2 the latter1 as interrupting the view and disturbing the eye1 if they are higher than the arm1 the former1 as opening some aspect of danger if they are much lower2 and the inconvenience1 therefore1 of the battlemented form1 as well as the worse than absurdity1 the bad feeling1 of the appliance of a military feature to a church1 ought long ago to have determined its rejection4 ,still 7for the question of its picturesque value is here so closely connected with that of its practical use1 that it is vain to endeavor to discuss it separately7 there is a certain agreeableness in the way in which the jagged outline dovetails the shadow of the slated or leaded roof into the top of the wall1 which may make the use of the battlement excusable where there is a difficulty in managing some unvaried line1 and where the expense of a pierced parapet cannot be encountered3 but remember always1 that the value of the battlement consists in its letting shadow into the light of the wall1 or vice vers1 when it comes against light sky1 letting the light of the sky into the shade of the wall2 but that the actual outline of the parapet itself1 if the eye be arrested upon this1 instead of upon the alternation of shadow1 is as ugly a succession of line as can by any possibility be invented4 ,therefore1 the battlemented parapet may only be used where this alternation of shade is certain to be shown1 under nearly all conditions of effect2 and where the lines to be dealt with are on a scale which may admit battlements of bold and manly size4 ,the idea that a battlement is an ornament anywhere1 and that a miserable and diminutive imitation of castellated outline will always serve to fill up blanks and ,gothicise unmanageable spaces1 is one of the great idiocies of the present day4 ,a battlement is in its origin a piece of wall large enough to cover a man's body1 and however it may be decorated1 or pierced1 or finessed away into traceries1 as long as so much of its outline is retained as to suggest its origin1 so long its size must remain undiminished4 ,to crown a turret six feet high with chopped battlements three inches wide1 is children's ,gothic3 it is one of the paltry falsehoods for which there is no excuse1 and part of the system of using models of architecture to decorate architecture1 which we shall hereafter note as one of the chief and most destructive follies of the ,renaissance2#ed and in the present day the practice may be classed as one which distinguishes the architects of whom there is no hope1 who have neither eye nor head for their work1 and who must pass their lives in vain struggles against the refractory lines of their own buildings4 ,,xvii4 ,as the only excuse for the battlemented parapet is its alternation of shadow1 so the only fault of the natural or level parapet is its monotony of line4 ,this is1 however1 in practice1 almost always broken by the pinnacles of the buttresses1 and if not1 may be varied by the tracery of its penetrations4 ,the forms of these evidently admit every kind of change2 for a stone parapet1 however pierced1 is sure to be strong enough for its purpose of protection1 and1 as regards the strength of the building in general1 the lighter it is the better4 ,more fantastic forms may1 therefore1 be admitted in a parapet than in any other architectural feature1 and for most services1 the ,flamboyant parapets seem to me preferable to all others2 especially when the leaden roofs set off by points of darkness the lace-like intricacy of penetration4 ,these1 however1 as well as the forms usually given to ,renaissance balustrades 7of which1 by the bye1 the best piece of criticism ,i know is the sketch in ,david ,copperfield of the personal appearance of the man who stole ,jip71 and the other and finer forms invented by ,paul ,veronese in his architectural backgrounds1 together with the pure columnar balustrade of ,venice1 must be considered as altogether decorative features4 ,,xviii4 ,so also are1 of course1 the jagged or crown-like finishings of walls employed where no real parapet of protection is desired2 originating in the defences of outworks and single walls3 these are used much in the east on walls surrounding unroofed courts4 ,the richest examples of such decoration are ,arabian2 and from ,cairo they seem to have been brought to ,venice4 ,it is probable that few of my readers1 however familiar the general form of the ,ducal ,palace may have been rendered to them by innumerable drawings1 have any distinct idea of its roof1 owing to the staying of the eye on its superb parapet1 of which we shall give account hereafter4 ,in most of the ,venetian cases the parapets which surround roofing are very sufficient for protection1 except that the stones of which they are composed appear loose and infirm3 but their purpose is entirely decorative2 every wall1 whether detached or roofed1 being indiscriminately fringed with ,arabic forms of parapet1 more or less ,gothicised1 according to the lateness of their date4 ,i think there is no other point of importance requiring illustration respecting the roof itself1 or its cornice3 but this ,venetian form of ornamental parapet connects itself curiously1 at the angles of nearly all the buildings on which it occurs1 with the pinnacled system of the north1 founded on the structure of the buttress4 ,this1 it will be remembered1 is to be the subject of the fifth division of our inquiry4 ,,footnotes3 #ed ,not of ,renaissance alone3 the practice of modelling buildings on a minute scale for niches and tabernacle-work has always been more or less admitted1 and ,i suppose authority for diminutive battlements might be gathered from the ,gothic of almost every period1 as well as for many other faults and mistakes3 no ,gothic school having ever been thoroughly systematised or perfected1 even in its best times4 ,but that a mistaken decoration sometimes occurs among a crowd of noble ones1 is no more an excuse for the habitual--far less1 the exclusive--use of such a decoration1 than the accidental or seeming misconstructions of a ,greek chorus are an excuse for a school boy's ungrammatical exercise4 ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,,the ,,buttress4 ,i4 ,we have hitherto supposed ourselves concerned with the support of vertical pressure only2 and the arch and roof have been considered as forms of abstract strength1 without reference to the means by which their lateral pressure was to be resisted4 ,few readers will need now to be reminded1 that every arch or gable not tied at its base by beams or bars1 exercises a lateral pressure upon the walls which sustain it1--pressure which may1 indeed1 be met and sustained by increasing the thickness of the wall or vertical piers1 and which is in reality thus met in most ,italian buildings1 but may1 with less expenditure of material1 and with 7perhaps7 more graceful effect1 be met by some particular application of the provisions against lateral pressure called ,buttresses4 ,these1 therefore1 we are next to examine4 ,,ii4 ,buttresses are of many kinds1 according to the character and direction of the lateral forces they are intended to resist4 ,but their first broad division is into buttresses which meet and break the force before it arrives at the wall1 and buttresses which stand on the lee side of the wall1 and prop it against the force4 ,the lateral forces which walls have to sustain are of three distinct kinds3 dead weight1 as of masonry or still water2 moving weight1 as of wind or running water2 and sudden concussion1 as of earthquakes1 explosions1 c4 ,clearly1 dead weight can only be resisted by the buttress acting as a prop2 for a buttress on the side of1 or towards the weight1 would only add to its effect4 ,this1 then1 forms the first great class of buttressed architecture2 lateral thrusts1 of roofing or arches1 being met by props of masonry outside--the thrust from within1 the prop without2 or the crushing force of water on a ship's side met by its cross timbers--the thrust here from without the wall1 the prop within4 ,moving weight may1 of course1 be resisted by the prop on the lee side of the wall1 but is often more effectually met1 on the side which is attacked1 by buttresses of peculiar forms1 cunning buttresses1 which do not attempt to sustain the weight1 but parry it1 and throw it off in directions clear of the wall4 ,thirdly3 concussions and vibratory motion1 though in reality only supported by the prop buttress1 must be provided for by buttresses on both sides of the wall1 as their direction cannot be foreseen1 and is continually changing4 ,we shall briefly glance at these three systems of buttressing2 but the two latter being of small importance to our present purpose1 may as well be dismissed first4 ,,iii4 #a4 ,buttresses for guard against moving weight and set towards the weight they resist4 ,the most familiar instance of this kind of buttress we have in the sharp piers of a bridge1 in the centre of a powerful stream1 which divide the current on their edges1 and throw it to each side under the arches4 ,a ship's bow is a buttress of the same kind1 and so also the ridge of a breastplate1 both adding to the strength of it in resisting a cross blow1 and giving a better chance of a bullet glancing aside4 ,in ,switzerland1 projecting buttresses of this kind are often built round churches1 heading up hill1 to divide and throw off the avalanches4 ,the various forms given to piers and harbor quays1 and to the bases of light-houses1 in order to meet the force of the waves1 are all conditions of this kind of buttress4 ,but in works of ornamental architecture such buttresses are of rare occurrence2 and ,i merely name them in order to mark their place in our architectural system1 since in the investigation of our present subject we shall not meet with a single example of them1 unless sometimes the angle of the foundation of a palace set against the sweep of the tide1 or the wooden piers of some canal bridge quivering in its current4 ,,iv4 #b4 ,buttresses for guard against vibratory motion4 ,the whole formation of this kind of buttress resolves itself into mere expansion of the base of the wall1 so as to make it stand steadier1 as a man stands with his feet apart when he is likely to lose his balance4 ,this approach to a pyramidal form is also of great use as a guard against the action of artillery2 that if a stone or tier of stones be battered out of the lower portions of the wall1 the whole upper part may not topple over or crumble down at once4 ,various forms of this buttress1 sometimes applied to particular points of the wall1 sometimes forming a great sloping rampart along its base1 are frequent in buildings of countries exposed to earthquake4 ,they give a peculiarly heavy outline to much of the architecture of the kingdom of ,naples1 and they are of the form in which strength and solidity are first naturally sought1 in the slope of the ,egyptian wall4 ,the base of ,guy's ,tower at ,warwick is a singularly bold example of their military use2 and so1 in general1 bastion and rampart profiles1 where1 however1 the object of stability against a shock is complicated with that of sustaining weight of earth in the rampart behind4 ,v4 #c4 ,prop buttresses against dead weight4 ,this is the group with which we have principally to do2 and a buttress of this kind acts in two ways1 partly by its weight and partly by its strength4 ,it acts by its weight when its mass is so great that the weight it sustains cannot stir it1 but is lost upon it1 buried in it1 and annihilated3 neither the shape of such a buttress nor the cohesion of its materials are of much consequence2 a heap of stones or sandbags1 laid up against the wall1 will answer as well as a built and cemented mass4 ,but a buttress acting by its strength is not of mass sufficient to resist the weight by mere inertia2 but it conveys the weight through its body to something else which is so capable2 as1 for instance1 a man leaning against a door with his hands1 and propping himself against the ground1 conveys the force which would open or close the door against him through his body to the ground4 ,a buttress acting in this way must be of perfectly coherent materials1 and so strong that though the weight to be borne could easily move it1 it cannot break it3 this kind of buttress may be called a conducting buttress4 ,practically1 however1 the two modes of action are always in some sort united4 ,again1 the weight to be borne may either act generally on the whole wall surface1 or with excessive energy on particular points3 when it acts on the whole wall surface1 the whole wall is generally supported2 and the arrangement becomes a continuous rampart1 as a dyke1 or bank of reservoir4 ,,vi4 ,it is1 however1 very seldom that lateral force in architecture is equally distributed4 ,in most cases the weight of the roof1 or the force of any lateral thrust1 are more or less confined to certain points and directions4 ,in an early state of architectural science this definiteness of direction is not yet clear1 and it is met by uncertain application of mass or strength in the buttress1 sometimes by mere thickening of the wall into square piers1 which are partly piers1 partly buttresses1 as in ,norman keeps and towers4 ,but as science advances1 the weight to be borne is designedly and decisively thrown upon certain points2 the direction and degree of the forces which are then received are exactly calculated1 and met by conducting buttresses of the smallest possible dimensions2 themselves1 in their turn1 supported by vertical buttresses acting by weight1 and these perhaps1 in their turn1 by another set of conducting buttresses3 so that1 in the best examples of such arrangements1 the weight to be borne may be considered as the shock of an electric fluid1 which1 by a hundred different rods and channels1 is divided and carried away into the ground4 ,,vii4 ,in order to give greater weight to the vertical buttress piers which sustain the conducting buttresses1 they are loaded with pinnacles1 which1 however1 are1 ,i believe1 in all the buildings in which they become very prominent1 merely decorative3 they are of some use1 indeed1 by their weight2 but if this were all for which they were put there1 a few cubic feet of lead would much more securely answer the purpose1 without any danger from exposure to wind4 ,if the reader likes to ask any ,gothic architect with whom he may happen to be acquainted1 to substitute a lump of lead for his pinnacles1 he will see by the expression of his face how far he considers the pinnacles decorative members4 ,in the work which seems to me the great type of simple and masculine buttress structure1 the apse of ,beauvais1 the pinnacles are altogether insignificant1 and are evidently added just as exclusively to entertain the eye and lighten the aspect of the buttress1 as the slight shafts which are set on its angles2 while in other very noble ,gothic buildings the pinnacles are introduced as niches for statues1 without any reference to construction at all3 and sometimes even1 as in the tomb of ,can ,signoria at ,verona1 on small piers detached from the main building4 ,,viii4 ,i believe1 therefore1 that the development of the pinnacle is merely a part of the general erectness and picturesqueness of northern work above alluded to3 and that1 if there had been no other place for the pinnacles1 the ,gothic builders would have put them on the tops of their arches 7they often did on the tops of gables and pediments71 rather than not have had them2 but the natural position of the pinnacle is1 of course1 where it adds to1 rather than diminishes1 the stability of the building2 that is to say1 on its main wall piers and the vertical piers at the buttresses4 ,and thus the edifice is surrounded at last by a complete company of detached piers and pinnacles1 each sustaining an inclined prop against the central wall1 and looking something like a band of giants holding it up with the butts of their lances4 ,this arrangement would imply the loss of an enormous space of ground1 but the intervals of the buttresses are usually walled in below1 and form minor chapels4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xlii4 ,,ix4 ,the science of this arrangement has made it the subject of much enthusiastic declamation among the ,gothic architects1 almost as unreasonable1 in some respects1 as the declamation of the ,renaissance architects respecting ,greek structure4 ,the fact is1 that the whole northern buttress system is based on the grand requirement of tall windows and vast masses of light at the end of the apse4 ,in order to gain this quantity of light1 the piers between the windows are diminished in thickness until they are far too weak to bear the roof1 and then sustained by external buttresses4 ,in the ,italian method the light is rather dreaded than desired1 and the wall is made wide enough between the windows to bear the roof1 and so left4 ,in fact1 the simplest expression of the difference in the systems is1 that a northern apse is a southern one with its inter-fenestrial piers set edgeways4 ,thus1 a1 ,fig4 ,,xlii41 is the general idea of the southern apse2 take it to pieces1 and set all its piers edgeways1 as at b1 and you have the northern one4 ,you gain much light for the interior1 but you cut the exterior to pieces1 and instead of a bold rounded or polygonal surface1 ready for any kind of decoration1 you have a series of dark and damp cells1 which no device that ,i have yet seen has succeeded in decorating in a perfectly satisfactory manner4 ,if the system be farther carried1 and a second or third order of buttresses be added1 the real fact is that we have a building standing on two or three rows of concentric piers1 with the roof off the whole of it except the central circle1 and only ribs left1 to carry the weight of the bit of remaining roof in the middle2 and after the eye has been accustomed to the bold and simple rounding of the ,italian apse1 the skeleton character of the disposition is painfully felt4 ,after spending some months in ,venice1 ,i thought ,bourges ,cathedral looked exactly like a half-built ship on its shores4 ,it is useless1 however1 to dispute respecting the merits of the two systems3 both are noble in their place2 the ,northern decidedly the most scientific1 or at least involving the greatest display of science1 the ,italian the calmest and purest1 this having in it the sublimity of a calm heaven or a windless noon1 the other that of a mountain flank tormented by the north wind1 and withering into grisly furrows of alternate chasm and crag4 ,x4 ,if ,i have succeeded in making the reader understand the veritable action of the buttress1 he will have no difficulty in determining its fittest form4 ,he has to deal with two distinct kinds2 one1 a narrow vertical pier1 acting principally by its weight1 and crowned by a pinnacle2 the other1 commonly called a ,flying buttress1 a cross bar set from such a pier 7when detached from the building7 against the main wall4 ,this latter1 then1 is to be considered as a mere prop or shore1 and its use by the ,gothic architects might be illustrated by the supposition that we were to build all our houses with walls too thin to stand without wooden props outside1 and then to substitute stone props for wooden ones4 ,i have some doubts of the real dignity of such a proceeding1 but at all events the merit of the form of the flying buttress depends on its faithfully and visibly performing this somewhat humble office2 it is1 therefore1 in its purity1 a mere sloping bar of stone1 with an arch beneath it to carry its weight1 that is to say1 to prevent the action of gravity from in any wise deflecting it1 or causing it to break downwards under the lateral thrust2 it is thus formed quite simple in ,notre ,dame of ,paris1 and in the ,cathedral of ,beauvais1 while at ,cologne the sloping bars are pierced with quatrefoils1 and at ,amiens with traceried arches4 ,both seem to me effeminate and false in principle2 not1 of course1 that there is any occasion to make the flying buttress heavy1 if a light one will answer the purpose2 but it seems as if some security were sacrificed to ornament4 ,at ,amiens the arrangement is now seen to great disadvantage1 for the early traceries have been replaced by base flamboyant ones1 utterly weak and despicable4 ,of the degradations of the original form which took place in after times1 ,i have spoken at p4 #ce of the ,seven ,lamps4 ,,xi4 ,the form of the common buttress must be familiar to the eye of every reader1 sloping if low1 and thrown into successive steps if they are to be carried to any considerable height4 ,there is much dignity in them when they are of essential service2 but even in their best examples1 their awkward angles are among the least manageable features of the ,northern ,gothic1 and the whole organisation of its system was destroyed by their unnecessary and lavish application on a diminished scale2 until the buttress became actually confused with the shaft1 and we find strangely crystallised masses of diminutive buttress applied1 for merely vertical support1 in the northern tabernacle work2 while in some recent copies of it the principle has been so far distorted that the tiny buttressings look as if they carried the superstructure on the points of their pinnacles1 as in the ,cranmer memorial at ,oxford4 ,indeed1 in most modern ,gothic1 the architects evidently consider buttresses as convenient breaks of blank surface1 and general apologies for deadness of wall4 ,they stand in the place of ideas1 and ,i think are supposed also to have something of the odor of sanctity about them2 otherwise1 one hardly sees why a warehouse seventy feet high should have nothing of the kind1 and a chapel1 which one can just get into with one's hat off1 should have a bunch of them at every corner2 and worse than this1 they are even thought ornamental when they can be of no possible use2 and these stupid penthouse outlines are forced upon the eye in every species of decoration3 in ,st4 ,margaret's ,chapel1 ,west ,street1 there are actually a couple of buttresses at the end of every pew4 ,,xii4 ,it is almost impossible1 in consequence of these unwise repetitions of it1 to contemplate the buttress without some degree of prejudice2 and ,i look upon it as one of the most justifiable causes of the unfortunate aversion with which many of our best architects regard the whole ,gothic school4 ,it may1 however1 always be regarded with respect when its form is simple and its service clear2 but no treason to ,gothic can be greater than the use of it in indolence or vanity1 to enhance the intricacies of structure1 or occupy the vacuities of design4 ,,chapter ,,xvi4 ,,form ,,of ,,aperture4 ,i4 ,we have now1 in order1 examined the means of raising walls and sustaining roofs1 and we have finally to consider the structure of the necessary apertures in the wall veil1 the door and window2 respecting which there are three main points to be considered4 #a4 ,the form of the aperture1 i4e41 its outline1 its size1 and the forms of its sides4 #b4 ,the filling of the aperture1 i4e41 valves and glass1 and their holdings4 #c4 ,the protection of the aperture1 and its appliances1 i4e41 canopies1 porches1 and balconies4 ,we shall examine these in succession4 ,,ii4 #a4 ,the form of the aperture3 and first of doors4 ,we will1 for the present1 leave out of the question doors and gates in unroofed walls1 the forms of these being very arbitrary1 and confine ourselves to the consideration of doors of entrance into roofed buildings4 ,such doors will1 for the most part1 be at1 or near1 the base of the building2 except when raised for purposes of defence1 as in the old ,scotch border towers1 and our own ,martello towers1 or1 as in ,switzerland1 to permit access in deep snow1 or when stairs are carried up outside the house for convenience or magnificence4 ,but in most cases1 whether high or low1 a door may be assumed to be considerably lower than the apartments or buildings into which it gives admission1 and therefore to have some height of wall above it1 whose weight must be carried by the heading of the door4 ,it is clear1 therefore1 that the best heading must be an arch1 because the strongest1 and that a square-headed door must be wrong1 unless under ,mont-,cenisian masonry2 or else1 unless the top of the door be the roof of the building1 as in low cottages4 ,and a square-headed door is just so much more wrong and ugly than a connexion of main shafts by lintels1 as the weight of wall above the door is likely to be greater than that above the main shafts4 ,thus1 while ,i admit the ,greek general forms of temple to be admirable in their kind1 ,i think the ,greek door always offensive and unmanageable4 ,,iii4 ,we have it also determined by necessity1 that the apertures shall be at least above a man's height1 with perpendicular sides 7for sloping sides are evidently unnecessary1 and even inconvenient1 therefore absurd7 and level threshold2 and this aperture we at present suppose simply cut through the wall without any bevelling of the jambs4 ,such a door1 wide enough for two persons to pass each other easily1 and with such fillings or valves as we may hereafter find expedient1 may be fit enough for any building into which entrance is required neither often1 nor by many persons at a time4 ,but when entrance and egress are constant1 or required by crowds1 certain further modifications must take place4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xliii4 ,,iv4 ,when entrance and egress are constant1 it may be supposed that the valves will be absent or unfastened1--that people will be passing more quickly than when the entrance and egress are unfrequent1 and that the square angles of the wall will be inconvenient to such quick passers through4 ,it is evident1 therefore1 that what would be done in time1 for themselves1 by the passing multitude1 should be done for them at once by the architect2 and that these angles1 which would be worn away by friction1 should at once be bevelled off1 or1 as it is called1 splayed1 and the most contracted part of the aperture made as short as possible1 so that the plan of the entrance should become as at a1 ,fig4 ,,xliii4 ,v4 ,farther4 ,as persons on the outside may often approach the door or depart from it1 beside the building1 so as to turn aside as they enter or leave the door1 and therefore touch its jamb1 but1 on the inside1 will in almost every case approach the door1 or depart from it in the direct line of the entrance 7people generally walking forward when they enter a hall1 court1 or chamber of any kind1 and being forced to do so when they enter a passage71 it is evident that the bevelling may be very slight on the inside1 but should be large on the outside1 so that the plan of the aperture should become as at b1 ,fig4 ,,xliii4 ,farther1 as the bevelled wall cannot conveniently carry an unbevelled arch1 the door arch must be bevelled also1 and the aperture1 seen from the outside1 will have somewhat the aspect of a small cavern diminishing towards the interior4 ,,vi4 ,if1 however1 beside frequent entrance1 entrance is required for multitudes at the same time1 the size of the aperture either must be increased1 or other apertures must be introduced4 ,it may1 in some buildings1 be optional with the architect whether he shall give many small doors1 or few large ones2 and in some1 as theatres1 amphitheatres1 and other places where the crowd are apt to be impatient1 many doors are by far the best arrangement of the two4 ,often1 however1 the purposes of the building1 as when it is to be entered by processions1 or where the crowd most usually enter in one direction1 require the large single entrance2 and 7for here again the sthetic and structural laws cannot be separated7 the expression and harmony of the building require1 in nearly every case1 an entrance of largeness proportioned to the multitude which is to meet within4 ,nothing is more unseemly than that a great multitude should find its way out and in1 as ants and wasps do1 through holes2 and nothing more undignified than the paltry doors of many of our ,english cathedrals1 which look as if they were made1 not for the open egress1 but for the surreptitious drainage of a stagnant congregation4 ,besides1 the expression of the church door should lead us1 as far as possible1 to desire at least the western entrance to be single1 partly because no man of right feeling would willingly lose the idea of unity and fellowship in going up to worship1 which is suggested by the vast single entrance2 partly because it is at the entrance that the most serious words of the building are always addressed1 by its sculptures or inscriptions1 to the worshipper2 and it is well1 that these words should be spoken to all at once1 as by one great voice1 not broken up into weak repetitions over minor doors4 ,in practice the matter has been1 ,i suppose1 regulated almost altogether by convenience1 the western doors being single in small churches1 while in the larger the entrances become three or five1 the central door remaining always principal1 in consequence of the fine sense of composition which the medival builders never lost4 ,these arrangements have formed the noblest buildings in the world4 ,yet it is worth observing#ee how perfect in its simplicity the single entrance may become1 when it is treated as in the ,duomo and ,st4 ,zeno of ,verona1 and other such early ,lombard churches1 having noble porches1 and rich sculptures grouped around the entrance4 ,,vii4 ,however1 whether the entrances be single1 triple1 or manifold1 it is a constant law that one shall be principal1 and all shall be of size in some degree proportioned to that of the building4 ,and this size is1 of course1 chiefly to be expressed in width1 that being the only useful dimension in a door 7except for pageantry1 chairing of bishops and waving of banners1 and other such vanities1 not1 ,i hope1 after this century1 much to be regarded in the building of ,christian temples72 but though the width is the only necessary dimension1 it is well to increase the height also in some proportion to it1 in order that there may be less weight of wall above1 resting on the increased span of the arch4 ,this is1 however1 so much the necessary result of the broad curve of the arch itself1 that there is no structural necessity of elevating the jamb2 and ,i believe that beautiful entrances might be made of every span of arch1 retaining the jamb at a little more than a man's height1 until the sweep of the curves became so vast that the small vertical line became a part of them1 and one entered into the temple as under a great rainbow4 ,,viii4 ,on the other hand1 the jamb may be elevated indefinitely1 so that the increasing entrance retains at least the proportion of width it had originally2 say #d ft4 by #g ft4 #e in4 ,but a less proportion of width than this has always a meagre1 inhospitable1 and ungainly look except in military architecture1 where the narrowness of the entrance is necessary1 and its height adds to its grandeur1 as between the entrance towers of our ,british castles4 ,this law however1 observe1 applies only to true doors1 not to the arches of porches1 which may be of any proportion1 as of any number1 being in fact intercolumniations1 not doors2 as in the noble example of the west front of ,peterborough1 which1 in spite of the destructive absurdity of its central arch being the narrowest1 would still1 if the paltry porter's lodge1 or gatehouse1 or turnpike1 or whatever it is1 were knocked out of the middle of it1 be the noblest west front in ,england4 ,,ix4 ,further1 and finally4 ,in proportion to the height and size of the building1 and therefore to the size of its doors1 will be the thickness of its walls1 especially at the foundation1 that is to say1 beside the doors2 and also in proportion to the numbers of a crowd will be the unruliness and pressure of it4 ,hence1 partly in necessity and partly in prudence1 the splaying or chamfering of the jamb of the larger door will be deepened1 and1 if possible1 made at a larger angle for the large door than for the small one2 so that the large door will always be encompassed by a visible breadth of jamb proportioned to its own magnitude4 ,the decorative value of this feature we shall see hereafter4 ,x4 ,the second kind of apertures we have to examine are those of windows4 ,window apertures are mainly of two kinds2 those for outlook1 and those for inlet of light1 many being for both purposes1 and either purpose1 or both1 combined in military architecture with those of offence and defence4 ,but all window apertures1 as compared with door apertures1 have almost infinite licence of form and size3 they may be of any shape1 from the slit or cross slit to the circle2#ef of any size1 from the loophole of the castle to the pillars of light of the cathedral apse4 ,yet1 according to their place and purpose1 one or two laws of fitness hold respecting them1 which let us examine in the two classes of windows successively1 but without reference to military architecture1 which here1 as before1 we may dismiss as a subject of separate science1 only noticing that windows1 like all other features1 are always delightful1 if not beautiful1 when their position and shape have indeed been thus necessarily determined1 and that many of their most picturesque forms have resulted from the requirements of war4 ,we should also find in military architecture the typical forms of the two classes of outlet and inlet windows in their utmost development2 the greatest sweep of sight and range of shot on the one hand1 and the fullest entry of light and air on the other1 being constantly required at the smallest possible apertures4 ,our business1 however1 is to reason out the laws for ourselves1 not to take the examples as we find them4 ,,xi4 #a4 ,outlook apertures4 ,for these no general outline is determinable by the necessities or inconveniences of outlooking1 except only that the bottom or sill of the windows1 at whatever height1 should be horizontal1 for the convenience of leaning on it1 or standing on it if the window be to the ground4 ,the form of the upper part of the window is quite immaterial1 for all windows allow a greater range of sight when they are approached than that of the eye itself3 it is the approachability of the window1 that is to say1 the annihilation of the thickness of the wall1 which is the real point to be attended to4 ,if1 therefore1 the aperture be inaccessible1 or so small that the thickness of the wall cannot be entered1 the wall is to be bevelled#eg on the outside1 so as to increase the range of sight as far as possible2 if the aperture can be entered1 then bevelled from the point to which entrance is possible4 ,the bevelling will1 if possible1 be in every direction1 that is to say1 upwards at the top1 outwards at the sides1 and downwards at the bottom1 but essentially downwards2 the earth and the doings upon it being the chief object in outlook windows1 except of observatories2 and where the object is a distinct and special view downwards1 it will be of advantage to shelter the eye as far as possible from the rays of light coming from above1 and the head of the window may be left horizontal1 or even the whole aperture sloped outwards1 as the slit in a letter-box is inwards4 ,the best windows for outlook are1 of course1 oriels and bow windows1 but these are not to be considered under the head of apertures merely2 they are either balconies roofed and glazed1 and to be considered under the head of external appliances1 or they are each a story of an external semi-tower1 having true aperture windows on each side of it4 ,,xii4 #b4 ,inlet windows4 ,these windows may1 of course1 be of any shape and size whatever1 according to the other necessities of the building1 and the quantity and direction of light desired1 their purpose being now to throw it in streams on particular lines or spots2 now to diffuse it everywhere2 sometimes to introduce it in broad masses1 tempered in strength1 as in the cathedral colored window2 sometimes in starry showers of scattered brilliancy1 like the apertures in the roof of an ,arabian bath2 perhaps the most beautiful of all forms being the rose1 which has in it the unity of both characters1 and sympathy with that of the source of light itself4 ,it is noticeable1 however1 that while both the circle and pointed oval are beautiful window forms1 it would be very painful to cut either of them in half and connect them by vertical lines1 as in ,fig4 ,,xliv4 ,the reason is1 ,i believe1 that so treated1 the upper arch is not considered as connected with the lower1 and forming an entire figure1 but as the ordinary arch roof of the aperture1 and the lower arch as an arch floor1 equally unnecessary and unnatural4 ,also1 the elliptical oval is generally an unsatisfactory form1 because it gives the idea of useless trouble in building it1 though it occurs quaintly and pleasantly in the former windows of ,france3 ,i believe it is also objectionable because it has an indeterminate1 slippery look1 like that of a bubble rising through a fluid4 ,it1 and all elongated forms1 are still more objectionable placed horizontally1 because this is the weakest position they can structurally have2 that is to say1 less light is admitted1 with greater loss of strength to the building1 than by any other form4 ,if admissible anywhere1 it is for the sake of variety at the top of the building1 as the flat parallelogram sometimes not ungracefully in ,italian ,renaissance4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xliv4 ,,xiii4 ,the question of bevelling becomes a little more complicated in the inlet than the outlook window1 because the mass or quantity of light admitted is often of more consequence than its direction1 and often vice vers2 and the outlook window is supposed to be approachable1 which is far from being always the case with windows for light1 so that the bevelling which in the outlook window is chiefly to open range of sight1 is in the inlet a means not only of admitting the light in greater quantity1 but of directing it to the spot on which it is to fall4 ,but1 in general1 the bevelling of the one window will reverse that of the other2 for1 first1 no natural light will strike on the inlet window from beneath1 unless reflected light1 which is 7,i believe7 injurious to the health and the sight2 and thus1 while in the outlook window the outside bevel downwards is essential1 in the inlet it would be useless3 and the sill is to be flat1 if the window be on a level with the spot it is to light2 and sloped downwards within1 if above it4 ,again1 as the brightest rays of light are the steepest1 the outside bevel upwards is as essential in the roof of the inlet as it was of small importance in that of the outlook window4 ,,xiv4 ,on the horizontal section the aperture will expand internally1 a somewhat larger number of rays being thus reflected from the jambs2 and the aperture being thus the smallest possible outside1 this is the favorite military form of inlet window1 always found in magnificent development in the thick walls of medival castles and convents4 ,its effect is tranquil1 but cheerless and dungeon-like in its fullest development1 owing to the limitation of the range of sight in the outlook1 which1 if the window be unapproachable1 reduces it to a mere point of light4 ,a modified condition of it1 with some combination of the outlook form1 is probably the best for domestic buildings in general 7which1 however1 in modern architecture1 are unhappily so thin walled1 that the outline of the jambs becomes a matter almost of indifference71 it being generally noticeable that the depth of recess which ,i have observed to be essential to nobility of external effect has also a certain dignity of expression1 as appearing to be intended rather to admit light to persons quietly occupied in their homes1 than to stimulate or favor the curiosity of idleness4 ,,footnotes3 #ee ,and worth questioning1 also1 whether the triple porch has not been associated with ,romanist views of mediatorship2 the ,redeemer being represented as presiding over the central door only1 and the lateral entrances being under the protection of saints1 while the ,madonna almost always has one or both of the transepts4 ,but it would be wrong to press this1 for1 in nine cases out of ten1 the architect has been merely influenced in his placing of the statues by an artist's desire of variety in their forms and dress2 and very naturally prefers putting a canonisation over one door1 a martyrdom over another1 and an assumption over a third1 to repeating a crucifixion or a judgment above all4 ,the architect's doctrine is only1 therefore1 to be noted with indisputable reprobation when the ,madonna gets possession of the main door4 #ef ,the arch heading is indeed the best where there is much incumbent weight1 but a window frequently has very little weight above it1 especially when placed high1 and the arched form loses light in a low room3 therefore the square-headed window is admissible where the square-headed door is not4 #eg ,i do not like the sound of the word splayed2 ,i always shall use bevelled instead4 ,,chapter ,,xvii4 ,,filling ,,of ,,aperture4 ,i4 ,thus far we have been concerned with the outline only of the aperture3 we were next1 it will be remembered1 to consider the necessary modes of filling it with valves in the case of the door1 or with glass or tracery in that of the window4 #a4 ,fillings of doors4 ,we concluded1 in the previous ,chapter1 that doors in buildings of any importance or size should have headings in the form of an arch4 ,this is1 however1 the most inconvenient form we could choose1 as respects the fitting of the valves of the doorway2 for the arch-shaped head of the valves not only requires considerable nicety in fitting to the arch1 but adds largely to the weight of the door1--a double disadvantage1 straining the hinges and making it cumbersome in opening4 ,and this inconvenience is so much perceived by the eye1 that a door valve with a pointed head is always a disagreeable object4 ,it becomes1 therefore1 a matter of true necessity so to arrange the doorway as to admit of its being fitted with rectangular valves4 ,,ii4 ,now1 in determining the form of the aperture1 we supposed the jamb of the door to be of the utmost height required for entrance4 ,the extra height of the arch is unnecessary as an opening1 the arch being required for its strength only1 not for its elevation4 ,there is1 therefore1 no reason why it should not be barred across by a horizontal lintel1 into which the valves may be fitted1 and the triangular or semicircular arched space above the lintel may then be permanently closed1 as we choose1 either with bars1 or glass1 or stone4 ,this is the form of all good doors1 without exception1 over the whole world and in all ages1 and no other can ever be invented4 ,,iii4 ,in the simplest doors the cross lintel is of wood only1 and glass or bars occupy the space above1 a very frequent form in ,venice4 ,in more elaborate doors the cross lintel is of stone1 and the filling sometimes of brick1 sometimes of stone1 very often a grand single stone being used to close the entire space3 the space thus filled is called the ,tympanum4 ,in large doors the cross lintel is too long to bear the great incumbent weight of this stone filling without support2 it is1 therefore1 carried by a pier in the centre2 and two valves are used1 fitted to the rectangular spaces on each side of the pier4 ,in the most elaborate examples of this condition1 each of these secondary doorways has an arch heading1 a cross lintel1 and a triangular filling or tympanum of its own1 all subordinated to the main arch above4 ,,iv4 #b4 ,fillings of windows4 ,when windows are large1 and to be filled with glass1 the sheet of glass1 however constructed1 whether of large panes or small fragments1 requires the support of bars of some kind1 either of wood1 metal1 or stone4 ,wood is inapplicable on a large scale1 owing to its destructibility2 very fit for door-valves1 which can be easily refitted1 and in which weight would be an inconvenience1 but very unfit for window-bars1 which1 if they decayed1 might let the whole window be blown in before their decay was observed1 and in which weight would be an advantage1 as offering more resistance to the wind4 ,iron is1 however1 fit for window-bars1 and there seems no constructive reason why we should not have iron traceries1 as well as iron pillars1 iron churches1 and iron steeples4 ,but ,i have1 in the ,seven ,lamps1 given reasons for not considering such structures as architecture at all4 ,the window-bars must1 therefore1 be of stone1 and of stone only4 ,v4 ,the purpose of the window being always to let in as much light1 and command as much view1 as possible1 these bars of stone are to be made as slender and as few as they can be1 consistently with their due strength4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xlv4 ,let it be required to support the breadth of glass1 a1 b1 ,fig4 ,,xlv4 ,the tendency of the glass sustaining any force1 as of wind from without1 is to bend into an arch inwards1 in the dotted line1 and break in the centre4 ,it is to be supported1 therefore1 by the bar put in its centre1 c4 ,but this central bar1 c1 may not be enough1 and the spaces a c1 c b1 may still need support4 ,the next step will be to put two bars instead of one1 and divide the window into three spaces as at d4 ,but this may still not be enough1 and the window may need three bars4 ,now the greatest stress is always on the centre of the window4 ,if the three bars are equal in strength1 as at e1 the central bar is either too slight for its work1 or the lateral bars too thick for theirs4 ,therefore1 we must slightly increase the thickness of the central bar1 and diminish that of the lateral ones1 so as to obtain the arrangement at f h4 ,if the window enlarge farther1 each of the spaces f g1 g h1 is treated as the original space a b1 and we have the groups of bars k and l4 ,so that1 whatever the shape of the window1 whatever the direction and number of the bars1 there are to be central or main bars2 second bars subordinated to them2 third bars subordinated to the second1 and so on to the number required4 ,this is called the subordination of tracery1 a system delightful to the eye and mind1 owing to its anatomical framing and unity1 and to its expression of the laws of good government in all fragile and unstable things4 ,all tracery1 therefore1 which is not subordinated1 is barbarous1 in so far as this part of its structure is concerned4 ,,vi4 ,the next question will be the direction of the bars4 ,the reader will understand at once1 without any laborious proof1 that a given area of glass1 supported by its edges1 is stronger in its resistance to violence when it is arranged in a long strip or band than in a square2 and that1 therefore1 glass is generally to be arranged1 especially in windows on a large scale1 in oblong areas3 and if the bars so dividing it be placed horizontally1 they will have less power of supporting themselves1 and will need to be thicker in consequence1 than if placed vertically4 ,as far1 therefore1 as the form of the window permits1 they are to be vertical4 ,,vii4 ,but even when so placed1 they cannot be trusted to support themselves beyond a certain height1 but will need cross bars to steady them4 ,cross bars of stone are1 therefore1 to be introduced at necessary intervals1 not to divide the glass1 but to support the upright stone bars4 ,the glass is always to be divided longitudinally as far as possible1 and the upright bars which divide it supported at proper intervals4 ,however high the window1 it is almost impossible that it should require more than two cross bars4 ,,viii4 ,it may sometimes happen that when tall windows are placed very close to each other for the sake of more light1 the masonry between them may stand in need1 or at least be the better of1 some additional support4 ,the cross bars of the windows may then be thickened1 in order to bond the intermediate piers more strongly together1 and if this thickness appear ungainly1 it may be modified by decoration4 ,,ix4 ,we have thus arrived at the idea of a vertical frame work of subordinated bars1 supported by cross bars at the necessary intervals1 and the only remaining question is the method of insertion into the aperture4 ,whatever its form1 if we merely let the ends of the bars into the voussoirs of its heading1 the least settlement of the masonry would distort the arch1 or push up some of its voussoirs1 or break the window bars1 or push them aside4 ,evidently our object should be to connect the window bars among themselves1 so framing them together that they may give the utmost possible degree of support to the whole window head in case of any settlement4 ,but we know how to do this already3 our window bars are nothing but small shafts4 ,capital them2 throw small arches across between the smaller bars1 large arches over them between the larger bars1 one comprehensive arch over the whole1 or else a horizontal lintel1 if the window have a flat head2 and we have a complete system of mutual support1 independent of the aperture head1 and yet assisting to sustain it1 if need be4 ,but we want the spandrils of this arch system to be themselves as light1 and to let as much light through them1 as possible3 and we know already how to pierce them 7,chap4 ,,xii4 ,,vii474 ,we pierce them with circles2 and we have1 if the circles are small and the stonework strong1 the traceries of ,giotto and the ,pisan school2 if the circles are as large as possible and the bars slender1 those which ,i have already figured and described as the only perfect traceries of the ,northern ,gothic4#eh ,the varieties of their design arise partly from the different size of window and consequent number of bars2 partly from the different heights of their pointed arches1 as well as the various positions of the window head in relation to the roof1 rendering one or another arrangement better for dividing the light1 and partly from sthetic and expressional requirements1 which1 within certain limits1 may be allowed a very important influence3 for the strength of the bars is ordinarily so much greater than is absolutely necessary1 that some portion of it may be gracefully sacrificed to the attainment of variety in the plans of tracery--a variety which1 even within its severest limits1 is perfectly endless2 more especially in the pointed arch1 the proportion of the tracery being in the round arch necessarily more fixed4 ,x4 ,the circular window furnishes an exception to the common law1 that the bars shall be vertical through the greater part of their length3 for if they were so1 they could neither have secure perpendicular footing1 nor secure heading1 their thrust being perpendicular to the curve of the voussoirs only in the centre of the window2 therefore1 a small circle1 like the axle of a wheel1 is put into the centre of the window1 large enough to give footing to the necessary number of radiating bars2 and the bars are arranged as spokes1 being all of course properly capitaled and arch-headed4 ,this is the best form of tracery for circular windows1 naturally enough called wheel windows when so filled4 ,,xi4 ,now1 ,i wish the reader especially to observe that we have arrived at these forms of perfect ,gothic tracery without the smallest reference to any practice of any school1 or to any law of authority whatever4 ,they are forms having essentially nothing whatever to do either with ,goths or ,greeks4 ,they are eternal forms1 based on laws of gravity and cohesion2 and no better1 nor any others so good1 will ever be invented1 so long as the present laws of gravity and cohesion subsist4 ,,xii4 ,it does not at all follow that this group of forms owes its origin to any such course of reasoning as that which has now led us to it4 ,on the contrary1 there is not the smallest doubt that tracery began1 partly1 in the grouping of windows together 7subsequently enclosed within a large arch#ei71 and partly in the fantastic penetrations of a single slab of stones under the arch1 as the circle in ,plate ,v4 above4 ,the perfect form seems to have been accidentally struck in passing from experiment on the one side1 to affectation on the other2 and it was so far from ever becoming systematised1 that ,i am aware of no type of tracery for which a less decided preference is shown in the buildings in which it exists4 ,the early pierced traceries are multitudinous and perfect in their kind1--the late ,flamboyant1 luxuriant in detail1 and lavish in quantity1--but the perfect forms exist in comparatively few churches1 generally in portions of the church only1 and are always connected1 and that closely1 either with the massy forms out of which they have emerged1 or with the enervated types into which they are instantly to degenerate4 ,,xiii4 ,nor indeed are we to look upon them as in all points superior to the more ancient examples4 ,we have above conducted our reasoning entirely on the supposition that a single aperture is given1 which it is the object to fill with glass1 diminishing the power of the light as little as possible4 ,but there are many cases1 as in triforium and cloister lights1 in which glazing is not required2 in which1 therefore1 the bars1 if there be any1 must have some more important function than that of merely holding glass1 and in which their actual use is to give steadiness and tone1 as it were1 to the arches and walls above and beside them2 or to give the idea of protection to those who pass along the triforium1 and of seclusion to those who walk in the cloister4 ,much thicker shafts1 and more massy arches1 may be properly employed in work of this kind2 and many groups of such tracery will be found resolvable into true colonnades1 with the arches in pairs1 or in triple or quadruple groups1 and with small rosettes pierced above them for light4 ,all this is just as right in its place1 as the glass tracery is in its own function1 and often much more grand4 ,but the same indulgence is not to be shown to the affectations which succeeded the developed forms4 ,of these there are three principal conditions3 the ,flamboyant of ,france1 the ,stump tracery of ,germany1 and the ,perpendicular of ,england4 ,,xiv4 ,of these the first arose1 by the most delicate and natural transitions1 out of the perfect school4 ,it was an endeavor to introduce more grace into its lines1 and more change into its combinations2 and the sthetic results are so beautiful1 that for some time after the right road had been left1 the aberration was more to be admired than regretted4 ,the final conditions became fantastic and effeminate1 but1 in the country where they had been invented1 never lost their peculiar grace until they were replaced by the ,renaissance4 ,the copies of the school in ,england and ,italy have all its faults and none of its beauties2 in ,france1 whatever it lost in method or in majesty1 it gained in fantasy3 literally ,flamboyant1 it breathed away its strength into the air2 but there is not more difference between the commonest doggrel that ever broke prose into unintelligibility1 and the burning mystery of ,coleridge1 or spirituality of ,elizabeth ,barrett1 than there is between the dissolute dulness of ,english ,flamboyant1 and the flaming undulations of the wreathed lines of delicate stone1 that confuse themselves with the clouds of every morning sky that brightens above the valley of the ,seine4 ,,xv4 ,the second group of traceries1 the intersectional or ,german group1 may be considered as including the entire range of the absurd forms which were invented in order to display dexterity in stone-cutting and ingenuity in construction4 ,they express the peculiar character of the ,german mind1 which cuts the frame of every truth joint from joint1 in order to prove the edge of its instruments2 and1 in all cases1 prefers a new or a strange thought to a good one1 and a subtle thought to a useful one4 ,the point and value of the ,german tracery consists principally in turning the features of good traceries upside down1 and cutting them in two where they are properly continuous4 ,to destroy at once foundation and membership1 and suspend everything in the air1 keeping out of sight1 as far as possible1 the evidences of a beginning and the probabilities of an end1 are the main objects of ,german architecture1 as of modern ,german divinity4 ,,xvi4 ,this school has1 however1 at least the merit of ingenuity4 ,not so the ,english ,perpendicular1 though a very curious school also in its way4 ,in the course of the reasoning which led us to the determination of the perfect ,gothic tracery1 we were induced successively to reject certain methods of arrangement as weak1 dangerous1 or disagreeable4 ,collect all these together1 and practise them at once1 and you have the ,english ,perpendicular4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xlvi4 ,as thus4 ,you find1 in the first place 7 ,v471 that your tracery bars are to be subordinated1 less to greater2 so you take a group of1 suppose1 eight1 which you make all exactly equal1 giving you nine equal spaces in the window1 as at ,a1 ,fig4 ,,xlvi4 ,you found1 in the second place 7 ,,vii471 that there was no occasion for more than two cross bars2 so you take at least four or five 7also represented at ,a1 ,fig4 ,,xlvi471 also carefully equalised1 and set at equal spaces4 ,you found1 in the third place 7 ,,viii471 that these bars were to be strengthened1 in order to support the main piers2 you will therefore cut the ends off the uppermost1 and the fourth into three pieces 7as also at ,a74 ,in the fourth place1 you found 7 ,,ix47 that you were never to run a vertical bar into the arch head2 so you run them all into it 7as at ,b1 ,fig4 ,,xlvi472 and this last arrangement will be useful in two ways1 for it will not only expose both the bars and the archivolt to an apparent probability of every species of dislocation at any moment1 but it will provide you with two pleasing interstices at the flanks1 in the shape of carving-knives1 a1 b1 which1 by throwing across the curves c1 d1 you may easily multiply into four2 and these1 as you can put nothing into their sharp tops1 will afford you a more than usually rational excuse for a little bit of ,germanism1 in filling them with arches upside down1 e1 f4 ,you will now have left at your disposal two and forty similar interstices1 which1 for the sake of variety1 you will proceed to fill with two and forty similar arches3 and1 as you were told that the moment a bar received an arch heading1 it was to be treated as a shaft and capitalled1 you will take care to give your bars no capitals nor bases1 but to run bars1 foliations and all1 well into each other after the fashion of cast-iron1 as at ,c4 ,you have still two triangular spaces occurring in an important part of your window1 g g1 which1 as they are very conspicuous1 and you cannot make them uglier than they are1 you will do wisely to let alone2--and you will now have the west window of the cathedral of ,winchester1 a very perfect example of ,english ,perpendicular4 ,nor do ,i think that you can1 on the whole1 better the arrangement1 unless1 perhaps1 by adding buttresses to some of the bars1 as is done in the cathedral at ,gloucester2 these buttresses having the double advantage of darkening the window when seen from within1 and suggesting1 when it is seen from without1 the idea of its being divided by two stout party walls1 with a heavy thrust against the glass4 ,,xvii4 ,thus far we have considered the plan of the tracery only3 we have lastly to note the conditions under which the glass is to be attached to the bars2 and the sections of the bars themselves4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xlvii4 ,these bars we have seen1 in the perfect form1 are to become shafts2 but1 supposing the object to be the admission of as much light as possible1 it is clear that the thickness of the bar ought to be chiefly in the depth of the window1 and that by increasing the depth of the bar we may diminish its breadth3 clearly1 therefore1 we should employ the double group of shafts1 b1 of ,fig4 ,,xiv41 setting it edgeways in the window3 but as the glass would then come between the two shafts1 we must add a member into which it is to be fitted1 as at a1 ,fig4 ,,xlvii41 and uniting these three members together in the simplest way1 with a curved instead of a sharp recess behind the shafts1 we have the section b1 the perfect1 but simplest type of the main tracery bars in good ,gothic4 ,in triforium and cloister tracery1 which has no glass to hold1 the central member is omitted1 and we have either the pure double shaft1 always the most graceful1 or a single and more massy shaft1 which is the simpler and more usual form4 ,,xviii4 ,finally3 there is an intermediate arrangement between the glazed and the open tracery1 that of the domestic traceries of ,venice4 ,peculiar conditions1 hereafter to be described1 require the shafts of these traceries to become the main vertical supports of the floors and walls4 ,their thickness is therefore enormous2 and yet free egress is required between them 7into balconies7 which is obtained by doors in their lattice glazing4 ,to prevent the inconvenience and ugliness of driving the hinges and fastenings of them into the shafts1 and having the play of the doors in the intervals1 the entire glazing is thrown behind the pillars1 and attached to their abaci and bases with iron4 ,it is thus securely sustained by their massy bulk1 and leaves their symmetry and shade undisturbed4 ,,xix4 ,the depth at which the glass should be placed1 in windows without traceries1 will generally be fixed by the forms of their bevelling1 the glass occupying the narrowest interval2 but when its position is not thus fixed1 as in many ,london houses1 it is to be remembered that the deeper the glass is set 7the wall being of given thickness71 the more light will enter1 and the clearer the prospect will be to a person sitting quietly in the centre of the room2 on the contrary1 the farther out the glass is set1 the more convenient the window will be for a person rising and looking out of it4 ,the one1 therefore1 is an arrangement for the idle and curious1 who care only about what is going on upon the earth3 the other for those who are willing to remain at rest1 so that they have free admission of the light of ,heaven4 ,this might be noted as a curious expressional reason for the necessity 7of which no man of ordinary feeling would doubt for a moment7 of a deep recess in the window1 on the outside1 to all good or architectural effect3 still1 as there is no reason why people should be made idle by having it in their power to look out of window1 and as the slight increase of light or clearness of view in the centre of a room is more than balanced by the loss of space1 and the greater chill of the nearer glass and outside air1 we can1 ,i fear1 allege no other structural reason for the picturesque external recess1 than the expediency of a certain degree of protection1 for the glass1 from the brightest glare of sunshine1 and heaviest rush of rain4 ,,footnotes3 #eh ,seven ,lamps1 p4 #ec4 #ei ,on the north side of the nave of the cathedral of ,lyons1 there is an early ,french window1 presenting one of the usual groups of foliated arches and circles1 left1 as it were1 loose1 without any enclosing curve4 ,the effect is very painful4 ,this remarkable window is associated with others of the common form4 ,,chapter ,,xviii4 ,,protection ,,of ,,aperture4 ,i4 ,we have hitherto considered the aperture as merely pierced in the thickness of the walls2 and when its masonry is simple and the fillings of the aperture are unimportant1 it may well remain so4 ,but when the fillings are delicate and of value1 as in the case of colored glass1 finely wrought tracery1 or sculpture1 such as we shall often find occupying the tympanum of doorways1 some protection becomes necessary against the run of the rain down the walls1 and back by the bevel of the aperture to the joints or surface of the fillings4 ,,ii4 ,the first and simplest mode of obtaining this is by channelling the jambs and arch head2 and this is the chief practical service of aperture mouldings1 which are otherwise entirely decorative4 ,but as this very decorative character renders them unfit to be made channels for rain water1 it is well to add some external roofing to the aperture1 which may protect it from the run of all the rain1 except that which necessarily beats into its own area4 ,this protection1 in its most usual form1 is a mere dripstone moulding carried over or round the head of the aperture4 ,but this is1 in reality1 only a contracted form of a true roof1 projecting from the wall over the aperture2 and all protections of apertures whatsoever are to be conceived as portions of small roofs1 attached to the wall behind2 and supported by it1 so long as their scale admits of their being so with safety1 and afterwards in such manner as may be most expedient4 ,the proper forms of these1 and modes of their support1 are to be the subject of our final enquiry4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xlviii4 ,,iii4 ,respecting their proper form we need not stay long in doubt4 ,a deep gable is evidently the best for throwing off rain2 even a low gable being better than a high arch4 ,flat roofs1 therefore1 may only be used when the nature of the building renders the gable unsightly2 as when there is not room for it between the stories2 or when the object is rather shade than protection from rain1 as often in verandahs and balconies4 ,but for general service the gable is the proper and natural form1 and may be taken as representative of the rest4 ,then this gable may either project unsupported from the wall1 a1 ,fig4 ,,xlviii41 or be carried by brackets or spurs1 b1 or by walls or shafts1 c1 which shafts or walls may themselves be1 in windows1 carried on a sill2 and this1 in its turn1 supported by brackets or spurs4 ,we shall glance at the applications of each of these forms in order4 ,,iv4 ,there is not much variety in the case of the first1 a1 ,fig4 ,,xlviii4 ,in the ,cumberland and border cottages the door is generally protected by two pieces of slate arranged in a gable1 giving the purest possible type of the first form4 ,in elaborate architecture such a projection hardly ever occurs1 and in large architecture cannot with safety occur1 without brackets2 but by cutting away the greater part of the projection1 we shall arrive at the idea of a plain gabled cornice1 of which a perfect example will be found in ,plate ,,vii4 of the folio series4 ,with this first complete form we may associate the rude1 single1 projecting1 penthouse roof2 imperfect1 because either it must be level and the water lodge lazily upon it1 or throw off the drip upon the persons entering4 ,v4 #b4 b1 ,fig4 ,,xlviii4 ,this is a most beautiful and natural type1 and is found in all good architecture1 from the highest to the most humble3 it is a frequent form of cottage door1 more especially when carried on spurs1 being of peculiarly easy construction in wood3 as applied to large architecture1 it can evidently be built1 in its boldest and simplest form1 either of wood only1 or on a scale which will admit of its sides being each a single slab of stone4 ,if so large as to require jointed masonry1 the gabled sides will evidently require support1 and an arch must be thrown across under them1 as in ,fig4 ,,xlix41 from ,fiesole4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,xlix4 ,if we cut the projection gradually down1 we arrive at the common ,gothic gable dripstone carried on small brackets1 carved into bosses1 heads1 or some other ornamental form2 the sub-arch in such case being useless1 is removed or coincides with the arch head of the aperture4 ,,vi4 #c4 c1 ,fig4 ,,xlviii4 ,substituting walls or pillars for the brackets1 we may carry the projection as far out as we choose1 and form the perfect porch1 either of the cottage or village church1 or of the cathedral4 ,as we enlarge the structure1 however1 certain modifications of form become necessary1 owing to the increased boldness of the required supporting arch4 ,for1 as the lower end of the gabled roof and of the arch cannot coincide1 we have necessarily above the shafts one of the two forms a or b1 in ,fig4 ,l41 of which the latter is clearly the best1 requiring less masonry and shorter roofing2 and when the arch becomes so large as to cause a heavy lateral thrust1 it may become necessary to provide for its farther safety by pinnacles1 c4 ,this last is the perfect type of aperture protection4 ,none other can ever be invented so good4 ,it is that once employed by ,giotto in the cathedral of ,florence1 and torn down by the proveditore1 ,benedetto ,uguccione1 to erect a ,renaissance front instead2 and another such has been destroyed1 not long since1 in ,venice1 the porch of the church of ,st4 ,apollinare1 also to put up some ,renaissance upholstery3 for ,renaissance1 as if it were not nuisance enough in the mere fact of its own existence1 appears invariably as a beast of prey1 and founds itself on the ruin of all that is best and noblest4 ,many such porches1 however1 happily still exist in ,italy1 and are among its principal glories4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,l4 ,,vii4 ,when porches of this kind1 carried by walls1 are placed close together1 as in cases where there are many and large entrances to a cathedral front1 they would1 in their general form1 leave deep and uncomfortable intervals1 in which damp would lodge and grass grow2 and there would be a painful feeling in approaching the door in the midst of a crowd1 as if some of them might miss the real doors1 and be driven into the intervals1 and embayed there4 ,clearly it will be a natural and right expedient1 in such cases1 to open the walls of the porch wider1 so that they may correspond in slope1 or nearly so1 with the bevel of the doorway1 and either meet each other in the intervals1 or have the said intervals closed up with an intermediate wall1 so that nobody may get embayed in them4 ,the porches will thus be united1 and form one range of great open gulphs or caverns1 ready to receive all comers1 and direct the current of the crowd into the narrower entrances4 ,as the lateral thrust of the arches is now met by each other1 the pinnacles1 if there were any1 must be removed1 and waterspouts placed between each arch to discharge the double drainage of the gables4 ,this is the form of all the noble northern porches1 without exception1 best represented by that of ,rheims4 ,,viii4 ,contracted conditions of the pinnacle porch are beautifully used in the doors of the cathedral of ,florence2 and the entire arrangement1 in its most perfect form1 as adapted to window protection and decoration1 is applied by ,giotto with inconceivable exquisiteness in the windows of the campanile2 those of the cathedral itself being all of the same type4 ,various singular and delightful conditions of it are applied in ,italian domestic architecture 7in the ,broletto of ,monza very quaintly71 being associated with balconies for speaking to the people1 and passing into pulpits4 ,in the north we glaze the sides of such projections1 and they become bow-windows1 the shape of roofing being then nearly immaterial and very fantastic1 often a conical cap4 ,all these conditions of window protection1 being for real service1 are endlessly delightful 7and ,i believe the beauty of the balcony1 protected by an open canopy supported by light shafts1 never yet to have been properly worked out74 ,but the ,renaissance architects destroyed all of them1 and introduced the magnificent and witty ,roman invention of a model of a ,greek pediment1 with its cornices of monstrous thickness1 bracketed up above the window4 ,the horizontal cornice of the pediment is thus useless1 and of course1 therefore1 retained2 the protection to the head of the window being constructed on the principle of a hat with its crown sewn up4 ,but the deep and dark triangular cavity thus obtained affords farther opportunity for putting ornament out of sight1 of which the ,renaissance architects are not slow to avail themselves4 ,a more rational condition is the complete pediment with a couple of shafts1 or pilasters1 carried on a bracketed sill2 and the windows of this kind1 which have been well designed1 are perhaps the best things which the ,renaissance schools have produced3 those of ,whitehall are1 in their way1 exceedingly beautiful2 and those of the ,palazzo ,ricardi at ,florence1 in their simplicity and sublimity1 are scarcely unworthy of their reputed designer1 ,michael ,angelo4 ,,chapter ,,xix4 ,,superimposition4 ,i4 ,the reader has now some knowledge of every feature of all possible architecture4 ,whatever the nature of the building which may be submitted to his criticism1 if it be an edifice at all1 if it be anything else than a mere heap of stones like a pyramid or breakwater1 or than a large stone hewn into shape1 like an obelisk1 it will be instantly and easily resolvable into some of the parts which we have been hitherto considering3 its pinnacles will separate themselves into their small shafts and roofs2 its supporting members into shafts and arches1 or walls penetrated by apertures of various shape1 and supported by various kinds of buttresses4 ,respecting each of these several features ,i am certain that the reader feels himself prepared1 by understanding their plain function1 to form something like a reasonable and definite judgment1 whether they be good or bad2 and this right judgment of parts will1 in most cases1 lead him to just reverence or condemnation of the whole4 ,,ii4 ,the various modes in which these parts are capable of combination1 and the merits of buildings of different form and expression1 are evidently not reducible into lists1 nor to be estimated by general laws4 ,the nobility of each building depends on its special fitness for its own purposes2 and these purposes vary with every climate1 every soil1 and every national custom3 nay1 there were never1 probably1 two edifices erected in which some accidental difference of condition did not require some difference of plan or of structure2 so that1 respecting plan and distribution of parts1 ,i do not hope to collect any universal law of right2 but there are a few points necessary to be noticed respecting the means by which height is attained in buildings of various plans1 and the expediency and methods of superimposition of one story or tier of architecture above another4 ,,iii4 ,for1 in the preceding inquiry1 ,i have always supposed either that a single shaft would reach to the top of the building1 or that the farther height required might be added in plain wall above the heads of the arches2 whereas it may often be rather expedient to complete the entire lower series of arches1 or finish the lower wall1 with a bold string course or cornice1 and build another series of shafts1 or another wall1 on the top of it4 ,,iv4 ,this superimposition is seen in its simplest form in the interior shafts of a ,greek temple2 and it has been largely used in nearly all countries where buildings have been meant for real service4 ,outcry has often been raised against it1 but the thing is so sternly necessary that it has always forced itself into acceptance2 and it would1 therefore1 be merely losing time to refute the arguments of those who have attempted its disparagement4 ,thus far1 however1 they have reason on their side1 that if a building can be kept in one grand mass1 without sacrificing either its visible or real adaptation to its objects1 it is not well to divide it into stories until it has reached proportions too large to be justly measured by the eye4 ,it ought then to be divided in order to mark its bulk2 and decorative divisions are often possible1 which rather increase than destroy the expression of general unity4 ,v4 ,superimposition1 wisely practised1 is of two kinds1 directly contrary to each other1 of weight on lightness1 and of lightness on weight2 while the superimposition of weight on weight1 or lightness on lightness1 is nearly always wrong4 #a4 ,weight on lightness3 ,i do not say weight on weakness4 ,the superimposition of the human body on its limbs ,i call weight on lightness3 the superimposition of the branches on a tree trunk ,i call lightness on weight3 in both cases the support is fully adequate to the work1 the form of support being regulated by the differences of requirement4 ,nothing in architecture is half so painful as the apparent want of sufficient support when the weight above is visibly passive3 for all buildings are not passive2 some seem to rise by their own strength1 or float by their own buoyancy2 a dome requires no visibility of support1 one fancies it supported by the air4 ,but passive architecture without help for its passiveness is unendurable4 ,in a lately built house1 ,no4 #hf1 in ,oxford ,street1 three huge stone pillars in the second story are carried apparently by the edges of three sheets of plate glass in the first4 ,i hardly know anything to match the painfulness of this and some other of our shop structures1 in which the iron-work is concealed2 nor1 even when it is apparent1 can the eye ever feel satisfied of their security1 when built1 as at present1 with fifty or sixty feet of wall above a rod of iron not the width of this page4 ,,vi4 ,the proper forms of this superimposition of weight on lightness have arisen1 for the most part1 from the necessity or desirableness1 in many situations1 of elevating the inhabited portions of buildings considerably above the ground level1 especially those exposed to damp or inundation1 and the consequent abandonment of the ground story as unserviceable1 or else the surrender of it to public purposes4 ,thus1 in many market and town houses1 the ground story is left open as a general place of sheltered resort1 and the enclosed apartments raised on pillars4 ,in almost all warm countries the luxury1 almost the necessity1 of arcades to protect the passengers from the sun1 and the desirableness of large space in the rooms above1 lead to the same construction4 ,throughout the ,venetian islet group1 the houses seem to have been thus1 in the first instance1 universally built1 all the older palaces appearing to have had the rez de chausse perfectly open1 the upper parts of the palace being sustained on magnificent arches1 and the smaller houses sustained in the same manner on wooden piers1 still retained in many of the cortiles1 and exhibited characteristically throughout the main street of ,murano4 ,as ground became more valuable and house-room more scarce1 these ground-floors were enclosed with wall veils between the original shafts1 and so remain2 but the type of the structure of the entire city is given in the ,ducal ,palace4 ,,vii4 ,to this kind of superimposition we owe the most picturesque street effects throughout the world1 and the most graceful1 as well as the most grotesque1 buildings1 from the many-shafted fantasy of the ,alhambra 7a building as beautiful in disposition as it is base in ornamentation7 to the four-legged stolidity of the ,swiss ,chalet3#fj nor these only1 but great part of the effect of our cathedrals1 in which1 necessarily1 the close triforium and clerestory walls are superimposed on the nave piers2 perhaps with most majesty where with greatest simplicity1 as in the old basilican types1 and the noble cathedral of ,pisa4 ,,viii4 ,in order to the delightfulness and security of all such arrangements1 this law must be observed3--that in proportion to the height of wall above them1 the shafts are to be short4 ,you may take your given height of wall1 and turn any quantity of that wall into shaft that you like2 but you must not turn it all into tall shafts1 and then put more wall above4 ,thus1 having a house five stories high1 you may turn the lower story into shafts1 and leave the four stories in wall2 or the two lower stories into shafts1 and leave three in wall2 but1 whatever you add to the shaft1 you must take from the wall4 ,then also1 of course1 the shorter the shaft the thicker will be its proportionate1 if not its actual1 diameter4 ,in the ,ducal ,palace of ,venice the shortest shafts are always the thickest4#fa ,,ix4 ,the second kind of superimposition1 lightness on weight1 is1 in its most necessary use1 of stories of houses one upon another1 where1 of course1 wall veil is required in the lower ones1 and has to support wall veil above1 aided by as much of shaft structure as is attainable within the given limits4 ,the greatest1 if not the only1 merit of the ,roman and ,renaissance ,venetian architects is their graceful management of this kind of superimposition2 sometimes of complete courses of external arches and shafts one above the other2 sometimes of apertures with intermediate cornices at the levels of the floors1 and large shafts from top to bottom of the building2 always observing that the upper stories shall be at once lighter and richer than the lower ones4 ,the entire value of such buildings depends upon the perfect and easy expression of the relative strength of the stories1 and the unity obtained by the varieties of their proportions1 while yet the fact of superimposition and separation by floors is frankly told4 ,x4 ,in churches and other buildings in which there is no separation by floors1 another kind of pure shaft superimposition is often used1 in order to enable the builder to avail himself of short and slender shafts4 ,it has been noted that these are often easily attainable1 and of precious materials1 when shafts large enough and strong enough to do the work at once1 could not be obtained except at unjustifiable expense1 and of coarse stone4 ,the architect has then no choice but to arrange his work in successive stories2 either frankly completing the arch work and cornice of each1 and beginning a new story above it1 which is the honester and nobler way1 or else tying the stories together by supplementary shafts from floor to roof1--the general practice of the ,northern ,gothic1 and one which1 unless most gracefully managed1 gives the look of a scaffolding1 with cross-poles tied to its uprights1 to the whole clerestory wall4 ,the best method is that which avoids all chance of the upright shafts being supposed continuous1 by increasing their number and changing their places in the upper stories1 so that the whole work branches from the ground like a tree4 ,this is the superimposition of the ,byzantine and the ,pisan ,romanesque2 the most beautiful examples of it being1 ,i think1 the ,southern portico of ,st4 ,mark's1 the church of ,s4 ,giovanni at ,pistoja1 and the apse of the cathedral of ,pisa4 ,in ,renaissance work the two principles are equally distinct1 though the shafts are 7,i think7 always one above the other4 ,the reader may see one of the best examples of the separately superimposed story in ,whitehall 7and another far inferior in ,st4 ,paul's71 and by turning himself round at ,whitehall may compare with it the system of connecting shafts in the ,treasury2 though this is a singularly bad example1 the window cornices of the first floor being like shelves in a cupboard1 and cutting the mass of the building in two1 in spite of the pillars4 ,,xi4 ,but this superimposition of lightness on weight is still more distinctly the system of many buildings of the kind which ,i have above called ,architecture of ,position1 that is to say1 architecture of which the greater part is intended merely to keep something in a peculiar position2 as in light-houses1 and many towers and belfries4 ,the subject of spire and tower architecture1 however1 is so interesting and extensive1 that ,i have thoughts of writing a detached essay upon it1 and1 at all events1 cannot enter upon it here3 but this much is enough for the reader to note for our present purpose1 that1 although many towers do in reality stand on piers or shafts1 as the central towers of cathedrals1 yet the expression of all of them1 and the real structure of the best and strongest1 are the elevation of gradually diminishing weight on massy or even solid foundation4 ,nevertheless1 since the tower is in its origin a building for strength of defence1 and faithfulness of watch1 rather than splendor of aspect1 its true expression is of just so much diminution of weight upwards as may be necessary to its fully balanced strength1 not a jot more4 ,there must be no light-headedness in your noble tower3 impregnable foundation1 wrathful crest1 with the vizor down1 and the dark vigilance seen through the clefts of it2 not the filigree crown or embroidered cap4 ,no towers are so grand as the square-browed ones1 with massy cornices and rent battlements3 next to these come the fantastic towers1 with their various forms of steep roof2 the best1 not the cone1 but the plain gable thrown very high2 last of all in my mind 7of good towers71 those with spires or crowns1 though these1 of course1 are fittest for ecclesiastical purposes1 and capable of the richest ornament4 ,the paltry four or eight pinnacled things we call towers in ,england 7as in ,york ,minster71 are mere confectioner's ,gothic1 and not worth classing4 ,,xii4 ,but1 in all of them1 this ,i believe to be a point of chief necessity1--that they shall seem to stand1 and shall verily stand1 in their own strength2 not by help of buttresses nor artful balancings on this side and on that4 ,your noble tower must need no help1 must be sustained by no crutches1 must give place to no suspicion of decrepitude4 ,its office may be to withstand war1 look forth for tidings1 or to point to heaven3 but it must have in its own walls the strength to do this2 it is to be itself a bulwark1 not to be sustained by other bulwarks2 to rise and look forth1 the tower of ,lebanon that looketh toward ,damascus1 like a stern sentinel1 not like a child held up in its nurse's arms4 ,a tower may1 indeed1 have a kind of buttress1 a projection1 or subordinate tower at each of its angles2 but these are to its main body like the satellites to a shaft1 joined with its strength1 and associated in its uprightness1 part of the tower itself3 exactly in the proportion in which they lose their massive unity with its body and assume the form of true buttress walls set on its angles1 the tower loses its dignity4 ,,xiii4 ,these two characters1 then1 are common to all noble towers1 however otherwise different in purpose or feature1--the first1 that they rise from massy foundation to lighter summits1 frowning with battlements perhaps1 but yet evidently more pierced and thinner in wall than beneath1 and1 in most ecclesiastical examples1 divided into rich open work3 the second1 that whatever the form of the tower1 it shall not appear to stand by help of buttresses4 ,it follows from the first condition1 as indeed it would have followed from ordinary sthetic requirements1 that we shall have continual variation in the arrangements of the stories1 and the larger number of apertures towards the top1--a condition exquisitely carried out in the old ,lombardic towers1 in which1 however small they may be1 the number of apertures is always regularly increased towards the summit2 generally one window in the lowest stories1 two in the second1 then three1 five1 and six2 often1 also1 one1 two1 four1 and six1 with beautiful symmetries of placing1 not at present to our purpose4 ,we may sufficiently exemplify the general laws of tower building by placing side by side1 drawn to the same scale1 a medival tower1 in which most of them are simply and unaffectedly observed1 and one of our own modern towers1 in which every one of them is violated1 in small space1 convenient for comparison4 7,plate ,,vi47 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,vi4 ,,types ,,of ,,towers4 ,,british ,,venetian4 ,,xiv4 ,the old tower is that of ,st4 ,mark's at ,venice1 not a very perfect example1 for its top is ,renaissance1 but as good ,renaissance as there is in ,venice2 and it is fit for our present purpose1 because it owes none of its effect to ornament4 ,it is built as simply as it well can be to answer its purpose3 no buttresses2 no external features whatever1 except some huts at the base1 and the loggia1 afterwards built1 which1 on purpose1 ,i have not drawn2 one bold square mass of brickwork2 double walls1 with an ascending inclined plane between them1 with apertures as small as possible1 and these only in necessary places1 giving just the light required for ascending the stair or slope1 not a ray more2 and the weight of the whole relieved only by the double pilasters on the sides1 sustaining small arches at the top of the mass1 each decorated with the scallop or cockle shell1 presently to be noticed as frequent in ,renaissance ornament1 and here1 for once1 thoroughly well applied4 ,then1 when the necessary height is reached1 the belfry is left open1 as in the ordinary ,romanesque campanile1 only the shafts more slender1 but severe and simple1 and the whole crowned by as much spire as the tower would carry1 to render it more serviceable as a landmark4 ,the arrangement is repeated in numberless campaniles throughout ,italy4 ,,xv4 ,the one beside it is one of those of the lately built college at ,edinburgh4 ,i have not taken it as worse than many others 7just as ,i have not taken the ,st4 ,mark's tower as better than many others72 but it happens to compress our ,british system of tower building into small space4 ,the ,venetian tower rises #cej feet1#fb and has no buttresses1 though built of brick2 the ,british tower rises #aba feet1 and is built of stone1 but is supposed to be incapable of standing without two huge buttresses on each angle4 ,the ,st4 ,mark's tower has a high sloping roof1 but carries it simply1 requiring no pinnacles at its angles2 the ,british tower has no visible roof1 but has four pinnacles for mere ornament4 ,the ,venetian tower has its lightest part at the top1 and is massy at the base2 the ,british tower has its lightest part at the base1 and shuts up its windows into a mere arrowslit at the top4 ,what the tower was built for at all must therefore1 it seems to me1 remain a mystery to every beholder2 for surely no studious inhabitant of its upper chambers will be conceived to be pursuing his employments by the light of the single chink on each side2 and1 had it been intended for a belfry1 the sound of its bells would have been as effectually prevented from getting out as the light from getting in4 ,,xvi4 ,in connexion with the subject of towers and of superimposition1 one other feature1 not conveniently to be omitted from our house-building1 requires a moment's notice1--the staircase4 ,in modern houses it can hardly be considered an architectural feature1 and is nearly always an ugly one1 from its being apparently without support4 ,and here ,i may not unfitly note the important distinction1 which perhaps ought to have been dwelt upon in some places before now1 between the marvellous and the perilous in apparent construction4 ,there are many edifices which are awful or admirable in their height1 and lightness1 and boldness of form1 respecting which1 nevertheless1 we have no fear that they should fall4 ,many a mighty dome and arial aisle and arch may seem to stand1 as ,i said1 by miracle1 but by steadfast miracle notwithstanding2 there is no fear that the miracle should cease4 ,we have a sense of inherent power in them1 or1 at all events1 of concealed and mysterious provision for their safety4 ,but in leaning towers1 as of ,pisa or ,bologna1 and in much minor architecture1 passive architecture1 of modern times1 we feel that there is but a chance between the building and destruction2 that there is no miraculous life in it1 which animates it into security1 but an obstinate1 perhaps vain1 resistance to immediate danger4 ,the appearance of this is often as strong in small things as in large2 in the sounding-boards of pulpits1 for instance1 when sustained by a single pillar behind them1 so that one is in dread1 during the whole sermon1 of the preacher being crushed if a single nail should give way2 and again1 the modern geometrical unsupported staircase4 ,there is great disadvantage1 also1 in the arrangement of this latter1 when room is of value2 and excessive ungracefulness in its awkward divisions of the passage walls1 or windows4 ,in medival architecture1 where there was need of room1 the staircase was spiral1 and enclosed generally in an exterior tower1 which added infinitely to the picturesque effect of the building2 nor was the stair itself steeper nor less commodious than the ordinary compressed straight staircase of a modern dwelling-house4 ,many of the richest towers of domestic architecture owe their origin to this arrangement4 ,in ,italy the staircase is often in the open air1 surrounding the interior court of the house1 and giving access to its various galleries or loggias3 in this case it is almost always supported by bold shafts and arches1 and forms a most interesting additional feature of the cortile1 but presents no peculiarity of construction requiring our present examination4 ,we may here1 therefore1 close our inquiries into the subject of construction2 nor must the reader be dissatisfied with the simplicity or apparent barrenness of their present results4 ,he will find1 when he begins to apply them1 that they are of more value than they now seem2 but ,i have studiously avoided letting myself be drawn into any intricate question1 because ,i wished to ask from the reader only so much attention as it seemed that even the most indifferent would not be unwilling to pay to a subject which is hourly becoming of greater practical interest4 ,evidently it would have been altogether beside the purpose of this essay to have entered deeply into the abstract science1 or closely into the mechanical detail1 of construction3 both have been illustrated by writers far more capable of doing so than ,i1 and may be studied at the reader's discretion2 all that has been here endeavored was the leading him to appeal to something like definite principle1 and refer to the easily intelligible laws of convenience and necessity1 whenever he found his judgment likely to be overborne by authority on the one hand1 or dazzled by novelty on the other4 ,if he has time to do more1 and to follow out in all their brilliancy the mechanical inventions of the great engineers and architects of the day1 ,i1 in some sort1 envy him1 but must part company with him3 for my way lies not along the viaduct1 but down the quiet valley which its arches cross1 nor through the tunnel1 but up the hill-side which its cavern darkens1 to see what gifts ,nature will give us1 and with what imagery she will fill our thoughts1 that the stones we have ranged in rude order may now be touched with life2 nor lose for ever1 in their hewn nakedness1 the voices they had of old1 when the valley streamlet eddied round them in palpitating light1 and the winds of the hill-side shook over them the shadows of the fern4 ,,footnotes3 #fj ,i have spent much of my life among the ,alps2 but ,i never pass1 without some feeling of new surprise1 the ,chalet1 standing on its four pegs 7each topped with a flat stone71 balanced in the fury of ,alpine winds4 ,it is not1 perhaps1 generally known that the chief use of the arrangement is not so much to raise the building above the snow1 as to get a draught of wind beneath it1 which may prevent the drift from rising against its sides4 #fa ,appendix #bj1 ,shafts of the ,ducal ,palace4 #fb ,i have taken ,professor ,willis's estimate2 there being discrepancy among various statements4 ,i did not take the trouble to measure the height myself1 the building being one which does not come within the range of our future inquiries2 and its exact dimensions1 even here1 are of no importance as respects the question at issue4 ,,chapter ,,xx4 ,,the ,,material ,,of ,,ornament4 ,i4 ,we enter now on the second division of our subject4 ,we have no more to do with heavy stones and hard lines2 we are going to be happy3 to look round in the world and discover 7in a serious manner always1 however1 and under a sense of responsibility7 what we like best in it1 and to enjoy the same at our leisure3 to gather it1 examine it1 fasten all we can of it into imperishable forms1 and put it where we may see it for ever4 ,this is to decorate architecture4 ,,ii4 ,there are1 therefore1 three steps in the process3 first1 to find out in a grave manner what we like best2 secondly1 to put as much of this as we can 7which is little enough7 into form2 thirdly1 to put this formed abstraction into a proper place4 ,and we have now1 therefore1 to make these three inquiries in succession3 first1 what we like1 or what is the right material of ornament2 then how we are to present it1 or its right treatment2 then1 where we are to put it1 or its right place4 ,i think ,i can answer that first inquiry in this ,chapter1 the second inquiry in the next ,chapter1 and the third ,i shall answer in a more diffusive manner1 by taking up in succession the several parts of architecture above distinguished1 and rapidly noting the kind of ornament fittest for each4 ,,iii4 ,i said in chapter ,,ii4 ,,xiv41 that all noble ornamentation was the expression of man's delight in ,god's work4 ,this implied that there was an ignoble ornamentation1 which was the expression of man's delight in his own4 ,there is such a school1 chiefly degraded classic and ,renaissance1 in which the ornament is composed of imitations of tilings made by man4 ,i think1 before inquiring what we like best of ,god's work1 we had better get rid of all this imitation of man's1 and be quite sure we do not like that4 ,,iv4 ,we shall rapidly glance1 then1 at the material of decoration hence derived4 ,and now ,i cannot1 as ,i before have done respecting construction1 convince the reader of one thing being wrong1 and another right4 ,i have confessed as much again and again2 ,i am now only to make appeal to him1 and cross-question him1 whether he really does like things or not4 ,if he likes the ornament on the base of the column of the ,place ,vendme1 composed of ,wellington boots and laced frock coats1 ,i cannot help it2 ,i can only say ,i differ from him1 and don't like it4 ,and if1 therefore1 ,i speak dictatorially1 and say this is base1 or degraded1 or ugly1 ,i mean1 only that ,i believe men of the longest experience in the matter would either think it so1 or would be prevented from thinking it so only by some morbid condition of their minds2 and ,i believe that the reader1 if he examine himself candidly1 will usually agree in my statements4 ,v4 ,the subjects of ornament found in man's work may properly fall into four heads3 #a4 ,instruments of art1 agriculture1 and war2 armor1 and dress2 #b4 ,drapery2 #c4 ,shipping2 #d4 ,architecture itself4 #a4 ,instruments1 armor1 and dress4 ,the custom of raising trophies on pillars1 and of dedicating arms in temples1 appears to have first suggested the idea of employing them as the subjects of sculptural ornament3 thenceforward1 this abuse has been chiefly characteristic of classical architecture1 whether true or ,renaissance4 ,armor is a noble thing in its proper service and subordination to the body2 so is an animal's hide on its back2 but a heap of cast skins1 or of shed armor1 is alike unworthy of all regard or imitation4 ,we owe much true sublimity1 and more of delightful picturesqueness1 to the introduction of armor both in painting and sculpture3 in poetry it is better still1--,homer's undressed ,achilles is less grand than his crested and shielded ,achilles1 though ,phidias would rather have had him naked2 in all medival painting1 arms1 like all other parts of costume1 are treated with exquisite care and delight2 in the designs of ,leonardo1 ,raffaelle1 and ,perugino1 the armor sometimes becomes almost too conspicuous from the rich and endless invention bestowed upon it2 while ,titian and ,rubens seek in its flash what the ,milanese and ,perugian sought in its form1 sometimes subordinating heroism to the light of the steel1 while the great designers wearied themselves in its elaborate fancy4 ,but all this labor was given to the living1 not the dead armor2 to the shell with its animal in it1 not the cast shell of the beach2 and even so1 it was introduced more sparingly by the good sculptors than the good painters2 for the former felt1 and with justice1 that the painter had the power of conquering the over prominence of costume by the expression and color of the countenance1 and that by the darkness of the eye1 and glow of the cheek1 he could always conquer the gloom and the flash of the mail2 but they could hardly1 by any boldness or energy of the marble features1 conquer the forwardness and conspicuousness of the sharp armorial forms4 ,their armed figures were therefore almost always subordinate1 their principal figures draped or naked1 and their choice of subject was much influenced by this feeling of necessity4 ,but the ,renaissance sculptors displayed the love of a ,camilla for the mere crest and plume4 ,paltry and false alike in every feeling of their narrowed minds1 they attached themselves1 not only to costume without the person1 but to the pettiest details of the costume itself4 ,they could not describe ,achilles1 but they could describe his shield2 a shield like those of dedicated spoil1 without a handle1 never to be waved in the face of war4 ,and then we have helmets and lances1 banners and swords1 sometimes with men to hold them1 sometimes without2 but always chiselled with a tailor-like love of the chasing or the embroidery1--show helmets of the stage1 no ,vulcan work on them1 no heavy hammer strokes1 no ,etna fire in the metal of them1 nothing but pasteboard crests and high feathers4 ,and these1 cast together in disorderly heaps1 or grinning vacantly over keystones1 form one of the leading decorations of ,renaissance architecture1 and that one of the best2 for helmets and lances1 however loosely laid1 are better than violins1 and pipes1 and books of music1 which were another of the ,palladian and ,sansovinian sources of ornament4 ,supported by ancient authority1 the abuse soon became a matter of pride1 and since it was easy to copy a heap of cast clothes1 but difficult to manage an arranged design of human figures1 the indolence of architects came to the aid of their affectation1 until by the moderns we find the practice carried out to its most interesting results1 and1 as above noted1 a large pair of boots occupying the principal place in the bas-reliefs on the base of the ,colonne ,vendme4 ,,vi4 ,a less offensive1 because singularly grotesque1 example of the abuse at its height1 occurs in the ,htel des ,invalides1 where the dormer windows are suits of armor down to the bottom of the corselet1 crowned by the helmet1 and with the window in the middle of the breast4 ,instruments of agriculture and the arts are of less frequent occurrence1 except in hieroglyphics1 and other work1 where they are not employed as ornaments1 but represented for the sake of accurate knowledge1 or as symbols4 ,wherever they have purpose of this kind1 they are of course perfectly right2 but they are then part of the building's conversation1 not conducive to its beauty4 ,the ,french have managed1 with great dexterity1 the representation of the machinery for the elevation of their ,luxor obelisk1 now sculptured on its base4 ,,vii4 #b4 ,drapery4 ,i have already spoken of the error of introducing drapery1 as such1 for ornament1 in the ,seven ,lamps4 ,i may here note a curious instance of the abuse in the church of the ,jesuiti at ,venice 7,renaissance74 ,on first entering you suppose that the church1 being in a poor quarter of the city1 has been somewhat meanly decorated by heavy green and white curtains of an ordinary upholsterer's pattern3 on looking closer1 they are discovered to be of marble1 with the green pattern inlaid4 ,another remarkable instance is in a piece of not altogether unworthy architecture at ,paris 7,rue ,rivoli71 where the columns are supposed to be decorated with images of handkerchiefs tied in a stout knot round the middle of them4 ,this shrewd invention bids fair to become a new order4 ,multitudes of massy curtains and various upholstery1 more or less in imitation of that of the drawing-room1 are carved and gilt1 in wood or stone1 about the altars and other theatrical portions of ,romanist churches2 but from these coarse and senseless vulgarities we may well turn1 in all haste1 to note1 with respect as well as regret1 one of the errors of the great school of ,niccolo ,pisano1--an error so full of feeling as to be sometimes all but redeemed1 and altogether forgiven1--the sculpture1 namely1 of curtains around the recumbent statues upon tombs1 curtains which angels are represented as withdrawing1 to gaze upon the faces of those who are at rest4 ,for some time the idea was simply and slightly expressed1 and though there was always a painfulness in finding the shafts of stone1 which were felt to be the real supporters of the canopy1 represented as of yielding drapery1 yet the beauty of the angelic figures1 and the tenderness of the thought1 disarmed all animadversion4 ,but the scholars of the ,pisani1 as usual1 caricatured when they were unable to invent2 and the quiet curtained canopy became a huge marble tent1 with a pole in the centre of it4 ,thus vulgarised1 the idea itself soon disappeared1 to make room for urns1 torches1 and weepers1 and the other modern paraphernalia of the churchyard4 ,,viii4 #c4 ,shipping4 ,i have allowed this kind of subject to form a separate head1 owing to the importance of rostra in ,roman decoration1 and to the continual occurrence of naval subjects in modern monumental bas-relief4 ,mr4 ,fergusson says1 somewhat doubtfully1 that he perceives a kind of beauty in a ship3 ,i say1 without any manner of doubt1 that a ship is one of the loveliest things man ever made1 and one of the noblest2 nor do ,i know any lines1 out of divine work1 so lovely as those of the head of a ship1 or even as the sweep of the timbers of a small boat1 not a race boat1 a mere floating chisel1 but a broad1 strong1 sea boat1 able to breast a wave and break it3 and yet1 with all this beauty1 ships cannot be made subjects of sculpture4 ,no one pauses in particular delight beneath the pediments of the ,admiralty2 nor does scenery of shipping ever become prominent in bas-relief without destroying it3 witness the base of the ,nelson pillar4 ,it may be1 and must be sometimes1 introduced in severe subordination to the figure subject1 but just enough to indicate the scene2 sketched in the lightest lines on the background2 never with any attempt at realisation1 never with any equality to the force of the figures1 unless the whole purpose of the subject be picturesque4 ,i shall explain this exception presently1 in speaking of imitative architecture4 ,,ix4 ,there is one piece of a ship's fittings1 however1 which may be thought to have obtained acceptance as a constant element of architectural ornament1--the cable3 it is not1 however1 the cable itself1 but its abstract form1 a group of twisted lines 7which a cable only exhibits in common with many natural objects71 which is indeed beautiful as an ornament4 ,make the resemblance complete1 give to the stone the threads and character of the cable1 and you may1 perhaps1 regard the sculpture with curiosity1 but never more with admiration4 ,consider the effect of the base of the statue of ,king ,william ,,iv4 at the end of ,london ,bridge4 ,x4 #d4 ,architecture itself4 ,the erroneous use of armor1 or dress1 or instruments1 or shipping1 as decorative subject1 is almost exclusively confined to bad architecture--,roman or ,renaissance4 ,but the false use of architecture itself1 as an ornament of architecture1 is conspicuous even in the medival work of the best times1 and is a grievous fault in some of its noblest examples4 ,it is1 therefore1 of great importance to note exactly at what point this abuse begins1 and in what it consists4 ,,xi4 ,in all bas-relief1 architecture may be introduced as an explanation of the scene in which the figures act2 but with more or less prominence in the inverse ratio of the importance of the figures4 ,the metaphysical reason of this is1 that where the figures are of great value and beauty1 the mind is supposed to be engaged wholly with them2 and it is an impertinence to disturb its contemplation of them by any minor features whatever4 ,as the figures become of less value1 and are regarded with less intensity1 accessory subjects may be introduced1 such as the thoughts may have leisure for4 ,thus1 if the figures be as large as life1 and complete statues1 it is gross vulgarity to carve a temple above them1 or distribute them over sculptured rocks1 or lead them up steps into pyramids3 ,i need hardly instance ,canova's works1#fc and the ,dutch pulpit groups1 with fishermen1 boats1 and nets1 in the midst of church naves4 ,if the figures be in bas-relief1 though as large as life1 the scene may be explained by lightly traced outlines3 this is admirably done in the ,ninevite marbles4 ,if the figures be in bas-relief1 or even alto-relievo1 but less than life1 and if their purpose is rather to enrich a space and produce picturesque shadows1 than to draw the thoughts entirely to themselves1 the scenery in which they act may become prominent4 ,the most exquisite examples of this treatment are the gates of ,ghiberti4 ,what would that ,madonna of the ,annunciation be1 without the little shrine into which she shrinks back8 ,but all medival work is full of delightful examples of the same kind of treatment3 the gates of hell and of paradise are important pieces1 both of explanation and effect1 in all early representations of the last judgment1 or of the descent into ,hades4 ,the keys of ,st4 ,peter1 and the crushing flat of the devil under his own door1 when it is beaten in1 would hardly be understood without the respective gate-ways above4 ,the best of all the later capitals of the ,ducal ,palace of ,venice depends for great part of its value on the richness of a small campanile1 which is pointed to proudly by a small emperor in a turned-up hat1 who1 the legend informs us1 is ,numa ,pompilio1 imperador1 edifichador di tempi e chiese4 ,,xii4 ,shipping may be introduced1 or rich fancy of vestments1 crowns1 and ornaments1 exactly on the same conditions as architecture2 and if the reader will look back to my definition of the picturesque in the ,seven ,lamps1 he will see why ,i said1 above1 that they might only be prominent when the purpose of the subject was partly picturesque2 that is to say1 when the mind is intended to derive part of its enjoyment from the parasitical qualities and accidents of the thing1 not from the heart of the thing itself4 ,and thus1 while we must regret the flapping sails in the death of ,nelson in ,trafalgar ,square1 we may yet most heartily enjoy the sculpture of a storm in one of the bas-reliefs of the tomb of ,st4 ,pietro ,martire in the church of ,st4 ,eustorgio at ,milan1 where the grouping of the figures is most fancifully complicated by the undercut cordage of the vessel4 ,,xiii4 ,in all these instances1 however1 observe that the permission to represent the human work as an ornament1 is conditional on its being necessary to the representation of a scene1 or explanation of an action4 ,on no terms whatever could any such subject be independently admissible4 ,observe1 therefore1 the use of manufacture as ornament is-- #a4 ,with heroic figure sculpture1 not admissible at all4 #b4 ,with picturesque figure sculpture1 admissible in the degree of its picturesqueness4 #c4 ,without figure sculpture1 not admissible at all4 ,so also in painting3 ,michael ,angelo1 in the ,sistine ,chapel1 would not have willingly painted a dress of figured damask or of watered satin2 his was heroic painting1 not admitting accessories4 ,tintoret1 ,titian1 ,veronese1 ,rubens1 and ,vandyck1 would be very sorry to part with their figured stuffs and lustrous silks2 and sorry1 observe1 exactly in the degree of their picturesque feeling4 ,should not we also be sorry to have ,bishop ,ambrose without his vest1 in that picture of the ,national ,gallery8 ,but ,i think ,vandyck would not have liked1 on the other hand1 the vest without the bishop4 ,i much doubt if ,titian or ,veronese would have enjoyed going into ,waterloo ,house1 and making studies of dresses upon the counter4 ,,xiv4 ,so1 therefore1 finally1 neither architecture nor any other human work is admissible as an ornament1 except in subordination to figure subject4 ,and this law is grossly and painfully violated by those curious examples of ,gothic1 both early and late1 in the north1 7but late1 ,i think1 exclusively1 in ,italy17 in which the minor features of the architecture were composed of small models of the larger3 examples which led the way to a series of abuses materially affecting the life1 strength1 and nobleness of the ,northern ,gothic1--abuses which no ,ninevite1 nor ,egyptian1 nor ,greek1 nor ,byzantine1 nor ,italian of the earlier ages would have endured for an instant1 and which strike me with renewed surprise whenever ,i pass beneath a portal of thirteenth century ,northern ,gothic1 associated as they are with manifestations of exquisite feeling and power in other directions4 ,the porches of ,bourges1 ,amiens1 ,notre ,dame of ,paris1 and ,notre ,dame of ,dijon1 may be noted as conspicuous in error3 small models of feudal towers with diminutive windows and battlements1 of cathedral spires with scaly pinnacles1 mixed with temple pediments and nondescript edifices of every kind1 are crowded together over the recess of the niche into a confused fool's cap for the saint below4 ,italian ,gothic is almost entirely free from the taint of this barbarism until the ,renaissance period1 when it becomes rampant in the cathedral of ,como and ,certosa of ,pavia2 and at ,venice we find the ,renaissance churches decorated with models of fortifications like those in the ,repository at ,woolwich1 or inlaid with mock arcades in pseudo-perspective1 copied from gardeners' paintings at the ends of conservatories4 ,,xv4 ,i conclude1 then1 with the reader's leave1 that all ornament is base which takes for its subject human work1 that it is utterly base1--painful to every rightly-toned mind1 without perhaps immediate sense of the reason1 but for a reason palpable enough when we do think of it4 ,for to carve our own work1 and set it up for admiration1 is a miserable self-complacency1 a contentment in our own wretched doings1 when we might have been looking at ,god's doings4 ,and all noble ornament is the exact reverse of this4 ,it is the expression of man's delight in ,god's work4 ,,xvi4 ,for observe1 the function of ornament is to make you happy4 ,now in what are you rightly happy8 ,not in thinking of what you have done yourself2 not in your own pride1 not your own birth2 not in your own being1 or your own will1 but in looking at ,god2 watching what ,he does1 what ,he is2 and obeying ,his law1 and yielding yourself to ,his will4 ,you are to be made happy by ornaments2 therefore they must be the expression of all this4 ,not copies of your own handiwork2 not boastings of your own grandeur2 not heraldries2 not king's arms1 nor any creature's arms1 but ,god's arm1 seen in ,his work4 ,not manifestation of your delight in your own laws1 or your own liberties1 or your own inventions2 but in divine laws1 constant1 daily1 common laws2--not ,composite laws1 nor ,doric laws1 nor laws of the five orders1 but of the ,ten ,commandments4 ,,xvii4 ,then the proper material of ornament will be whatever ,god has created2 and its proper treatment1 that which seems in accordance with or symbolical of ,his laws4 ,and1 for material1 we shall therefore have1 first1 the abstract lines which are most frequent in nature2 and then1 from lower to higher1 the whole range of systematised inorganic and organic forms4 ,we shall rapidly glance in order at their kinds2 and1 however absurd the elemental division of inorganic matter by the ancients may seem to the modern chemist1 it is one so grand and simple for arrangements of external appearances1 that ,i shall here follow it2 noticing first1 after abstract lines1 the imitable forms of the four elements1 of ,earth1 ,water1 ,fire1 and ,air1 and then those of animal organisms4 ,it may be convenient to the reader to have the order stated in a clear succession at first1 thus3-- #a4 ,abstract lines4 #b4 ,forms of ,earth 7,crystals74 #c4 ,forms of ,water 7,waves74 #d4 ,forms of ,fire 7,flames and ,rays74 #e4 ,forms of ,air 7,clouds74 #f4 7,organic forms47 ,shells4 #g4 ,fish4 #h4 ,reptiles and insects4 #i4 ,vegetation 7,a47 ,stems and ,trunks4 #aj4 ,vegetation 7,b47 ,foliage4 #aa4 ,birds4 #ab4 ,mammalian animals and ,man4 ,it may be objected that clouds are a form of moisture1 not of air4 ,they are1 however1 a perfect expression of arial states and currents1 and may sufficiently well stand for the element they move in4 ,and ,i have put vegetation apparently somewhat out of its place1 owing to its vast importance as a means of decoration1 and its constant association with birds and men4 ,,xviii4 #a4 ,abstract lines4 ,i have not with lines named also shades and colors1 for this evident reason1 that there are no such things as abstract shadows1 irrespective of the forms which exhibit them1 and distinguished in their own nature from each other2 and that the arrangement of shadows1 in greater or less quantity1 or in certain harmonical successions1 is an affair of treatment1 not of selection4 ,and when we use abstract colors1 we are in fact using a part of nature herself1--using a quality of her light1 correspondent with that of the air1 to carry sound2 and the arrangement of color in harmonious masses is again a matter of treatment1 not selection4 ,yet even in this separate art of coloring1 as referred to architecture1 it is very notable that the best tints are always those of natural stones4 ,these can hardly be wrong2 ,i think ,i never yet saw an offensive introduction of the natural colors of marble and precious stones1 unless in small mosaics1 and in one or two glaring instances of the resolute determination to produce something ugly at any cost4 ,on the other hand1 ,i have most assuredly never yet seen a painted building1 ancient or modern1 which seemed to me quite right4 ,,xix4 ,our first constituents of ornament will therefore be abstract lines1 that is to say1 the most frequent contours of natural objects1 transferred to architectural forms when it is not right or possible to render such forms distinctly imitative4 ,for instance1 the line or curve of the edge of a leaf may be accurately given to the edge of a stone1 without rendering the stone in the least like a leaf1 or suggestive of a leaf2 and this the more fully1 because the lines of nature are alike in all her works2 simpler or richer in combination1 but the same in character2 and when they are taken out of their combinations it is impossible to say from which of her works they have been borrowed1 their universal property being that of ever-varying curvature in the most subtle and subdued transitions1 with peculiar expressions of motion1 elasticity1 or dependence1 which ,i have already insisted upon at some length in the chapters on typical beauty in ,modern ,painters4 ,but1 that the reader may here be able to compare them for himself as deduced from different sources1 ,i have drawn1 as accurately as ,i can1 on the opposite plate1 some ten or eleven lines from natural forms of very different substances and scale3 the first1 a b1 is in the original1 ,i think1 the most beautiful simple curve ,i have ever seen in my life2 it is a curve about three quarters of a mile long1 formed by the surface of a small glacier of the second order1 on a spur of the ,aiguille de ,blaitire 7,chamouni74 ,i have merely outlined the crags on the right of it1 to show their sympathy and united action with the curve of the glacier1 which is of course entirely dependent on their opposition to its descent2 softened1 however1 into unity by the snow1 which rarely melts on this high glacier surface4 ,the line d c is some mile and a half or two miles long2 it is part of the flank of the chain of the ,dent d',oche above the lake of ,geneva1 one or two of the lines of the higher and more distant ranges being given in combination with it4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,vii4 ,,abstract ,,lines4 h is a line about four feet long1 a branch of spruce fir4 ,i have taken this tree because it is commonly supposed to be stiff and ungraceful2 its outer sprays are1 however1 more noble in their sweep than almost any that ,i know3 but this fragment is seen at great disadvantage1 because placed upside down1 in order that the reader may compare its curvatures with c d1 e g1 and i k1 which are all mountain lines2 e g1 about five hundred feet of the southern edge of the ,matterhorn2 i k1 the entire slope of the ,aiguille ,bouchard1 from its summit into the valley of ,chamouni1 a line some three miles long2 l m is the line of the side of a willow leaf traced by laying the leaf on the paper2 n o1 one of the innumerable groups of curves at the lip of a paper ,nautilus2 p1 a spiral1 traced on the paper round a ,serpula2 q r1 the leaf of the ,alisma ,plantago with its interior ribs1 real size2 s t1 the side of a bay-leaf2 u w1 of a salvia leaf2 and it is to be carefully noted that these last curves1 being never intended by nature to be seen singly1 are more heavy and less agreeable than any of the others which would be seen as independent lines4 ,but all agree in their character of changeful curvature1 the mountain and glacier lines only excelling the rest in delicacy and richness of transition4 ,,xx4 ,why lines of this kind are beautiful1 ,i endeavored to show in the ,modern ,painters2 but one point1 there omitted1 may be mentioned here1--that almost all these lines are expressive of action of force of some kind1 while the circle is a line of limitation or support4 ,in leafage they mark the forces of its growth and expansion1 but some among the most beautiful of them are described by bodies variously in motion1 or subjected to force2 as by projectiles in the air1 by the particles of water in a gentle current1 by planets in motion in an orbit1 by their satellites1 if the actual path of the satellite in space be considered instead of its relation to the planet2 by boats1 or birds1 turning in the water or air1 by clouds in various action upon the wind1 by sails in the curvatures they assume under its force1 and by thousands of other objects moving or bearing force4 ,in the ,alisma leaf1 q r1 the lines through its body1 which are of peculiar beauty1 mark the different expansions of its fibres1 and are1 ,i think1 exactly the same as those which would be traced by the currents of a river entering a lake of the shape of the leaf1 at the end where the stalk is1 and passing out at its point4 ,circular curves1 on the contrary1 are always1 ,i think1 curves of limitation or support2 that is to say1 curves of perfect rest4 ,the cylindrical curve round the stem of a plant binds its fibres together2 while the ascent of the stem is in lines of various curvature3 so the curve of the horizon and of the apparent heaven1 of the rainbow1 etc43 and though the reader might imagine that the circular orbit of any moving body1 or the curve described by a sling1 was a curve of motion1 he should observe that the circular character is given to the curve not by the motion1 but by the confinement3 the circle is the consequence not of the energy of the body1 but of its being forbidden to leave the centre2 and whenever the whirling or circular motion can be fully impressed on it we obtain instant balance and rest with respect to the centre of the circle4 ,hence the peculiar fitness of the circular curve as a sign of rest1 and security of support1 in arches2 while the other curves1 belonging especially to action1 are to be used in the more active architectural features--the hand and foot 7the capital and base71 and in all minor ornaments2 more freely in proportion to their independence of structural conditions4 ,,xxi4 ,we need not1 however1 hope to be able to imitate1 in general work1 any of the subtly combined curvatures of nature's highest designing3 on the contrary1 their extreme refinement renders them unfit for coarse service or material4 ,lines which are lovely in the pearly film of the ,nautilus shell1 are lost in the grey roughness of stone2 and those which are sublime in the blue of far away hills1 are weak in the substance of incumbent marble4 ,of all the graceful lines assembled on ,plate ,,vii41 we shall do well to be content with two of the simplest4 ,we shall take one mountain line 7e g7 and one leaf line 7u w71 or rather fragments of them1 for we shall perhaps not want them all4 ,i will mark off from u w the little bit x y1 and from e g the piece e f2 both which appear to me likely to be serviceable3 and if hereafter we need the help of any abstract lines1 we will see what we can do with these only4 ,,xxii4 #b4 ,forms of ,earth 7,crystals74 ,it may be asked why ,i do not say rocks or mountains8 ,simply1 because the nobility of these depends1 first1 on their scale1 and1 secondly1 on accident4 ,their scale cannot be represented1 nor their accident systematised4 ,no sculptor can in the least imitate the peculiar character of accidental fracture3 he can obey or exhibit the laws of nature1 but he cannot copy the felicity of her fancies1 nor follow the steps of her fury4 ,the very glory of a mountain is in the revolutions which raised it into power1 and the forces which are striking it into ruin4 ,but we want no cold and careful imitation of catastrophe2 no calculated mockery of convulsion2 no delicate recommendation of ruin4 ,we are to follow the labor of ,nature1 but not her disturbance2 to imitate what she has deliberately ordained1#fd not what she has violently suffered1 or strangely permitted4 ,the only uses1 therefore1 of rock form which are wise in the architect1 are its actual introduction 7by leaving untouched such blocks as are meant for rough service71 and that noble use of the general examples of mountain structure of which ,i have often heretofore spoken4 ,imitations of rock form have1 for the most part1 been confined to periods of degraded feeling and to architectural toys or pieces of dramatic effect1--the ,calvaries and holy sepulchres of ,romanism1 or the grottoes and fountains of ,english gardens4 ,they were1 however1 not unfrequent in medival bas-reliefs2 very curiously and elaborately treated by ,ghiberti on the doors of ,florence1 and in religious sculpture necessarily introduced wherever the life of the anchorite was to be expressed4 ,they were rarely introduced as of ornamental character1 but for particular service and expression2 we shall see an interesting example in the ,ducal ,palace at ,venice4 ,,xxiii4 ,but against crystalline form1 which is the completely systematised natural structure of the earth1 none of these objections hold good1 and1 accordingly1 it is an endless element of decoration1 where higher conditions of structure cannot be represented4 ,the four-sided pyramid1 perhaps the most frequent of all natural crystals1 is called in architecture a dogtooth2 its use is quite limitless1 and always beautiful3 the cube and rhomb are almost equally frequent in chequers and dentils3 and all mouldings of the middle ,gothic are little more than representations of the canaliculated crystals of the beryl1 and such other minerals3 ,,xxiv4 ,not knowingly4 ,i do not suppose a single hint was ever actually taken from mineral form2 not even by the ,arabs in their stalactite pendants and vaults3 all that ,i mean to allege is1 that beautiful ornament1 wherever found1 or however invented1 is always either an intentional or unintentional copy of some constant natural form2 and that in this particular instance1 the pleasure we have in these geometrical figures of our own invention1 is dependent for all its acuteness on the natural tendency impressed on us by our ,creator to love the forms into which the earth ,he gave us to tread1 and out of which ,he formed our bodies1 knit itself as it was separated from the deep4 ,,xxv4 #c4 ,forms of ,water 7,waves74 ,the reasons which prevent rocks from being used for ornament repress still more forcibly the portraiture of the sea4 ,yet the constant necessity of introducing some representation of water in order to explain the scene of events1 or as a sacred symbol1 has forced the sculptors of all ages to the invention of some type or letter for it1 if not an actual imitation4 ,we find every degree of conventionalism or of naturalism in these types1 the earlier being1 for the most part1 thoughtful symbols2 the latter1 awkward attempts at portraiture4#fe ,the most conventional of all types is the ,egyptian zigzag1 preserved in the astronomical sign of ,aquarius2 but every nation1 with any capacities of thought1 has given1 in some of its work1 the same great definition of open water1 as an undulatory thing with fish in it4 ,i say open water1 because inland nations have a totally different conception of the element4 ,imagine for an instant the different feelings of an husbandman whose hut is built by the ,rhine or the ,po1 and who sees1 day by day1 the same giddy succession of silent power1 the same opaque1 thick1 whirling1 irresistible labyrinth of rushing lines and twisted eddies1 coiling themselves into serpentine race by the reedy banks1 in omne volubilis vum1--and the image of the sea in the mind of the fisher upon the rocks of ,ithaca1 or by the ,straits of ,sicily1 who sees how1 day by day1 the morning winds come coursing to the shore1 every breath of them with a green wave rearing before it2 clear1 crisp1 ringing1 merry-minded waves1 that fall over and over each other1 laughing like children as they near the beach1 and at last clash themselves all into dust of crystal over the dazzling sweeps of sand4 ,fancy the difference of the image of water in those two minds1 and then compare the sculpture of the coiling eddies of the ,tigris and its reedy branches in those slabs of ,nineveh1 with the crested curls of the ,greek sea on the coins of ,camerina or ,tarentum4 ,but both agree in the undulatory lines1 either of the currents or the surface1 and in the introduction of fish as explanatory of the meaning of those lines 7so also the ,egyptians in their frescoes1 with most elaborate realisation of the fish74 ,there is a very curious instance on a ,greek mirror in the ,british ,museum1 representing ,orion on the ,sea2 and multitudes of examples with dolphins on the ,greek vases3 the type is preserved without alteration in medival painting and sculpture4 ,the sea in that ,greek mirror 7at least #djj ,b4,c471 in the mosaics of ,torcello and ,st4 ,mark's1 on the font of ,st4 ,frediano at ,lucca1 on the gate of the fortress of ,st4 ,michael's ,mount in ,normandy1 on the ,bayeux tapestry1 and on the capitals of the ,ducal ,palace at ,venice 7under ,arion on his ,dolphin71 is represented in a manner absolutely identical4 ,giotto1 in the frescoes of ,avignon1 has1 with his usual strong feeling for naturalism1 given the best example ,i remember1 in painting1 of the unity of the conventional system with direct imitation1 and that both in sea and river2 giving in pure blue color the coiling whirlpool of the stream1 and the curled crest of the breaker4 ,but in all early sculptural examples1 both imitation and decorative effect are subordinate to easily understood symbolical language2 the undulatory lines are often valuable as an enrichment of surface1 but are rarely of any studied gracefulness4 ,one of the best examples ,i know of their expressive arrangement is around some figures in a spandril at ,bourges1 representing figures sinking in deep sea 7the deluge73 the waved lines yield beneath the bodies and wildly lave the edge of the moulding1 two birds1 as if to mark the reverse of all order of nature1 lowest of all sunk in the depth of them4 ,in later times of debasement1 water began to be represented with its waves1 foam1 etc41 as on the ,vendramin tomb at ,venice1 above cited2 but even there1 without any definite ornamental purpose1 the sculptor meant partly to explain a story1 partly to display dexterity of chiselling1 but not to produce beautiful forms pleasant to the eye4 ,the imitation is vapid and joyless1 and it has often been matter of surprise to me that sculptors1 so fond of exhibiting their skill1 should have suffered this imitation to fall so short1 and remain so cold1--should not have taken more pains to curl the waves clearly1 to edge them sharply1 and to express1 by drill-holes or other artifices1 the character of foam4 ,i think in one of the ,antwerp churches something of this kind is done in wood1 but in general it is rare4 ,,xxvi4 #d4 ,forms of ,fire 7,flames and ,rays74 ,if neither the sea nor the rock can be imagined1 still less the devouring fire4 ,it has been symbolised by radiation both in painting and sculpture1 for the most part in the latter very unsuccessfully4 ,it was suggested to me1 not long ago1#ff that zigzag decorations of ,norman architects were typical of light springing from the half-set orb of the sun2 the resemblance to the ordinary sun type is indeed remarkable1 but ,i believe accidental4 ,i shall give you1 in my large plates1 two curious instances of radiation in brick ornament above arches1 but ,i think these also without any very luminous intention4 ,the imitations of fire in the torches of ,cupids and genii1 and burning in tops of urns1 which attest and represent the mephitic inspirations of the seventeenth century in most ,london churches1 and in monuments all over civilised ,europe1 together with the gilded rays of ,romanist altars1 may be left to such mercy as the reader is inclined to show them4 ,,xxvii4 #e4 ,forms of ,air 7,clouds74 ,hardly more manageable than flames1 and of no ornamental use1 their majesty being in scale and color1 and inimitable in marble4 ,they are lightly traced in much of the cinque cento sculpture2 very boldly and grandly in the strange ,last ,judgment in the porch of ,st4 ,maclou at ,rouen1 described in the ,seven ,lamps4 ,but the most elaborate imitations are altogether of recent date1 arranged in concretions like flattened sacks1 forty or fifty feet above the altars of continental churches1 mixed with the gilded truncheons intended for sunbeams above alluded to4 ,,xxviii4 #f4 ,shells4 ,i place these lowest in the scale 7after inorganic forms7 as being moulds or coats of organism2 not themselves organic4 ,the sense of this1 and of their being mere emptiness and deserted houses1 must always prevent them1 however beautiful in their lines1 from being largely used in ornamentation4 ,it is better to take the line and leave the shell4 ,one form1 indeed1 that of the cockle1 has been in all ages used as the decoration of half domes1 which were named conchas from their shell form3 and ,i believe the wrinkled lip of the cockle1 so used1 to have been the origin1 in some parts of ,europe at least1 of the exuberant foliation of the round arch4 ,the scallop also is a pretty radiant form1 and mingles well with other symbols when it is needed4 ,the crab is always as delightful as a grotesque1 for here we suppose the beast inside the shell2 and he sustains his part in a lively manner among the other signs of the zodiac1 with the scorpion2 or scattered upon sculptured shores1 as beside the ,bronze ,boar of ,florence4 ,we shall find him in a basket at ,venice1 at the base of one of the ,piazzetta shafts4 ,,xxix4 #g4 ,fish4 ,these1 as beautiful in their forms as they are familiar to our sight1 while their interest is increased by their symbolic meaning1 are of great value as material of ornament4 ,love of the picturesque has generally induced a choice of some supple form with scaly body and lashing tail1 but the simplest fish form is largely employed in medival work4 ,we shall find the plain oval body and sharp head of the ,thunny constantly at ,venice2 and the fish used in the expression of sea-water1 or water generally1 are always plain bodied creatures in the best medival sculpture4 ,the ,greek type of the dolphin1 however1 sometimes but slightly exaggerated from the real outline of the ,delphinus ,delphis1#fg is one of the most picturesque of animal forms2 and the action of its slow revolving plunge is admirably caught upon the surface sea represented in ,greek vases4 ,,xxx4 #h4 ,reptiles and ,insects4 ,the forms of the serpent and lizard exhibit almost every element of beauty and horror in strange combination2 the horror1 which in an imitation is felt only as a pleasurable excitement1 has rendered them favorite subjects in all periods of art2 and the unity of both lizard and serpent in the ideal dragon1 the most picturesque and powerful of all animal forms1 and of peculiar symbolical interest to the ,christian mind1 is perhaps the principal of all the materials of medival picturesque sculpture4 ,by the best sculptors it is always used with this symbolic meaning1 by the cinque cento sculptors as an ornament merely4 ,the best and most natural representations of mere viper or snake are to be found interlaced among their confused groups of meaningless objects4 ,the real power and horror of the snake-head has1 however1 been rarely reached4 ,i shall give one example from ,verona of the twelfth century4 ,other less powerful reptile forms are not unfrequent4 ,small frogs1 lizards1 and snails almost always enliven the foregrounds and leafage of good sculpture4 ,the tortoise is less usually employed in groups4 ,beetles are chiefly mystic and colossal4 ,various insects1 like everything else in the world1 occur in cinque cento work2 grasshoppers most frequently4 ,we shall see on the ,ducal ,palace at ,venice an interesting use of the bee4 ,,xxxi4 #i4 ,branches and stems of ,trees4 ,i arrange these under a separate head2 because1 while the forms of leafage belong to all architecture1 and ought to be employed in it always1 those of the branch and stem belong to a peculiar imitative and luxuriant architecture1 and are only applicable at times4 ,pagan sculptors seem to have perceived little beauty in the stems of trees2 they were little else than timber to them2 and they preferred the rigid and monstrous triglyph1 or the fluted column1 to a broken bough or gnarled trunk4 ,but with ,christian knowledge came a peculiar regard for the forms of vegetation1 from the root upwards4 ,the actual representation of the entire trees required in many scripture subjects1--as in the most frequent of ,old ,testament subjects1 the ,fall2 and again in the ,drunkenness of ,noah1 the ,garden ,agony1 and many others1 familiarised the sculptors of bas-relief to the beauty of forms before unknown2 while the symbolical name given to ,christ by the ,prophets1 the ,branch1 and the frequent expressions referring to this image throughout every scriptural description of conversion1 gave an especial interest to the ,christian mind to this portion of vegetative structure4 ,for some time1 nevertheless1 the sculpture of trees was confined to bas-relief2 but it at last affected even the treatment of the main shafts in ,lombard ,gothic buildings1--as in the western faade of ,genoa1 where two of the shafts are represented as gnarled trunks3 and as bas-relief itself became more boldly introduced1 so did tree sculpture1 until we find the writhed and knotted stems of the vine and fig used for angle shafts on the ,doge's ,palace1 and entire oaks and appletrees forming1 roots and all1 the principal decorative sculptures of the ,scala tombs at ,verona4 ,it was then discovered to be more easy to carve branches than leaves and1 much helped by the frequent employment in later ,gothic of the ,tree of ,jesse1 for traceries and other purposes1 the system reached full developement in a perfect thicket of twigs1 which form the richest portion of the decoration of the porches of ,beauvais4 ,it had now been carried to its richest extreme3 men wearied of it and abandoned it1 and like all other natural and beautiful things1 it was ostracised by the mob of ,renaissance architects4 ,but it is interesting to observe how the human mind1 in its acceptance of this feature of ornament1 proceeded from the ground1 and followed1 as it were1 the natural growth of the tree4 ,it began with the rude and solid trunk1 as at ,genoa2 then the branches shot out1 and became loaded leaves2 autumn came1 the leaves were shed1 and the eye was directed to the extremities of the delicate branches2--the ,renaissance frosts came1 and all perished4 ,,xxxii4 #aj4 ,foliage1 ,flowers1 and ,fruit4 ,it is necessary to consider these as separated from the stems2 not only1 as above noted1 because their separate use marks another school of architecture1 but because they are the only organic structures which are capable of being so treated1 and intended to be so1 without strong effort of imagination4 ,to pull animals to pieces1 and use their paws for feet of furniture1 or their heads for terminations of rods and shafts1 is usually the characteristic of feelingless schools2 the greatest men like their animals whole4 ,the head may1 indeed1 be so managed as to look emergent from the stone1 rather than fastened to it2 and wherever there is throughout the architecture any expression of sternness or severity 7severity in its literal sense1 as in ,romans1 ,,xi4 #bb71 such divisions of the living form may be permitted2 still1 you cannot cut an animal to pieces as you can gather a flower or a leaf4 ,these were intended for our gathering1 and for our constant delight3 wherever men exist in a perfectly civilised and healthy state1 they have vegetation around them2 wherever their state approaches that of innocence or perfectness1 it approaches that of ,paradise1--it is a dressing of garden4 ,and1 therefore1 where nothing else can be used for ornament1 vegetation may2 vegetation in any form1 however fragmentary1 however abstracted4 ,a single leaf laid upon the angle of a stone1 or the mere form or frame-work of the leaf drawn upon it1 or the mere shadow and ghost of the leaf1--the hollow foil cut out of it1--possesses a charm which nothing else can replace2 a charm not exciting1 nor demanding laborious thought or sympathy1 but perfectly simple1 peaceful1 and satisfying4 ,,xxxiii4 ,the full recognition of leaf forms1 as the general source of subordinate decoration1 is one of the chief characteristics of ,christian architecture2 but the two roots of leaf ornament are the ,greek acanthus1 and the ,egyptian lotus4#fh ,the dry land and the river thus each contributed their part2 and all the florid capitals of the richest ,northern ,gothic on the one hand1 and the arrowy lines of the severe ,lombardic capitals on the other1 are founded on these two gifts of the dust of ,greece and the waves of the ,nile4 ,the leaf which is1 ,i believe1 called the ,persepolitan water-leaf1 is to be associated with the lotus flower and stem1 as the origin of our noblest types of simple capital2 and it is to be noted that the florid leaves of the dry land are used most by the ,northern architects1 while the water leaves are gathered for their ornaments by the parched builders of the ,desert4 ,,xxxiv4 ,fruit is1 for the most part1 more valuable in color than form2 nothing is more beautiful as a subject of sculpture on a tree2 but1 gathered and put in baskets1 it is quite possible to have too much of it4 ,we shall find it so used very dextrously on the ,ducal ,palace of ,venice1 there with a meaning which rendered it right necessary2 but the ,renaissance architects address themselves to spectators who care for nothing but feasting1 and suppose that clusters of pears and pineapples are visions of which their imagination can never weary1 and above which it will never care to rise4 ,i am no advocate for image worship1 as ,i believe the reader will elsewhere sufficiently find2 but ,i am very sure that the ,protestantism of ,london would have found itself quite as secure in a cathedral decorated with statues of good men1 as in one hung round with bunches of ribston pippins4 ,,xxxv4 #aa4 ,birds4 ,the perfect and simple grace of bird form1 in general1 has rendered it a favorite subject with early sculptors1 and with those schools which loved form more than action2 but the difficulty of expressing action1 where the muscular markings are concealed1 has limited the use of it in later art4 ,half the ornament1 at least1 in ,byzantine architecture1 and a third of that of ,lombardic1 is composed of birds1 either pecking at fruit or flowers1 or standing on either side of a flower or vase1 or alone1 as generally the symbolical peacock4 ,but how much of our general sense of grace or power of motion1 of serenity1 peacefulness1 and spirituality1 we owe to these creatures1 it is impossible to conceive2 their wings supplying us with almost the only means of representation of spiritual motion which we possess1 and with an ornamental form of which the eye is never weary1 however meaninglessly or endlessly repeated2 whether in utter isolation1 or associated with the bodies of the lizard1 the horse1 the lion1 or the man4 ,the heads of the birds of prey are always beautiful1 and used as the richest ornaments in all ages4 ,,xxxvi4 #ab4 ,quadrupeds and ,men4 ,of quadrupeds the horse has received an elevation into the primal rank of sculptural subject1 owing to his association with men4 ,the full value of other quadruped forms has hardly been perceived1 or worked for1 in late sculpture2 and the want of science is more felt in these subjects than in any other branches of early work4 ,the greatest richness of quadruped ornament is found in the hunting sculpture of the ,lombards2 but rudely treated 7the most noble examples of treatment being the lions of ,egypt1 the ,ninevite bulls1 and the medival griffins74 ,quadrupeds of course form the noblest subjects of ornament next to the human form2 this latter1 the chief subject of sculpture1 being sometimes the end of architecture rather than its decoration4 ,we have thus completed the list of the materials of architectural decoration1 and the reader may be assured that no effort has ever been successful to draw elements of beauty from any other sources than these4 ,such an effort was once resolutely made4 ,it was contrary to the religion of the ,arab to introduce any animal form into his ornament2 but although all the radiance of color1 all the refinements of proportion1 and all the intricacies of geometrical design were open to him1 he could not produce any noble work without an abstraction of the forms of leafage1 to be used in his capitals1 and made the ground plan of his chased ornament4 ,but ,i have above noted that coloring is an entirely distinct and independent art2 and in the ,seven ,lamps we saw that this art had most power when practised in arrangements of simple geometrical form3 the ,arab1 therefore1 lay under no disadvantage in coloring1 and he had all the noble elements of constructive and proportional beauty at his command3 he might not imitate the sea-shell1 but he could build the dome4 ,the imitation of radiance by the variegated voussoir1 the expression of the sweep of the desert by the barred red lines upon the wall1 the starred inshedding of light through his vaulted roof1 and all the endless fantasy of abstract line1#fi were still in the power of his ardent and fantastic spirit4 ,much he achieved2 and yet in the effort of his overtaxed invention1 restrained from its proper food1 he made his architecture a glittering vacillation of undisciplined enchantment1 and left the lustre of its edifices to wither like a startling dream1 whose beauty we may indeed feel1 and whose instruction we may receive1 but must smile at its inconsistency1 and mourn over its evanescence4 ,,footnotes3 #fc ,the admiration of ,canova ,i hold to be one of the most deadly symptoms in the civilisation of the upper classes in the present century4 #fd ,thus above1 ,i adduced for the architect's imitation the appointed stories and beds of the ,matterhorn1 not its irregular forms of crag or fissure4 #fe ,appendix #ba1 ,ancient ,representations of ,water4 #ff ,by the friend to whom ,i owe ,appendix #ba4 #fg ,one is glad to hear from ,cuvier1 that though dolphins in general are les plus carnassiers1 et proportion garde avec leur taille1 les plus cruels de l'ordre2 yet that in the ,delphinus ,delphis1 tout l'organisation de son cerveau annonce qu'il ne doit pas tre dpourvu de la docilit qu'ils 7les anciens7 lui attribuaient4 #fh ,vide ,wilkinson1 vol4 v41 woodcut ,no4 #dgh1 fig4 #h4 ,the tamarisk appears afterwards to have given the idea of a subdivision of leaf more pure and quaint than that of the acanthus4 ,of late our botanists have discovered1 in the ,victoria regia 7supposing its blossom reversed71 another strangely beautiful type of what we may perhaps hereafter find it convenient to call ,lily capitals4 #fi ,appendix #bb1 ,arabian ,ornamentation4 ,,chapter ,,xxi4 ,,treatment ,,of ,,ornament4 ,i4 ,we now know where we are to look for subjects of decoration4 ,the next question is1 as the reader must remember1 how to treat or express these subjects4 ,there are evidently two branches of treatment3 the first being the expression1 or rendering to the eye and mind1 of the thing itself2 and the second1 the arrangement of the thing so expressed3 both of these being quite distinct from the placing of the ornament in proper parts of the building4 ,for instance1 suppose we take a vine-leaf for our subject4 ,the first question is1 how to cut the vine-leaf8 ,shall we cut its ribs and notches on the edge1 or only its general outline8 and so on4 ,then1 how to arrange the vine-leaves when we have them2 whether symmetrically1 or at random2 or unsymmetrically1 yet within certain limits8 ,all these ,i call questions of treatment4 ,then1 whether the vine-leaves so arranged are to be set on the capital of a pillar or on its shaft1 ,i call a question of place4 ,,ii4 ,so1 then1 the questions of mere treatment are twofold1 how to express1 and how to arrange4 ,and expression is to the mind or the sight4 ,therefore1 the inquiry becomes really threefold3-- #a4 ,how ornament is to be expressed with reference to the mind4 #b4 ,how ornament is to be arranged with reference to the sight4 #c4 ,how ornament is to be arranged with reference to both4 ,,iii4 7#a47 ,how is ornament to be treated with reference to the mind8 ,if1 to produce a good or beautiful ornament1 it were only necessary to produce a perfect piece of sculpture1 and if a well cut group of flowers or animals were indeed an ornament wherever it might be placed1 the work of the architect would be comparatively easy4 ,sculpture and architecture would become separate arts2 and the architect would order so many pieces of such subject and size as he needed1 without troubling himself with any questions but those of disposition and proportion4 ,but this is not so4 ,no perfect piece either of painting or sculpture is an architectural ornament at all1 except in that vague sense in which any beautiful thing is said to ornament the place it is in4 ,thus we say that pictures ornament a room2 but we should not thank an architect who told us that his design1 to be complete1 required a ,titian to be put in one corner of it1 and a ,velasquez in the other2 and it is just as unreasonable to call perfect sculpture1 niched in1 or encrusted on a building1 a portion of the ornament of that building1 as it would be to hang pictures by the way of ornament on the outside of it4 ,it is very possible that the sculptured work may be harmoniously associated with the building1 or the building executed with reference to it2 but in this latter case the architecture is subordinate to the sculpture1 as in the ,medicean chapel1 and ,i believe also in the ,parthenon4 ,and so far from the perfection of the work conducing to its ornamental purpose1 we may say1 with entire security1 that its perfection1 in some degree1 unfits it for its purpose1 and that no absolutely complete sculpture can be decoratively right4 ,we have a familiar instance in the flower-work of ,st4 ,paul's1 which is probably1 in the abstract1 as perfect flower sculpture as could be produced at the time2 and which is just as rational an ornament of the building as so many valuable ,van ,huysums1 framed and glazed and hung up over each window4 ,,iv4 ,the especial condition of true ornament is1 that it be beautiful in its place1 and nowhere else1 and that it aid the effect of every portion of the building over which it has influence2 that it does not1 by its richness1 make other parts bald1 or1 by its delicacy1 make other parts coarse4 ,every one of its qualities has reference to its place and use3 and it is fitted for its service by what would be faults and deficiencies if it had no especial duty4 ,ornament1 the servant1 is often formal1 where sculpture1 the master1 would have been free2 the servant is often silent where the master would have been eloquent2 or hurried1 where the master would have been serene4 ,v4 ,how far this subordination is in different situations to be expressed1 or how far it may be surrendered1 and ornament1 the servant1 be permitted to have independent will2 and by what means the subordination is best to be expressed when it is required1 are by far the most difficult questions ,i have ever tried to work out respecting any branch of art2 for1 in many of the examples to which ,i look as authoritative in their majesty of effect1 it is almost impossible to say whether the abstraction or imperfection of the sculpture was owing to the choice1 or the incapacity of the workman2 and1 if to the latter1 how far the result of fortunate incapacity can be imitated by prudent self-restraint4 ,the reader1 ,i think1 will understand this at once by considering the effect of the illuminations of an old missal4 ,in their bold rejection of all principles of perspective1 light and shade1 and drawing1 they are infinitely more ornamental to the page1 owing to the vivid opposition of their bright colors and quaint lines1 than if they had been drawn by ,da ,vinci himself3 and so the ,arena chapel is far more brightly decorated by the archaic frescoes of ,giotti1 than the ,stanze of the ,vatican are by those of ,raffaelle4 ,but how far it is possible to recur to such archaicism1 or to make up for it by any voluntary abandonment of power1 ,i cannot as yet venture in any wise to determine4 ,,vi4 ,so1 on the other hand1 in many instances of finished work in which ,i find most to regret or to reprobate1 ,i can hardly distinguish what is erroneous in principle from what is vulgar in execution4 ,for instance1 in most ,romanesque churches of ,italy1 the porches are guarded by gigantic animals1 lions or griffins1 of admirable severity of design2 yet1 in many cases1 of so rude workmanship1 that it can hardly be determined how much of this severity was intentional1--how much involuntary3 in the cathedral of ,genoa two modern lions have1 in imitation of this ancient custom1 been placed on the steps of its west front2 and the ,italian sculptor1 thinking himself a marvellous great man because he knew what lions were really like1 has copied them1 in the menagerie1 with great success1 and produced two hairy and well-whiskered beasts1 as like to real lions as he could possibly cut them4 ,one wishes them back in the menagerie for his pains2 but it is impossible to say how far the offence of their presence is owing to the mere stupidity and vulgarity of the sculpture1 and how far we might have been delighted with a realisation1 carried to nearly the same length by ,ghiberti or ,michael ,angelo4 7,i say nearly1 because neither ,ghiberti nor ,michael ,angelo would ever have attempted1 or permitted1 entire realisation1 even in independent sculpture47 ,,vii4 ,in spite of these embarrassments1 however1 some few certainties may be marked in the treatment of past architecture1 and secure conclusions deduced for future practice4 ,there is first1 for instance1 the assuredly intended and resolute abstraction of the ,ninevite and ,egyptian sculptors4 ,the men who cut those granite lions in the ,egyptian room of the ,british ,museum1 and who carved the calm faces of those ,ninevite kings1 knew much more1 both of lions and kings1 than they chose to express4 ,then there is the ,greek system1 in which the human sculpture is perfect1 the architecture and animal sculpture is subordinate to it1 and the architectural ornament severely subordinated to this again1 so as to be composed of little more than abstract lines3 and1 finally1 there is the peculiarly medival system1 in which the inferior details are carried to as great or greater imitative perfection as the higher sculpture2 and the subordination is chiefly effected by symmetries of arrangement1 and quaintnesses of treatment1 respecting which it is difficult to say how far they resulted from intention1 and how far from incapacity4 ,,viii4 ,now of these systems1 the ,ninevite and ,egyptian are altogether opposed to modern habits of thought and action2 they are sculptures evidently executed under absolute authorities1 physical and mental1 such as cannot at present exist4 ,the ,greek system presupposes the possession of a ,phidias2 it is ridiculous to talk of building in the ,greek manner2 you may build a ,greek shell or box1 such as the ,greek intended to contain sculpture1 but you have not the sculpture to put in it4 ,find your ,phidias first1 and your new ,phidias will very soon settle all your architectural difficulties in very unexpected ways indeed2 but until you find him1 do not think yourselves architects while you go on copying those poor subordinations1 and secondary and tertiary orders of ornament1 which the ,greek put on the shell of his sculpture4 ,some of them1 beads1 and dentils1 and such like1 are as good as they can be for their work1 and you may use them for subordinate work still2 but they are nothing to be proud of1 especially when you did not invent them3 and others of them are mistakes and impertinences in the ,greek himself1 such as his so-called honeysuckle ornaments and others1 in which there is a starched and dull suggestion of vegetable form1 and yet no real resemblance nor life1 for the conditions of them result from his own conceit of himself1 and ignorance of the physical sciences1 and want of relish for common nature1 and vain fancy that he could improve everything he touched1 and that he honored it by taking it into his service3 by freedom from which conceits the true ,christian architecture is distinguished--not by points to its arches4 ,,ix4 ,there remains1 therefore1 only the medival system1 in which ,i think1 generally1 more completion is permitted 7though this often because more was possible7 in the inferior than in the higher portions of ornamental subject4 ,leaves1 and birds1 and lizards are realised1 or nearly so2 men and quadrupeds formalised4 ,for observe1 the smaller and inferior subject remains subordinate1 however richly finished2 but the human sculpture can only be subordinate by being imperfect4 ,the realisation is1 however1 in all cases1 dangerous except under most skilful management1 and the abstraction1 if true and noble1 is almost always more delightful4#gj ,illustration3 ,plate ,,viii4 ,,decoration ,,by ,,disks4 ,,palazzo ,,dei ,,badoari ,,partecipazzi4 ,x4 ,what1 then1 is noble abstraction8 ,it is taking first the essential elements of the thing to be represented1 then the rest in the order of importance 7so that wherever we pause we shall always have obtained more than we leave behind71 and using any expedient to impress what we want upon the mind1 without caring about the mere literal accuracy of such expedient4 ,suppose1 for instance1 we have to represent a peacock3 now a peacock has a graceful neck1 so has a swan2 it has a high crest1 so has a cockatoo2 it has a long tail1 so has a bird of ,paradise4 ,but the whole spirit and power of peacock is in those eyes of the tail4 ,it is true1 the argus pheasant1 and one or two more birds1 have something like them1 but nothing for a moment comparable to them in brilliancy3 express the gleaming of the blue eyes through the plumage1 and you have nearly all you want of peacock1 but without this1 nothing2 and yet those eyes are not in relief2 a rigidly true sculpture of a peacock's form could have no eyes1--nothing but feathers4 ,here1 then1 enters the stratagem of sculpture2 you must cut the eyes in relief1 somehow or another2 see how it is done in the peacock on the opposite page2 it is so done by nearly all the ,byzantine sculptors3 this particular peacock is meant to be seen at some distance 7how far off ,i know not1 for it is an interpolation in the building where it occurs1 of which more hereafter71 but at all events at a distance of thirty or forty feet2 ,i have put it close to you that you may see plainly the rude rings and rods which stand for the eyes and quills1 but at the just distance their effect is perfect4 ,,xi4 ,and the simplicity of the means here employed may help us1 both to some clear understanding of the spirit of ,ninevite and ,egyptian work1 and to some perception of the kind of enfantillage or archaicism to which it may be possible1 even in days of advanced science1 legitimately to return4 ,the architect has no right1 as we said before1 to require of us a picture of ,titian's in order to complete his design2 neither has he the right to calculate on the co-operation of perfect sculptors1 in subordinate capacities4 ,far from this2 his business is to dispense with such aid altogether1 and to devise such a system of ornament as shall be capable of execution by uninventive and even unintelligent workmen2 for supposing that he required noble sculpture for his ornament1 how far would this at once limit the number and the scale of possible buildings8 ,architecture is the work of nations2 but we cannot have nations of great sculptors4 ,every house in every street of every city ought to be good architecture1 but we cannot have ,flaxman or ,thorwaldsen at work upon it3 nor1 even if we chose only to devote ourselves to our public buildings1 could the mass and majesty of them be great1 if we required all to be executed by great men2 greatness is not to be had in the required quantity4 ,giotto may design a campanile1 but he cannot carve it2 he can only carve one or two of the bas-reliefs at the base of it4 ,and with every increase of your fastidiousness in the execution of your ornament1 you diminish the possible number and grandeur of your buildings4 ,do not think you can educate your workmen1 or that the demand for perfection will increase the supply3 educated imbecility and finessed foolishness are the worst of all imbecilities and foolishnesses2 and there is no free-trade measure1 which will ever lower the price of brains1--there is no ,california of common sense4 ,exactly in the degree in which you require your decoration to be wrought by thoughtful men1 you diminish the extent and number of architectural works4 ,your business as an architect1 is to calculate only on the co-operation of inferior men1 to think for them1 and to indicate for them such expressions of your thoughts as the weakest capacity can comprehend and the feeblest hand can execute4 ,this is the definition of the purest architectural abstractions4 ,they are the deep and laborious thoughts of the greatest men1 put into such easy letters that they can be written by the simplest4 ,they are expressions of the mind of manhood by the hands of childhood4 ,,xii4 ,and now suppose one of those old ,ninevite or ,egyptian builders1 with a couple of thousand men--mud-bred1 onion-eating creatures--under him1 to be set to work1 like so many ants1 on his temple sculptures4 ,what is he to do with them8 ,he can put them through a granitic exercise of current hand2 he can teach them all how to curl hair thoroughly into croche-coeurs1 as you teach a bench of school-boys how to shape pothooks2 he can teach them all how to draw long eyes and straight noses1 and how to copy accurately certain well-defined lines4 ,then he fits his own great design to their capacities2 he takes out of king1 or lion1 or god1 as much as was expressible by croche-coeurs and granitic pothooks2 he throws this into noble forms of his own imagining1 and having mapped out their lines so that there can be no possibility of error1 sets his two thousand men to work upon them1 with a will1 and so many onions a day4 ,,xiii4 ,i said those times cannot now return4 ,we have1 with ,christianity1 recognised the individual value of every soul2 and there is no intelligence so feeble but that its single ray may in some sort contribute to the general light4 ,this is the glory of ,gothic architecture1 that every jot and tittle1 every point and niche of it1 affords room1 fuel1 and focus for individual fire4 ,but you cease to acknowledge this1 and you refuse to accept the help of the lesser mind1 if you require the work to be all executed in a great manner4 ,your business is to think out all of it nobly1 to dictate the expression of it as far as your dictation can assist the less elevated intelligence3 then to leave this1 aided and taught as far as may be1 to its own simple act and effort2 and to rejoice in its simplicity if not in its power1 and in its vitality if not in its science4 ,,xiv4 ,we have1 then1 three orders of ornament1 classed according to the degrees of correspondence of the executive and conceptive minds4 ,we have the servile ornament1 in which the executive is absolutely subjected to the inventive1--the ornament of the great ,eastern nations1 more especially ,hamite1 and all pre-,christian1 yet thoroughly noble in its submissiveness4 ,then we have the medival system1 in which the mind of the inferior workman is recognised1 and has full room for action1 but is guided and ennobled by the ruling mind4 ,this is the truly ,christian and only perfect system4 ,finally1 we have ornaments expressing the endeavor to equalise the executive and inventive1--endeavor which is ,renaissance and revolutionary1 and destructive of all noble architecture4 ,,xv4 ,thus far1 then1 of the incompleteness or simplicity of execution necessary in architectural ornament1 as referred to the mind4 ,next we have to consider that which is required when it is referred to the sight1 and the various modifications of treatment which are rendered necessary by the variation of its distance from the eye4 ,i say necessary3 not merely expedient or economical4 ,it is foolish to carve what is to be seen forty feet off with the delicacy which the eye demands within two yards2 not merely because such delicacy is lost in the distance1 but because it is a great deal worse than lost3--the delicate work has actually worse effect in the distance than rough work4 ,this is a fact well known to painters1 and1 for the most part1 acknowledged by the critics of painters1 namely1 that there is a certain distance for which a picture is painted2 and that the finish1 which is delightful if that distance be small1 is actually injurious if the distance be great3 and1 moreover1 that there is a particular method of handling which none but consummate artists reach1 which has its effects at the intended distance1 and is altogether hieroglyphical and unintelligible at any other4 ,this1 ,i say1 is acknowledged in painting1 but it is not practically acknowledged in architecture2 nor until my attention was especially directed to it1 had ,i myself any idea of the care with which this great question was studied by the medival architects4 ,on my first careful examination of the capitals of the upper arcade of the ,ducal ,palace at ,venice1 ,i was induced1 by their singular inferiority of workmanship1 to suppose them posterior to those of the lower arcade4 ,it was not till ,i discovered that some of those which ,i thought the worst above1 were the best when seen from below1 that ,i obtained the key to this marvellous system of adaptation2 a system which ,i afterwards found carried out in every building of the great times which ,i had opportunity of examining4 ,,xvi4 ,there are two distinct modes in which this adaptation is effected4 ,in the first1 the same designs which are delicately worked when near the eye1 are rudely cut1 and have far fewer details when they are removed from it4 ,in this method it is not always easy to distinguish economy from skill1 or slovenliness from science4 ,but1 in the second method1 a different design is adopted1 composed of fewer parts and of simpler lines1 and this is cut with exquisite precision4 ,this is of course the higher method1 and the more satisfactory proof of purpose2 but an equal degree of imperfection is found in both kinds when they are seen close2 in the first1 a bald execution of a perfect design2 the second1 a baldness of design with perfect execution4 ,and in these very imperfections lies the admirableness of the ornament4 ,,xvii4 ,it may be asked whether1 in advocating this adaptation to the distance of the eye1 ,i obey my adopted rule of observance of natural law4 ,are not all natural things1 it may be asked1 as lovely near as far away8 ,nay1 not so4 ,look at the clouds1 and watch the delicate sculpture of their alabaster sides1 and the rounded lustre of their magnificent rolling4 ,they are meant to be beheld far away2 they were shaped for their place1 high above your head2 approach them1 and they fuse into vague mists1 or whirl away in fierce fragments of thunderous vapor4 ,look at the crest of the ,alp1 from the far-away plains over which its light is cast1 whence human souls have communion with it by their myriads4 ,the child looks up to it in the dawn1 and the husbandman in the burden and heat of the day1 and the old man in the going down of the sun1 and it is to them all as the celestial city on the world's horizon2 dyed with the depth of heaven1 and clothed with the calm of eternity4 ,there was it set1 for holy dominion1 by ,him who marked for the sun his journey1 and bade the moon know her going down4 ,it was built for its place in the far-off sky2 approach it1 and as the sound of the voice of man dies away about its foundations1 and the tide of human life1 shallowed upon the vast arial shore1 is at last met by the ,eternal ,here shall thy waves be stayed1 the glory of its aspect fades into blanched fearfulness2 its purple walls are rent into grisly rocks1 its silver fretwork saddened into wasting snow1 the storm-brands of ages are on its breast1 the ashes of its own ruin lie solemnly on its white raiment4 ,nor in such instances as these alone1 though strangely enough1 the discrepancy between apparent and actual beauty is greater in proportion to the unapproachableness of the object1 is the law observed4 ,for every distance from the eye there is a peculiar kind of beauty1 or a different system of lines of form2 the sight of that beauty is reserved for that distance1 and for that alone4 ,if you approach nearer1 that kind of beauty is lost1 and another succeeds1 to be disorganised and reduced to strange and incomprehensible means and appliances in its turn4 ,if you desire to perceive the great harmonies of the form of a rocky mountain1 you must not ascend upon its sides4 ,all is there disorder and accident1 or seems so2 sudden starts of its shattered beds hither and thither2 ugly struggles of unexpected strength from under the ground2 fallen fragments1 toppling one over another into more helpless fall4 ,retire from it1 and1 as your eye commands it more and more1 as you see the ruined mountain world with a wider glance1 behold6 dim sympathies begin to busy themselves in the disjointed mass2 line binds itself into stealthy fellowship with line2 group by group1 the helpless fragments gather themselves into ordered companies2 new captains of hosts and masses of battalions become visible1 one by one1 and far away answers of foot to foot1 and of bone to bone1 until the powerless chaos is seen risen up with girded loins1 and not one piece of all the unregarded heap could now be spared from the mystic whole4 ,,xviii4 ,now it is indeed true that where nature loses one kind of beauty1 as you approach it1 she substitutes another2 this is worthy of her infinite power3 and1 as we shall see1 art can sometimes follow her even in doing this2 but all ,i insist upon at present is1 that the several effects of nature are each worked with means referred to a particular distance1 and producing their effect at that distance only4 ,take a singular and marked instance3 ,when the sun rises behind a ridge of pines1 and those pines are seen from a distance of a mile or two1 against his light1 the whole form of the tree1 trunk1 branches1 and all1 becomes one frostwork of intensely brilliant silver1 which is relieved against the clear sky like a burning fringe1 for some distance on either side of the sun4#ga ,now suppose that a person who had never seen pines were1 for the first time in his life1 to see them under this strange aspect1 and1 reasoning as to the means by which such effect could be produced1 laboriously to approach the eastern ridge1 how would he be amazed to find that the fiery spectres had been produced by trees with swarthy and grey trunks1 and dark green leaves6 ,we1 in our simplicity1 if we had been required to produce such an appearance1 should have built up trees of chased silver1 with trunks of glass1 and then been grievously amazed to find that1 at two miles off1 neither silver nor glass were any more visible2 but nature knew better1 and prepared for her fairy work with the strong branches and dark leaves1 in her own mysterious way4 ,,xix4 ,now this is exactly what you have to do with your good ornament4 ,it may be that it is capable of being approached1 as well as likely to be seen far away1 and then it ought to have microscopic qualities1 as the pine leaves have1 which will bear approach4 ,but your calculation of its purpose is for a glory to be produced at a given distance2 it may be here1 or may be there1 but it is a given distance2 and the excellence of the ornament depends upon its fitting that distance1 and being seen better there than anywhere else1 and having a particular function and form which it can only discharge and assume there4 ,you are never to say that ornament has great merit because you cannot see the beauty of it here2 but1 it has great merit because you can see its beauty here only4 ,and to give it this merit is just about as difficult a task as ,i could well set you4 ,i have above noted the two ways in which it is done3 the one1 being merely rough cutting1 may be passed over2 the other1 which is scientific alteration of design1 falls1 itself1 into two great branches1 ,simplification and ,emphasis4 ,a word or two is necessary on each of these heads4 ,,xx4 ,when an ornamental work is intended to be seen near1 if its composition be indeed fine1 the subdued and delicate portions of the design lead to1 and unite1 the energetic parts1 and those energetic parts form with the rest a whole1 in which their own immediate relations to each other are not perceived4 ,remove this design to a distance1 and the connecting delicacies vanish1 the energies alone remain1 now either disconnected altogether1 or assuming with each other new relations1 which1 not having been intended by the designer1 will probably be painful4 ,there is a like1 and a more palpable1 effect1 in the retirement of a band of music in which the instruments are of very unequal powers2 the fluting and fifeing expire1 the drumming remains1 and that in a painful arrangement1 as demanding something which is unheard4 ,in like manner1 as the designer at arm's length removes or elevates his work1 fine gradations1 and roundings1 and incidents1 vanish1 and a totally unexpected arrangement is established between the remainder of the markings1 certainly confused1 and in all probability painful4 ,,xxi4 ,the art of architectural design is therefore1 first1 the preparation for this beforehand1 the rejection of all the delicate passages as worse than useless1 and the fixing the thought upon the arrangement of the features which will remain visible far away4 ,nor does this always imply a diminution of resource2 for1 while it may be assumed as a law that fine modulation of surface in light becomes quickly invisible as the object retires1 there are a softness and mystery given to the harder markings1 which enable them to be safely used as media of expression4 ,there is an exquisite example of this use1 in the head of the ,adam of the ,ducal ,palace4 ,it is only at the height of #ag or #ah feet above the eye2 nevertheless1 the sculptor felt it was no use to trouble himself about drawing the corners of the mouth1 or the lines of the lips1 delicately1 at that distance2 his object has been to mark them clearly1 and to prevent accidental shadows from concealing them1 or altering their expression4 ,the lips are cut thin and sharp1 so that their line cannot be mistaken1 and a good deep drill-hole struck into the angle of the mouth2 the eye is anxious and questioning1 and one is surprised1 from below1 to perceive a kind of darkness in the iris of it1 neither like color1 nor like a circular furrow4 ,the expedient can only be discovered by ascending to the level of the head2 it is one which would have been quite inadmissible except in distant work1 six drill-holes cut into the iris1 round a central one for the pupil4 ,,xxii4 ,by just calculation1 like this1 of the means at our disposal1 by beautiful arrangement of the prominent features1 and by choice of different subjects for different places1 choosing the broadest forms for the farthest distance1 it is possible to give the impression1 not only of perfection1 but of an exquisite delicacy1 to the most distant ornament4 ,and this is the true sign of the right having been done1 and the utmost possible power attained3--,the spectator should be satisfied to stay in his place1 feeling the decoration1 wherever it may be1 equally rich1 full1 and lovely3 not desiring to climb the steeples in order to examine it1 but sure that he has it all1 where he is4 ,perhaps the capitals of the cathedral of ,genoa are the best instances of absolute perfection in this kind3 seen from below1 they appear as rich as the frosted silver of the ,strada degli ,orefici2 and the nearer you approach them1 the less delicate they seem4 ,,xxiii4 ,this is1 however1 not the only mode1 though the best1 in which ornament is adapted for distance4 ,the other is emphasis1--the unnatural insisting upon explanatory lines1 where the subject would otherwise become unintelligible4 ,it is to be remembered that1 by a deep and narrow incision1 an architect has the power1 at least in sunshine1 of drawing a black line on stone1 just as vigorously as it can be drawn with chalk on grey paper2 and that he may thus1 wherever and in the degree that he chooses1 substitute chalk sketching for sculpture4 ,they are curiously mingled by the ,romans4 ,the bas-reliefs of the ,arc d',orange are small1 and would be confused1 though in bold relief1 if they depended for intelligibility on the relief only2 but each figure is outlined by a strong incision at its edge into the background1 and all the ornaments on the armor are simply drawn with incised lines1 and not cut out at all4 ,a similar use of lines is made by the ,gothic nations in all their early sculpture1 and with delicious effect4 ,now1 to draw a mere pattern--as1 for instance1 the bearings of a shield--with these simple incisions1 would1 ,i suppose1 occupy an able sculptor twenty minutes or half an hour2 and the pattern is then clearly seen1 under all circumstances of light and shade2 there can be no mistake about it1 and no missing it4 ,to carve out the bearings in due and finished relief would occupy a long summer's day1 and the results would be feeble and indecipherable in the best lights1 and in some lights totally and hopelessly invisible1 ignored1 non-existant4 ,now the ,renaissance architects1 and our modern ones1 despise the simple expedient of the rough ,roman or barbarian4 ,they do not care to be understood4 ,they care only to speak finely1 and be thought great orators1 if one could only hear them4 ,so ,i leave you to choose between the old men1 who took minutes to tell things plainly1 and the modern men1 who take days to tell them unintelligibly4 ,,xxiv4 ,all expedients of this kind1 both of simplification and energy1 for the expression of details at a distance where their actual forms would have been invisible1 but more especially this linear method1 ,i shall call ,proutism2 for the greatest master of the art in modern times has been ,samuel ,prout4 ,he actually takes up buildings of the later times in which the ornament has been too refined for its place1 and translates it into the energised linear ornament of earlier art3 and to this power of taking the life and essence of decoration1 and putting it into a perfectly intelligible form1 when its own fulness would have been confused1 is owing the especial power of his drawings4 ,nothing can be more closely analogous than the method with which an old ,lombard uses his chisel1 and that with which ,prout uses the reed-pen2 and we shall see presently farther correspondence in their feeling about the enrichment of luminous surfaces4 ,,xxv4 ,now1 all that has been hitherto said refers to ornament whose distance is fixed1 or nearly so2 as when it is at any considerable height from the ground1 supposing the spectator to desire to see it1 and to get as near it as he can4 ,but the distance of ornament is never fixed to the general spectator4 ,the tower of a cathedral is bound to look well1 ten miles off1 or five miles1 or half a mile1 or within fifty yards4 ,the ornaments of its top have fixed distances1 compared with those of its base2 but quite unfixed distances in their relation to the great world3 and the ornaments of the base have no fixed distance at all4 ,they are bound to look well from the other side of the cathedral close1 and to look equally well1 or better1 as we enter the cathedral door4 ,how are we to manage this8 ,,xxvi4 ,as nature manages it4 ,i said above1 ,,xvii41 that for every distance from the eye there was a different system of form in all natural objects3 this is to be so then in architecture4 ,the lesser ornament is to be grafted on the greater1 and third or fourth orders of ornaments upon this again1 as need may be1 until we reach the limits of possible sight2 each order of ornament being adapted for a different distance3 first1 for example1 the great masses1--the buttresses and stories and black windows and broad cornices of the tower1 which give it make1 and organism1 as it rises over the horizon1 half a score of miles away3 then the traceries and shafts and pinnacles1 which give it richness as we approach3 then the niches and statues and knobs and flowers1 which we can only see when we stand beneath it4 ,at this third order of ornament1 we may pause1 in the upper portions2 but on the roofs of the niches1 and the robes of the statues1 and the rolls of the mouldings1 comes a fourth order of ornament1 as delicate as the eye can follow1 when any of these features may be approached4 ,,xxvii4 ,all good ornamentation is thus arborescent1 as it were1 one class of it branching out of another and sustained by it2 and its nobility consists in this1 that whatever order or class of it we may be contemplating1 we shall find it subordinated to a greater1 simpler1 and more powerful2 and if we then contemplate the greater order1 we shall find it again subordinated to a greater still2 until the greatest can only be quite grasped by retiring to the limits of distance commanding it4 ,and if this subordination be not complete1 the ornament is bad3 if the figurings and chasings and borderings of a dress be not subordinated to the folds of it1--if the folds are not subordinate to the action and mass of the figure1--if this action and mass not to the divisions of the recesses and shafts among which it stands1--if these not to the shadows of the great arches and buttresses of the whole building1 in each case there is error2 much more if all be contending with each other and striving for attention at the same time4 ,,xxviii4 ,it is nevertheless evident1 that1 however perfect this distribution1 there cannot be orders adapted to every distance of the spectator4 ,between the ranks of ornament there must always be a bold separation2 and there must be many intermediate distances1 where we are too far off to see the lesser rank clearly1 and yet too near to grasp the next higher rank wholly3 and at all these distances the spectator will feel himself ill-placed1 and will desire to go nearer or farther away4 ,this must be the case in all noble work1 natural or artificial4 ,it is exactly the same with respect to ,rouen cathedral or the ,mont ,blanc4 ,we like to see them from the other side of the ,seine1 or of the lake of ,geneva2 from the ,march aux ,fleurs1 or the ,valley of ,chamouni2 from the parapets of the apse1 or the crags of the ,montagne de la ,cte3 but there are intermediate distances which dissatisfy us in either case1 and from which one is in haste either to advance or to retire4 ,,xxix4 ,directly opposed to this ordered1 disciplined1 well officered and variously ranked ornament1 this type of divine1 and therefore of all good human government1 is the democratic ornament1 in which all is equally influential1 and has equal office and authority2 that is to say1 none of it any office nor authority1 but a life of continual struggle for independence and notoriety1 or of gambling for chance regards4 ,the ,english perpendicular work is by far the worst of this kind that ,i know2 its main idea1 or decimal fraction of an idea1 being to cover its walls with dull1 successive1 eternity of reticulation1 to fill with equal foils the equal interstices between the equal bars1 and charge the interminable blanks with statues and rosettes1 invisible at a distance1 and uninteresting near4 ,the early ,lombardic1 ,veronese1 and ,norman work is the exact reverse of this2 being divided first into large masses1 and these masses covered with minute chasing and surface work1 which fill them with interest1 and yet do not disturb nor divide their greatness4 ,the lights are kept broad and bright1 and yet are found on near approach to be charged with intricate design4 ,this1 again1 is a part of the great system of treatment which ,i shall hereafter call ,proutism2 much of what is thought mannerism and imperfection in ,prout's work1 being the result of his determined resolution that minor details shall never break up his large masses of light4 ,,xxx4 ,such are the main principles to be observed in the adaptation of ornament to the sight4 ,we have lastly to inquire by what method1 and in what quantities1 the ornament1 thus adapted to mental contemplation1 and prepared for its physical position1 may most wisely be arranged4 ,i think the method ought first to be considered1 and the quantity last2 for the advisable quantity depends upon the method4 ,,xxxi4 ,it was said above1 that the proper treatment or arrangement of ornament was that which expressed the laws and ways of ,deity4 ,now1 the subordination of visible orders to each other1 just noted1 is one expression of these4 ,but there may also--must also--be a subordination and obedience of the parts of each order to some visible law1 out of itself1 but having reference to itself only 7not to any upper order73 some law which shall not oppress1 but guide1 limit1 and sustain4 ,in the tenth chapter of the second volume of ,modern ,painters1 the reader will find that ,i traced one part of the beauty of ,god's creation to the expression of a self-restrained liberty3 that is to say1 the image of that perfection of divine action1 which1 though free to work in arbitrary methods1 works always in consistent methods1 called by us ,laws4 ,now1 correspondingly1 we find that when these natural objects are to become subjects of the art of man1 their perfect treatment is an image of the perfection of human action3 a voluntary submission to divine law4 ,it was suggested to me but lately by the friend to whose originality of thought ,i have before expressed my obligations1 ,mr4 ,newton1 that the ,greek pediment1 with its enclosed sculptures1 represented to the ,greek mind the law of ,fate1 confining human action within limits not to be overpassed4 ,i do not believe the ,greeks ever distinctly thought of this2 but the instinct of all the human race1 since the world began1 agrees in some expression of such limitation as one of the first necessities of good ornament4#gb ,and this expression is heightened1 rather than diminished1 when some portion of the design slightly breaks the law to which the rest is subjected2 it is like expressing the use of miracles in the divine government2 or1 perhaps1 in slighter degrees1 the relaxing of a law1 generally imperative1 in compliance with some more imperative need--the hungering of ,david4 ,how eagerly this special infringement of a general law was sometimes sought by the medival workmen1 ,i shall be frequently able to point out to the reader2 but ,i remember just now a most curious instance1 in an archivolt of a house in the ,corte del ,remer close to the ,rialto at ,venice4 ,it is composed of a wreath of flower-work--a constant ,byzantine design--with an animal in each coil2 the whole enclosed between two fillets4 ,each animal1 leaping or eating1 scratching or biting1 is kept nevertheless strictly within its coil1 and between the fillets4 ,not the shake of an ear1 not the tip of a tail1 overpasses this appointed line1 through a series of some five-and-twenty or thirty animals2 until1 on a sudden1 and by mutual consent1 two little beasts 7not looking1 for the rest1 more rampant than the others71 one on each side1 lay their small paws across the enclosing fillet at exactly the same point of its course1 and thus break the continuity of its line4 ,two ears of corn1 or leaves1 do the same thing in the mouldings round the northern door of the ,baptistery at ,florence4 ,,xxxii4 ,observe1 however1 and this is of the utmost possible importance1 that the value of this type does not consist in the mere shutting of the ornament into a certain space1 but in the acknowledgment by the ornament of the fitness of the limitation--of its own perfect willingness to submit to it2 nay1 of a predisposition in itself to fall into the ordained form1 without any direct expression of the command to do so2 an anticipation of the authority1 and an instant and willing submission to it1 in every fibre and spray3 not merely willing1 but happy submission1 as being pleased rather than vexed to have so beautiful a law suggested to it1 and one which to follow is so justly in accordance with its own nature4 ,you must not cut out a branch of hawthorn as it grows1 and rule a triangle round it1 and suppose that it is then submitted to law4 ,not a bit of it4 ,it is only put in a cage1 and will look as if it must get out1 for its life1 or wither in the confinement4 ,but the spirit of triangle must be put into the hawthorn4 ,it must suck in isoscelesism with its sap4 ,thorn and blossom1 leaf and spray1 must grow with an awful sense of triangular necessity upon them1 for the guidance of which they are to be thankful1 and to grow all the stronger and more gloriously4 ,and though there may be a transgression here and there1 and an adaptation to some other need1 or a reaching forth to some other end greater even than the triangle1 yet this liberty is to be always accepted under a solemn sense of special permission2 and when the full form is reached and the entire submission expressed1 and every blossom has a thrilling sense of its responsibility down into its tiniest stamen1 you may take your terminal line away if you will4 ,no need for it any more4 ,the commandment is written on the heart of the thing4 ,,xxxiii4 ,then1 besides this obedience to external law1 there is the obedience to internal headship1 which constitutes the unity of ornament1 of which ,i think enough has been said for my present purpose in the chapter on ,unity in the second vol4 of ,modern ,painters4 ,but ,i hardly know whether to arrange as an expression of a divine law1 or a representation of a physical fact1 the alternation of shade with light which1 in equal succession1 forms one of the chief elements of continuous ornament1 and in some peculiar ones1 such as dentils and billet mouldings1 is the source of their only charm4 ,the opposition of good and evil1 the antagonism of the entire human system 7so ably worked out by ,lord ,lindsay71 the alternation of labor with rest1 the mingling of life with death1 or the actual physical fact of the division of light from darkness1 and of the falling and rising of night and day1 are all typified or represented by these chains of shade and light of which the eye never wearies1 though their true meaning may never occur to the thoughts4 ,,xxxiv4 ,the next question respecting the arrangement of ornament is one closely connected also with its quantity4 ,the system of creation is one in which ,god's creatures leap not1 but express a feast1 where all the guests sit close1 and nothing wants4 ,it is also a feast1 where there is nothing redundant4 ,so1 then1 in distributing our ornament1 there must never be any sense of gap or blank1 neither any sense of there being a single member1 or fragment of a member1 which could be spared4 ,whatever has nothing to do1 whatever could go without being missed1 is not ornament2 it is deformity and encumbrance4 ,away with it4 ,and1 on the other hand1 care must be taken either to diffuse the ornament which we permit1 in due relation over the whole building1 or so to concentrate it1 as never to leave a sense of its having got into knots1 and curdled upon some points1 and left the rest of the building whey4 ,it is very difficult to give the rules1 or analyse the feelings1 which should direct us in this matter3 for some shafts may be carved and others left unfinished1 and that with advantage2 some windows may be jewelled like ,aladdin's1 and one left plain1 and still with advantage2 the door or doors1 or a single turret1 or the whole western faade of a church1 or the apse or transept1 may be made special subjects of decoration1 and the rest left plain1 and still sometimes with advantage4 ,but in all such cases there is either sign of that feeling which ,i advocated in the ,first ,chapter of the ,seven ,lamps1 the desire of rather doing some portion of the building as we would have it1 and leaving the rest plain1 than doing the whole imperfectly2 or else there is choice made of some important feature1 to which1 as more honorable than the rest1 the decoration is confined4 ,the evil is when1 without system1 and without preference of the nobler members1 the ornament alternates between sickly luxuriance and sudden blankness4 ,in many of our ,scotch and ,english abbeys1 especially ,melrose1 this is painfully felt2 but the worst instance ,i have ever seen is the window in the side of the arch under the ,wellington statue1 next ,st4 ,george's ,hospital4 ,in the first place1 a window has no business there at all2 in the second1 the bars of the window are not the proper place for decoration1 especially wavy decoration1 which one instantly fancies of cast iron2 in the third1 the richness of the ornament is a mere patch and eruption upon the wall1 and one hardly knows whether to be most irritated at the affectation of severity in the rest1 or at the vain luxuriance of the dissolute parallelogram4 ,,xxxv4 ,finally1 as regards quantity of ornament ,i have already said1 again and again1 you cannot have too much if it be good2 that is1 if it be thoroughly united and harmonised by the laws hitherto insisted upon4 ,but you may easily have too much if you have more than you have sense to manage4 ,for with every added order of ornament increases the difficulty of discipline4 ,it is exactly the same as in war3 you cannot1 as an abstract law1 have too many soldiers1 but you may easily have more than the country is able to sustain1 or than your generalship is competent to command4 ,and every regiment which you cannot manage will1 on the day of battle1 be in your way1 and encumber the movements it is not in disposition to sustain4 ,,xxxvi4 ,as an architect1 therefore1 you are modestly to measure your capacity of governing ornament4 ,remember1 its essence1--its being ornament at all1 consists in its being governed4 ,lose your authority over it1 let it command you1 or lead you1 or dictate to you in any wise1 and it is an offence1 an incumbrance1 and a dishonor4 ,and it is always ready to do this2 wild to get the bit in its teeth1 and rush forth on its own devices4 ,measure1 therefore1 your strength2 and as long as there is no chance of mutiny1 add soldier to soldier1 battalion to battalion2 but be assured that all are heartily in the cause1 and that there is not one of whose position you are ignorant1 or whose service you could spare4 ,,footnotes3 #gj ,vide ,seven ,lamps1 ,chap4 ,,iv4 #cd4 #ga ,shakspeare and ,wordsworth 7,i think they only7 have noticed this1 ,shakspeare1 in ,richard ,,ii43-- ,but when1 from under this terrestrial ball1 ,he fires the proud tops of the eastern pines4 ,and ,wordsworth1 in one of his minor poems1 on leaving ,italy3 ,my thoughts become bright like yon edging of pines ,on the steep's lofty verge--how it blackened the air6 ,but1 touched from behind by the sun1 it now shines ,with threads that seem part of his own silver hair4 #gb ,some valuable remarks on this subject will be found in a notice of the ,seven ,lamps in the ,british ,quarterly for ,august1 #ahdi4 ,i think1 however1 the writer attaches too great importance to one out of many ornamental necessities4 ,,chapter ,,xxii4 ,,the ,,angle4 ,i4 ,we have now examined the treatment and specific kinds of ornament at our command4 ,we have lastly to note the fittest places for their disposal4 ,not but that all kinds of ornament are used in all places2 but there are some parts of the building1 which1 without ornament1 are more painful than others1 and some which wear ornament more gracefully than others2 so that1 although an able architect will always be finding out some new and unexpected modes of decoration1 and fitting his ornament into wonderful places where it is least expected1 there are1 nevertheless1 one or two general laws which may be noted respecting every one of the parts of a building1 laws not 7except a few7 imperative like those of construction1 but yet generally expedient1 and good to be understood1 if it were only that we might enjoy the brilliant methods in which they are sometimes broken4 ,i shall note1 however1 only a few of the simplest2 to trace them into their ramifications1 and class in due order the known or possible methods of decoration for each part of a building1 would alone require a large volume1 and be1 ,i think1 a somewhat useless work2 for there is often a high pleasure in the very unexpectedness of the ornament1 which would be destroyed by too elaborate an arrangement of its kinds4 ,,ii4 ,i think that the reader must1 by this time1 so thoroughly understand the connection of the parts of a building1 that ,i may class together1 in treating of decoration1 several parts which ,i kept separate in speaking of construction4 ,thus ,i shall put under one head 7,a7 the base of the wall and of the shaft2 then 7,b7 the wall veil and shaft itself2 then 7,c7 the cornice and capital2 then 7,d7 the jamb and archivolt1 including the arches both over shafts and apertures1 and the jambs of apertures1 which are closely connected with their archivolts2 finally 7,e7 the roof1 including the real roof1 and the minor roofs or gables of pinnacles and arches4 ,i think1 under these divisions1 all may be arranged which is necessary to be generally stated2 for tracery decorations or aperture fillings are but smaller forms of application of the arch1 and the cusps are merely smaller spandrils1 while buttresses have1 as far as ,i know1 no specific ornament4 ,the best are those which have least2 and the little they have resolves itself into pinnacles1 which are common to other portions of the building1 or into small shafts1 arches1 and niches1 of still more general applicability4 ,we shall therefore have only five divisions to examine in succession1 from foundation to roof4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,li4 ,,iii4 ,but in the decoration of these several parts1 certain minor conditions of ornament occur which are of perfectly general application4 ,for instance1 whether1 in archivolts1 jambs1 or buttresses1 or in square piers1 or at the extremity of the entire building1 we necessarily have the awkward 7moral or architectural7 feature1 the corner4 ,how to turn a corner gracefully becomes1 therefore1 a perfectly general question2 to be examined without reference to any particular part of the edifice4 ,,iv4 ,again1 the furrows and ridges by which bars of parallel light and shade are obtained1 whether these are employed in arches1 or jambs1 or bases1 or cornices1 must of necessity present one or more of six forms3 square projection1 a 7,fig4 ,,li471 or square recess1 b1 sharp projection1 c1 or sharp recess1 d1 curved projection1 e1 or curved recess1 f4 ,what odd curves the projection or recess may assume1 or how these different conditions may be mixed and run into one another1 is not our present business4 ,we note only the six distinct kinds or types4 ,now1 when these ridges or furrows are on a small scale they often themselves constitute all the ornament required for larger features1 and are left smooth cut2 but on a very large scale they are apt to become insipid1 and they require a sub-ornament of their own1 the consideration of which is1 of course1 in great part1 general1 and irrespective of the place held by the mouldings in the building itself3 which consideration ,i think we had better undertake first of all4 ,v4 ,but before we come to particular examination of these minor forms1 let us see how far we can simplify it4 ,look back to ,fig4 ,,li41 above4 ,there are distinguished in it six forms of moulding4 ,of these1 c is nothing but a small corner2 but1 for convenience sake1 it is better to call it an edge1 and to consider its decoration together with that of the member a1 which is called a fillet2 while e1 which ,i shall call a roll 7because ,i do not choose to assume that it shall be only of the semicircular section here given71 is also best considered together with its relative recess1 f2 and because the shape of a recess is of no great consequence1 ,i shall class all the three recesses together1 and we shall thus have only three subjects for separate consideration3-- #a4 ,the ,angle4 #b4 ,the ,edge and ,fillet4 #c4 ,the ,roll and ,recess4 ,,vi4 ,there are two other general forms which may probably occur to the reader's mind1 namely1 the ridge 7as of a roof71 which is a corner laid on its back1 or sloping1--a supine corner1 decorated in a very different manner from a stiff upright corner3 and the point1 which is a concentrated corner1 and has wonderfully elaborate decorations all to its insignificant self1 finials1 and spikes1 and ,i know not what more4 ,but both these conditions are so closely connected with roofs 7even the cusp finial being a kind of pendant to a small roof71 that ,i think it better to class them and their ornament under the head of roof decoration1 together with the whole tribe of crockets and bosses2 so that we shall be here concerned only with the three subjects above distinguished3 and1 first1 the corner or ,angle4 ,,vii4 ,the mathematician knows there are many kinds of angles2 but the one we have principally to deal with now1 is that which the reader may very easily conceive as the corner of a square house1 or square anything4 ,it is of course the one of most frequent occurrence2 and its treatment1 once understood1 may1 with slight modification1 be referred to other corners1 sharper or blunter1 or with curved sides4 ,,viii4 ,evidently the first and roughest idea which would occur to any one who found a corner troublesome1 would be to cut it off4 ,this is a very summary and tyrannical proceeding1 somewhat barbarous1 yet advisable if nothing else can be done3 an amputated corner is said to be chamfered4 ,it can1 however1 evidently be cut off in three ways3 #a4 with a concave cut1 a2 #b4 with a straight cut1 b2 #c4 with a convex cut1 c1 ,fig4 ,,lii4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lii4 ,the first two methods1 the most violent and summary1 have the apparent disadvantage that we get by them1--two corners instead of one2 much milder corners1 however1 and with a different light and shade between them2 so that both methods are often very expedient4 ,you may see the straight chamfer 7b7 on most lamp posts1 and pillars at railway stations1 it being the easiest to cut3 the concave chamfer requires more care1 and occurs generally in well-finished but simple architecture--very beautifully in the small arches of the ,broletto of ,como1 ,plate ,v42 and the straight chamfer in architecture of every kind1 very constantly in ,norman cornices and arches1 as in ,fig4 #b1 ,plate ,,iv41 at ,sens4 ,,ix4 ,the third1 or convex chamfer1 as it is the gentlest mode of treatment1 so 7as in medicine and morals7 it is very generally the best4 ,for while the two other methods produce two corners instead of one1 this gentle chamfer does verily get rid of the corner altogether1 and substitutes a soft curve in its place4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,liii4 ,but it has1 in the form above given1 this grave disadvantage1 that it looks as if the corner had been rubbed or worn off1 blunted by time and weather1 and in want of sharpening again4 ,a great deal often depends1 and in such a case as this1 everything depends1 on the ,voluntariness of the ornament4 ,the work of time is beautiful on surfaces1 but not on edges intended to be sharp4 ,even if we needed them blunt1 we should not like them blunt on compulsion2 so1 to show that the bluntness is our own ordaining1 we will put a slight incised line to mark off the rounding1 and show that it goes no farther than we choose4 ,we shall thus have the section a1 ,fig4 ,,liii42 and this mode of turning an angle is one of the very best ever invented4 ,by enlarging and deepening the incision1 we get in succession the forms b1 c1 d2 and by describing a small equal arc on each of the sloping lines of these figures1 we get e1 f1 g1 h4 ,x4 ,i do not know whether these mouldings are called by architects chamfers or beads2 but ,i think bead a bad word for a continuous moulding1 and the proper sense of the word chamfer is fixed by ,spenser as descriptive not merely of truncation1 but of trench or furrow3-- ,tho gin you1 fond flies1 the cold to scorn1 ,and1 crowing in pipes made of green corn1 ,you thinken to be lords of the year2 ,but eft when ye count you freed from fear1 ,comes the breme winter with chamfred brows1 ,full of wrinkles and frosty furrows4 ,so ,i shall call the above mouldings beaded chamfers1 when there is any chance of confusion with the plain chamfer1 a1 or b1 of ,fig4 ,,lii43 and when there is no such chance1 ,i shall use the word chamfer only4 ,,xi4 ,of those above given1 b is the constant chamfer of ,venice1 and a of ,verona3 a being the grandest and best1 and having a peculiar precision and quaintness of effect about it4 ,i found it twice in ,venice1 used on the sharp angle1 as at a and b1 ,fig4 ,,liv41 a being from the angle of a house on the ,rio ,san ,zulian1 and b from the windows of the church of ,san ,stefano4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,liv4 ,,xii4 ,there is1 however1 evidently another variety of the chamfers1 f and g1 ,fig4 ,,liii41 formed by an unbroken curve instead of two curves1 as c1 ,fig4 ,,liv42 and when this1 or the chamfer d1 ,fig4 ,,liii41 is large1 it is impossible to say whether they have been devised from the incised angle1 or from small shafts set in a nook1 as at e1 ,fig4 ,,liv41 or in the hollow of the curved chamfer1 as d1 ,fig4 ,,liv4 ,in general1 however1 the shallow chamfers1 a1 b1 e1 and f1 ,fig4 ,,liii41 are peculiar to southern work2 and may be assumed to have been derived from the incised angle1 while the deep chamfers1 c1 d1 g1 h1 are characteristic of northern work1 and may be partly derived or imitated from the angle shaft2 while1 with the usual extravagance of the northern architects1 they are cut deeper and deeper until we arrive at the condition f1 ,fig4 ,,liv41 which is the favorite chamfer at ,bourges and ,bayeux1 and in other good ,french work4 ,i have placed in the ,appendix#gc a figure belonging to this subject1 but which cannot interest the general reader1 showing the number of possible chamfers with a roll moulding of given size4 ,,xiii4 ,if we take the plain chamfer1 b1 of ,fig4 ,,lii41 on a large scale1 as at a1 ,fig4 ,,lv41 and bead both its edges1 cutting away the parts there shaded1 we shall have a form much used in richly decorated ,gothic1 both in ,england and ,italy4 ,it might be more simply described as the chamfer a of ,fig4 ,,lii41 with an incision on each edge2 but the part here shaded is often worked into ornamental forms1 not being entirely cut away4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lv4 ,,xiv4 ,many other mouldings1 which at first sight appear very elaborate1 are nothing more than a chamfer1 with a series of small echoes of it on each side1 dying away with a ripple on the surface of the wall1 as in b1 ,fig4 ,,lv41 from ,coutances 7observe1 here the white part is the solid stone1 the shade is cut away74 ,chamfers of this kind are used on a small scale and in delicate work3 the coarse chamfers are found on all scales3 f and g1 ,fig4 ,,liii41 in ,venice1 form the great angles of almost every ,gothic palace2 the roll being a foot or a foot and a half round1 and treated as a shaft1 with a capital and fresh base at every story1 while the stones of which it is composed form alternate quoins in the brickwork beyond the chamfer curve4 ,i need hardly say how much nobler this arrangement is than a common quoined angle2 it gives a finish to the aspect of the whole pile attainable in no other way4 ,and thus much may serve concerning angle decoration by chamfer4 ,,footnotes3 #gc ,appendix #bc3 ,varieties of ,chamfer4 ,,chapter ,,xxiii4 ,,the ,,edge ,,and ,,fillet4 ,i4 ,the decoration of the angle by various forms of chamfer and bead1 as above described1 is the quietest method we can employ2 too quiet1 when great energy is to be given to the moulding1 and impossible1 when1 instead of a bold angle1 we have to deal with a small projecting edge1 like c in ,fig4 ,,li4 ,in such cases we may employ a decoration1 far ruder and easier in its simplest conditions than the bead1 far more effective when not used in too great profusion2 and of which the complete developments are the source of mouldings at once the most picturesque and most serviceable which the ,gothic builders invented4 ,,ii4 ,the gunwales of the ,venetian heavy barges being liable to somewhat rough collision with each other1 and with the walls of the streets1 are generally protected by a piece of timber1 which projects in the form of the fillet1 a1 ,fig4 ,,li42 but which1 like all other fillets1 may1 if we so choose1 be considered as composed of two angles or edges1 which the natural and most wholesome love of the ,venetian boatmen for ornament1 otherwise strikingly evidenced by their painted sails and glittering flag-vanes1 will not suffer to remain wholly undecorated4 ,the rough service of these timbers1 however1 will not admit of rich ornament1 and the boatbuilder usually contents himself with cutting a series of notches in each edge1 one series alternating with the other1 as represented at #a1 ,plate ,,ix4 ,,iii4 ,in that simple ornament1 not as confined to ,venetian boats1 but as representative of a general human instinct to hack at an edge1 demonstrated by all school-boys and all idle possessors of penknives or other cutting instruments on both sides of the ,atlantic2--in that rude ,venetian gunwale1 ,i say1 is the germ of all the ornament which has touched1 with its rich successions of angular shadow1 the portals and archivolts of nearly every early building of importance1 from the ,north ,cape to the ,straits of ,messina4 ,nor are the modifications of the first suggestion intricate4 ,all that is generic in their character may be seen on ,plate ,,ix4 at a glance4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,ix4 ,,edge ,,decoration4 ,,iv4 ,taking a piece of stone instead of timber1 and enlarging the notches1 until they meet each other1 we have the condition #b1 which is a moulding from the tomb of the ,doge ,andrea ,dandolo1 in ,st4 ,mark's4 ,now1 considering this moulding as composed of two decorated edges1 each edge will be reduced1 by the meeting of the notches1 to a series of four-sided pyramids 7as marked off by the dotted lines71 which1 the notches here being shallow1 will be shallow pyramids2 but by deepening the notches1 we get them as at #c1 with a profile a1 more or less steep4 ,this moulding ,i shall always call the plain dogtooth2 it is used in profusion in the ,venetian and ,veronese ,gothic1 generally set with its front to the spectator1 as here at #c2 but its effect may be much varied by placing it obliquely 7#d1 and profile as at b72 or with one side horizontal 7#e1 and profile c74 ,of these three conditions1 #c and #e are exactly the same in reality1 only differently placed2 but in #d the pyramid is obtuse1 and the inclination of its base variable1 the upper side of it being always kept vertical4 ,it is comparatively rare4 ,of the three1 the last1 #e1 is far the most brilliant in effect1 giving in the distance a zigzag form to the high light on it1 and a full sharp shadow below4 ,the use of this shadow is sufficiently seen by fig4 #g in this plate 7the arch on the left1 the number beneath it71 in which these levelled dogteeth1 with a small interval between each1 are employed to set off by their vigor the delicacy of floral ornament above4 ,this arch is the side of a niche from the tomb of ,can ,signorio della ,scala1 at ,verona2 and the value1 as well as the distant expression of its dogtooth1 may be seen by referring to ,prout's beautiful drawing of this tomb in his ,sketches in ,france and ,italy4 ,i have before observed that this artist never fails of seizing the true and leading expression of whatever he touches3 he has made this ornament the leading feature of the niche1 expressing it1 as in distance it is only expressible1 by a zigzag4 ,v4 ,the reader may perhaps be surprised at my speaking so highly of this drawing1 if he take the pains to compare ,prout's symbolism of the work on the niche with the facts as they stand here in ,plate ,,ix4 ,but the truth is that ,prout has rendered the effect of the monument on the mind of the passer-by2--the effect it was intended to have on every man who turned the corner of the street beneath it3 and in this sense there is actually more truth and likeness#gd in ,prout's translation than in my fac-simile1 made diligently by peering into the details from a ladder4 ,i do not say that all the symbolism in ,prout's ,sketch is the best possible2 but it is the best which any architectural draughtsman has yet invented2 and in its application to special subjects it always shows curious internal evidence that the sketch has been made on the spot1 and that the artist tried to draw what he saw1 not to invent an attractive subject4 ,i shall notice other instances of this hereafter4 ,,vi4 ,the dogtooth1 employed in this simple form1 is1 however1 rather a foil for other ornament1 than itself a satisfactory or generally available decoration4 ,it is1 however1 easy to enrich it as we choose3 taking up its simple form at #c1 and describing the arcs marked by the dotted lines upon its sides1 and cutting a small triangular cavity between them1 we shall leave its ridges somewhat rudely representative of four leaves1 as at #h1 which is the section and front view of one of the ,venetian stone cornices described above1 ,chap4 ,,xiv41 ,,iv41 the figure #h being here put in the hollow of the gutter4 ,the dogtooth is put on the outer lower truncation1 and is actually in position as fig4 #e2 but being always looked up to1 is to the spectator as #c1 and always rich and effective4 ,the dogteeth are perhaps most frequently expanded to the width of fig4 #i4 ,,vii4 ,as in nearly all other ornaments previously described1 so in this1--we have only to deepen the ,italian cutting1 and we shall get the ,northern type4 ,if we make the original pyramid somewhat steeper1 and instead of lightly incising1 cut it through1 so as to have the leaves held only by their points to the base1 we shall have the ,english dogtooth2 somewhat vulgar in its piquancy1 when compared with ,french mouldings of a similar kind4#ge ,it occurs1 ,i think1 on one house in ,venice1 in the ,campo ,st4 ,polo2 but the ordinary moulding1 with light incisions1 is frequent in archivolts and architraves1 as well as in the roof cornices4 ,,viii4 ,this being the simplest treatment of the pyramid1 fig4 #aj1 from the refectory of ,wenlock ,abbey1 is an example of the simplest decoration of the recesses or inward angles between the pyramids2 that is to say1 of a simple hacked edge like one of those in fig4 #b1 the cuts being taken up and decorated instead of the points4 ,each is worked into a small trefoiled arch1 with an incision round it to mark its outline1 and another slight incision above1 expressing the angle of the first cutting4 ,i said that the teeth in fig4 #g had in distance the effect of a zigzag3 in fig4 #aj this zigzag effect is seized upon and developed1 but with the easiest and roughest work2 the angular incision being a mere limiting line1 like that described in ,,ix4 of the last chapter4 ,but hence the farther steps to every condition of ,norman ornament are self evident4 ,i do not say that all of them arose from development of the dogtooth in this manner1 many being quite independent inventions and uses of zigzag lines2 still1 they may all be referred to this simple type as their root and representative1 that is to say1 the mere hack of the ,venetian gunwale1 with a limiting line following the resultant zigzag4 ,,ix4 ,fig4 #aa is a singular and much more artificial condition1 cast in brick1 from the church of the ,frari1 and given here only for future reference4 ,fig4 #ab1 resulting from a fillet with the cuts on each of its edges interrupted by a bar1 is a frequent ,venetian moulding1 and of great value2 but the plain or leaved dogteeth have been the favorites1 and that to such a degree1 that even the ,renaissance architects took them up2 and the best bit of ,renaissance design in ,venice1 the side of the ,ducal ,palace next the ,bridge of ,sighs1 owes great part of its splendor to its foundation1 faced with large flat dogteeth1 each about a foot wide in the base1 with their points truncated1 and alternating with cavities which are their own negatives or casts4 ,x4 ,one other form of the dogtooth is of great importance in northern architecture1 that produced by oblique cuts slightly curved1 as in the margin1 ,fig4 ,,lvi4 ,it is susceptible of the most fantastic and endless decoration2 each of the resulting leaves being1 in the early porches of ,rouen and ,lisieux1 hollowed out and worked into branching tracery3 and at ,bourges1 for distant effect1 worked into plain leaves1 or bold bony processes with knobs at the points1 and near the spectator1 into crouching demons and broad winged owls1 and other fancies and intricacies1 innumerable and inexpressible4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lvi4 ,,xi4 ,thus much is enough to be noted respecting edge decoration4 ,we were next to consider the fillet4 ,professor ,willis has noticed an ornament1 which he has called the ,venetian dentil1 as the most universal ornament in its own district that ever ,i met with2 but has not noticed the reason for its frequency4 ,it is nevertheless highly interesting4 ,the whole early architecture of ,venice is architecture of incrustation3 this has not been enough noticed in its peculiar relation to that of the rest of ,italy4 ,there is1 indeed1 much incrusted architecture throughout ,italy1 in elaborate ecclesiastical work1 but there is more which is frankly of brick1 or thoroughly of stone4 ,but the ,venetian habitually incrusted his work with nacre2 he built his houses1 even the meanest1 as if he had been a shell-fish1--roughly inside1 mother-of-pearl on the surface3 he was content1 perforce1 to gather the clay of the ,brenta banks1 and bake it into brick for his substance of wall2 but he overlaid it with the wealth of ocean1 with the most precious foreign marbles4 ,you might fancy early ,venice one wilderness of brick1 which a petrifying sea had beaten upon till it coated it with marble3 at first a dark city--washed white by the sea foam4 ,and ,i told you before that it was also a city of shafts and arches1 and that its dwellings were raised upon continuous arcades1 among which the sea waves wandered4 ,hence the thoughts of its builders were early and constantly directed to the incrustation of arches4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lvii4 ,,xii4 ,in ,fig4 ,,lvii4 ,i have given two of these ,byzantine stilted arches3 the one on the right1 a1 as they now too often appear1 in its bare brickwork2 that on the left1 with its alabaster covering1 literally marble defensive armor1 riveted together in pieces1 which follow the contours of the building4 ,now1 on the wall1 these pieces are mere flat slabs cut to the arch outline2 but under the soffit of the arch the marble mail is curved1 often cut singularly thin1 like bent tiles1 and fitted together so that the pieces would sustain each other even without rivets4 ,it is of course desirable that this thin sub-arch of marble should project enough to sustain the facing of the wall2 and the reader will see1 in ,fig4 ,,lvii41 that its edge forms a kind of narrow band round the arch 7b71 a band which the least enrichment would render a valuable decorative feature4 ,now this band is1 of course1 if the soffit-pieces project a little beyond the face of the wall-pieces1 a mere fillet1 like the wooden gunwale in ,plate ,,ix42 and the question is1 how to enrich it most wisely4 ,it might easily have been dogtoothed1 but the ,byzantine architects had not invented the dogtooth1 and would not have used it here1 if they had2 for the dogtooth cannot be employed alone1 especially on so principal an angle as this of the main arches1 without giving to the whole building a peculiar look1 which ,i can not otherwise describe than as being to the eye1 exactly what untempered acid is to the tongue4 ,the mere dogtooth is an acid moulding1 and can only be used in certain mingling with others1 to give them piquancy2 never alone4 ,what1 then1 will be the next easiest method of giving interest to the fillet8 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lviii4 ,,xiii4 ,simply to make the incisions square instead of sharp1 and to leave equal intervals of the square edge between them4 ,fig4 ,,lviii4 is one of the curved pieces of arch armor1 with its edge thus treated2 one side only being done at the bottom1 to show the simplicity and ease of the work4 ,this ornament gives force and interest to the edge of the arch1 without in the least diminishing its quietness4 ,nothing was ever1 nor could be ever invented1 fitter for its purpose1 or more easily cut4 ,from the arch it therefore found its way into every position where the edge of a piece of stone projected1 and became1 from its constancy of occurrence in the latest ,gothic as well as the earliest ,byzantine1 most truly deserving of the name of the ,venetian ,dentil4 ,its complete intention is now1 however1 only to be seen in the pictures of ,gentile ,bellini and ,vittor ,carpaccio2 for1 like most of the rest of the mouldings of ,venetian buildings1 it was always either gilded or painted--often both1 gold being laid on the faces of the dentils1 and their recesses colored alternately red and blue4 ,,xiv4 ,observe1 however1 that the reason above given for the universality of this ornament was by no means the reason of its invention4 ,the ,venetian dentil is a particular application 7consequent on the incrusted character of ,venetian architecture7 of the general idea of dentil1 which had been originally given by the ,greeks1 and realised both by them and by the ,byzantines in many laborious forms1 long before there was need of them for arch armor2 and the lower half of ,plate ,,ix4 will give some idea of the conditions which occur in the ,romanesque of ,venice1 distinctly derived from the classical dentil2 and of the gradual transition to the more convenient and simple type1 the running-hand dentil1 which afterwards became the characteristic of ,venetian ,gothic4 ,no4 #acgf is the common dentiled cornice1 which occurs repeatedly in ,st4 ,mark's2 and1 as late as the thirteenth century1 a reduplication of it1 forming the abaci of the capitals of the ,piazzetta shafts4 ,fig4 #ae is perhaps an earlier type2 perhaps only one of more careless workmanship1 from a ,byzantine ruin in the ,rio di ,ca' ,foscari3 and it is interesting to compare it with fig4 #ad from the ,cathedral of ,vienne1 in ,south ,france4 ,fig4 #ag1 from ,st4 ,mark's1 and #ah1 from the apse of ,murano1 are two very early examples in which the future true ,venetian dentil is already developed in method of execution1 though the object is still only to imitate the classical one2 and a rude imitation of the bead is joined with it in fig4 #ag4 ,no4 #af indicates two examples of experimental forms3 the uppermost from the tomb of ,mastino della ,scala1 at ,verona2 the lower from a door in ,venice1 ,i believe1 of the thirteenth century3 #ai is a more frequent arrangement1 chiefly found in cast brick1 and connecting the dentils with the dogteeth3 #bj is a form introduced richly in the later ,gothic1 but of rare occurrence until the latter half of the thirteenth century4 ,i shall call it the gabled dentil4 ,it is found in the greatest profusion in sepulchral ,gothic1 associated with several slight variations from the usual dentil type1 of which ,no4 #ba1 from the tomb of ,pietro ,cornaro1 may serve as an example4 ,,xv4 ,all the forms given in ,plate ,,ix4 are of not unfrequent occurrence3 varying much in size and depth1 according to the expression of the work in which they occur2 generally increasing in size in late work 7the earliest dentils are seldom more than an inch or an inch and a half long3 the fully developed dentil of the later ,gothic is often as much as four or five in length1 by one and a half in breadth72 but they are all somewhat rare1 compared to the true or armor dentil1 above described4 ,on the other hand1 there are one or two unique conditions1 which will be noted in the buildings where they occur4#gg ,the ,ducal ,palace furnishes three anomalies in the arch1 dogtooth1 and dentil3 it has a hyperbolic arch1 as noted above1 ,chap4 ,x41 ,,xv42 it has a double-fanged dogtooth in the rings of the spiral shafts on its angles2 and1 finally1 it has a dentil with concave sides1 of which the section and two of the blocks1 real size1 are given in ,plate ,,xiv4 ,the labor of obtaining this difficult profile has1 however1 been thrown away2 for the effect of the dentil at ten feet distance is exactly the same as that of the usual form3 and the reader may consider the dogtooth and dentil in that plate as fairly representing the common use of them in the ,venetian ,gothic4 ,,xvi4 ,i am aware of no other form of fillet decoration requiring notice3 in the ,northern ,gothic1 the fillet is employed chiefly to give severity or flatness to mouldings supposed to be too much rounded1 and is therefore generally plain4 ,it is itself an ugly moulding1 and1 when thus employed1 is merely a foil for others1 of which1 however1 it at last usurped the place1 and became one of the most painful features in the debased ,gothic both of ,italy and the ,north4 ,,footnotes3 #gd ,i do not here speak of artistical merits1 but the play of the light among the lower shafts is also singularly beautiful in this sketch of ,prout's1 and the character of the wild and broken leaves1 half dead1 on the stone of the foreground4 #ge ,vide the ,seven ,lamps1 p4 #abb4 #gf ,the sections of all the mouldings are given on the right of each2 the part which is constantly solid being shaded1 and that which is cut into dentils left4 #gg ,as1 however1 we shall not probably be led either to ,bergamo or ,bologna1 ,i may mention here a curiously rich use of the dentil1 entirely covering the foliation and tracery of a niche on the outside of the duomo of ,bergamo2 and a roll1 entirely incrusted1 as the handle of a mace often is with nails1 with massy dogteeth or nail-heads1 on the door of the ,pepoli palace of ,bologna4 ,,chapter ,,xxiv4 ,,the ,,roll ,,and ,,recess4 ,i4 ,i have classed these two means of architectural effect together1 because the one is in most cases the negative of the other1 and is used to relieve it exactly as shadow relieves light2 recess alternating with roll1 not only in lateral1 but in successive order2 not merely side by side with each other1 but interrupted the one by the other in their own lines4 ,a recess itself has properly no decoration2 but its depth gives value to the decoration which flanks1 encloses1 or interrupts it1 and the form which interrupts it best is the roll4 ,,ii4 ,i use the word roll generally for any mouldings which present to the eye somewhat the appearance of being cylindrical1 and look like round rods4 ,when upright1 they are in appearance1 if not in fact1 small shafts2 and are a kind of bent shaft1 even when used in archivolts and traceries2--when horizontal1 they confuse themselves with cornices1 and are1 in fact1 generally to be considered as the best means of drawing an architectural line in any direction1 the soft curve of their side obtaining some shadow at nearly all times of the day1 and that more tender and grateful to the eye than can be obtained either by an incision or by any other form of projection4 ,,iii4 ,their decorative power is1 however1 too slight for rich work1 and they frequently require1 like the angle and the fillet1 to be rendered interesting by subdivision or minor ornament of their own4 ,when the roll is small1 this is effected1 exactly as in the case of the fillet1 by cutting pieces out of it2 giving in the simplest results what is called the ,norman billet moulding3 and when the cuts are given in couples1 and the pieces rounded into spheres and almonds1 we have the ordinary ,greek bead1 both of them too well known to require illustration4 ,the ,norman billet we shall not meet with in ,venice2 the bead constantly occurs in ,byzantine1 and of course in ,renaissance work4 ,in ,plate ,,ix41 ,fig4 #ag1 there is a remarkable example of its early treatment1 where the cuts in it are left sharp4 ,,iv4 ,but the roll1 if it be of any size1 deserves better treatment4 ,its rounded surface is too beautiful to be cut away in notches2 and it is rather to be covered with flat chasing or inlaid patterns4 ,thus ornamented1 it gradually blends itself with the true shaft1 both in the ,romanesque work of the ,north1 and in the ,italian connected schools2 and the patterns used for it are those used for shaft decoration in general4 ,v4 ,but1 as alternating with the recess1 it has a decoration peculiar to itself4 ,we have often1 in the preceding chapters1 noted the fondness of the ,northern builders for deep shade and hollowness in their mouldings2 and in the second chapter of the ,seven ,lamps1 the changes are described which reduced the massive roll mouldings of the early ,gothic to a series of recesses1 separated by bars of light4 ,the shape of these recesses is at present a matter of no importance to us3 it was1 indeed1 endlessly varied2 but needlessly1 for the value of a recess is in its darkness1 and its darkness disguises its form4 ,but it was not in mere wanton indulgence of their love of shade that the ,flamboyant builders deepened the furrows of their mouldings3 they had found a means of decorating those furrows as rich as it was expressive1 and the entire frame-work of their architecture was designed with a view to the effect of this decoration2 where the ornament ceases1 the frame-work is meagre and mean3 but the ornament is1 in the best examples of the style1 unceasing4 ,,vi4 ,it is1 in fact1 an ornament formed by the ghosts or anatomies of the old shafts1 left in the furrows which had taken their place4 ,every here and there1 a fragment of a roll or shaft is left in the recess or furrow3 a billet-moulding on a huge scale1 but a billet-moulding reduced to a skeleton2 for the fragments of roll are cut hollow1 and worked into mere entanglement of stony fibres1 with the gloom of the recess shown through them4 ,these ghost rolls1 forming sometimes pedestals1 sometimes canopies1 sometimes covering the whole recess with an arch of tracery1 beneath which it runs like a tunnel1 are the peculiar decorations of the ,flamboyant ,gothic4 ,,vii4 ,now observe1 in all kinds of decoration1 we must keep carefully under separate heads1 the consideration of the changes wrought in the mere physical form1 and in the intellectual purpose of ornament4 ,the relations of the canopy to the statue it shelters1 are to be considered altogether distinctly from those of the canopy to the building which it decorates4 ,in its earliest conditions the canopy is partly confused with representations of miniature architecture3 it is sometimes a small temple or gateway1 sometimes a honorary addition to the pomp of a saint1 a covering to his throne1 or to his shrine2 and this canopy is often expressed in bas-relief 7as in painting71 without much reference to the great requirements of the building4 ,at other times it is a real protection to the statue1 and is enlarged into a complete pinnacle1 carried on proper shafts1 and boldly roofed4 ,but in the late northern system the canopies are neither expressive nor protective4 ,they are a kind of stone lace-work1 required for the ornamentation of the building1 for which the statues are often little more than an excuse1 and of which the physical character is1 as above described1 that of ghosts of departed shafts4 ,,viii4 ,there is1 of course1 much rich tabernacle work which will not come literally under this head1 much which is straggling or flat in its plan1 connecting itself gradually with the ordinary forms of independent shrines and tombs2 but the general idea of all tabernacle work is marked in the common phrase of a niche1 that is to say a hollow intended for a statue1 and crowned by a canopy2 and this niche decoration only reaches its full development when the ,flamboyant hollows are cut deepest1 and when the manner and spirit of sculpture had so much lost their purity and intensity that it became desirable to draw the eye away from the statue to its covering1 so that at last the canopy became the more important of the two1 and is itself so beautiful that we are often contented with architecture from which profanity has struck the statues1 if only the canopies are left2 and consequently1 in our modern ingenuity1 even set up canopies where we have no intention of setting statues4 ,,ix4 ,it is a pity that thus we have no really noble example of the effect of the statue in the recesses of architecture3 for the ,flamboyant recess was not so much a preparation for it as a gulf which swallowed it up4 ,when statues were most earnestly designed1 they were thrust forward in all kinds of places1 often in front of the pillars1 as at ,amiens1 awkwardly enough1 but with manly respect to the purpose of the figures4 ,the ,flamboyant hollows yawned at their sides1 the statues fell back into them1 and nearly disappeared1 and a flash of flame in the shape of a canopy rose as they expired4 ,x4 ,i do not feel myself capable at present of speaking with perfect justice of this niche ornament of the north1 my late studies in ,italy having somewhat destroyed my sympathies with it4 ,but ,i once loved it intensely1 and will not say anything to depreciate it now1 save only this1 that while ,i have studied long at ,abbeville1 without in the least finding that it made me care less for ,verona1 ,i never remained long in ,verona without feeling some doubt of the nobility of ,abbeville4 ,,xi4 ,recess decoration by leaf mouldings is constantly and beautifully associated in the north with niche decoration1 but requires no special notice1 the recess in such cases being used merely to give value to the leafage by its gloom1 and the difference between such conditions and those of the south being merely that in the one the leaves are laid across a hollow1 and in the other over a solid surface2 but in neither of the schools exclusively so1 each in some degree intermingling the method of the other4 ,,xii4 ,finally the recess decoration by the ball flower is very definite and characteristic1 found1 ,i believe1 chiefly in ,english work4 ,it consists merely in leaving a small boss or sphere1 fixed1 as it were1 at intervals in the hollows2 such bosses being afterwards carved into roses1 or other ornamental forms1 and sometimes lifted quite up out of the hollow1 on projecting processes1 like vertebr1 so as to make them more conspicuous1 as throughout the decoration of the cathedral of ,bourges4 ,the value of this ornament is chiefly in the spotted character which it gives to the lines of mouldings seen from a distance4 ,it is very rich and delightful when not used in excess2 but it would satiate and weary the eye if it were ever used in general architecture4 ,the spire of ,salisbury1 and of ,st4 ,mary's at ,oxford1 are agreeable as isolated masses2 but if an entire street were built with this spotty decoration at every casement1 we could not traverse it to the end without disgust4 ,it is only another example of the constant aim at piquancy of effect which characterised the northern builders2 an ingenious but somewhat vulgar effort to give interest to their grey masses of coarse stone1 without overtaking their powers either of invention or execution4 ,we will thank them for it without blame or praise1 and pass on4 ,,chapter ,,xxv4 ,,the ,,base4 ,i4 ,we know now as much as is needful respecting the methods of minor and universal decorations1 which were distinguished in ,chapter ,,xxii41 ,,iii41 from the ornament which has special relation to particular parts4 ,this local ornament1 which1 it will be remembered1 we arranged in ,,ii4 of the same chapter under five heads1 we have next1 under those heads1 to consider4 ,and1 first1 the ornament of the bases1 both of walls and shafts4 ,it was noticed in our account of the divisions of a wall1 that there are something in those divisions like the beginning1 the several courses1 and the close of a human life4 ,and as1 in all well-conducted lives1 the hard work1 and roughing1 and gaining of strength come first1 the honor or decoration in certain intervals during their course1 but most of all in their close1 so1 in general1 the base of the wall1 which is its beginning of labor1 will bear least decoration1 its body more1 especially those epochs of rest called its string courses2 but its crown or cornice most of all4 ,still1 in some buildings1 all these are decorated richly1 though the last most2 and in others1 when the base is well protected and yet conspicuous1 it may probably receive even more decoration than other parts4 ,,ii4 ,now1 the main things to be expressed in a base are its levelness and evenness4 ,we cannot do better than construct the several members of the base1 as developed in ,fig4 ,,ii41 p4 #ee1 each of a different colored marble1 so as to produce marked level bars of color all along the foundation4 ,this is exquisitely done in all the ,italian elaborate wall bases2 that of ,st4 ,anastasia at ,verona is one of the most perfect existing1 for play of color2 that of ,giotto's campanile is on the whole the most beautifully finished4 ,then1 on the vertical portions1 a1 b1 c1 we may put what patterns in mosaic we please1 so that they be not too rich2 but if we choose rather to have sculpture 7or must have it for want of stones to inlay71 then observe that all sculpture on bases must be in panels1 or it will soon be worn away1 and that a plain panelling is often good without any other ornament4 ,the member b1 which in ,st4 ,mark's is subordinate1 and c1 which is expanded into a seat1 are both of them decorated with simple but exquisitely-finished panelling1 in red and white or green and white marble2 and the member e is in bases of this kind very valuable1 as an expression of a firm beginning of the substance of the wall itself4 ,this member has been of no service to us hitherto1 and was unnoticed in the chapters on construction2 but it was expressed in the figure of the wall base1 on account of its great value when the foundation is of stone and the wall of brick 7coated or not74 ,in such cases it is always better to add the course e1 above the slope of the base1 than abruptly to begin the common masonry of the wall4 ,,iii4 ,it is1 however1 with the member d1 or ,xb1 that we are most seriously concerned2 for this being the essential feature of all bases1 and the true preparation for the wall or shaft1 it is most necessary that here1 if anywhere1 we should have full expression of levelness and precision2 and farther1 that1 if possible1 the eye should not be suffered to rest on the points of junction of the stones1 which would give an effect of instability4 ,both these objects are accomplished by attracting the eye to two rolls1 separated by a deep hollow1 in the member d itself4 ,the bold projections of their mouldings entirely prevent the attention from being drawn to the joints of the masonry1 and besides form a simple but beautifully connected group of bars of shadow1 which express1 in their perfect parallelism1 the absolute levelness of the foundation4 ,,iv4 ,i need hardly give any perspective drawing of an arrangement which must be perfectly familiar to the reader1 as occurring under nearly every column of the too numerous classical buildings all over ,europe4 ,but ,i may name the base of the ,bank of ,england as furnishing a very simple instance of the group1 with a square instead of a rounded hollow1 both forming the base of the wall1 and gathering into that of the shafts as they occur2 while the bases of the pillars of the faade of the ,british ,museum are as good examples as the reader can study on a larger scale4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,x4 ,,profiles ,,of ,,bases4 ,v4 ,i believe this group of mouldings was first invented by the ,greeks1 and it has never been materially improved1 as far as its peculiar purpose is concerned2#gh the classical attempts at its variation being the ugliest3 one1 the using a single roll of larger size1 as may be seen in the ,duke of ,york's column1 which therefore looks as if it stood on a large sausage 7the ,monument has the same base1 but more concealed by pedestal decoration73 another1 the using two rolls without the intermediate cavetto1--a condition hardly less awkward1 and which may be studied to advantage in the wall and shaftbases of the ,athenum ,club-house3 and another1 the introduction of what are called fillets between the rolls1 as may be seen in the pillars of ,hanover ,chapel1 ,regent ,street1 which look1 in consequence1 as if they were standing upon a pile of pewter collection plates4 ,but the only successful changes have been medival2 and their nature will be at once understood by a glance at the varieties given on the opposite page4 ,it will be well first to give the buildings in which they occur1 in order4 #a4 ,santa ,fosca1 ,torcello4 #ad4 ,ca' ,giustiniani1 ,venice4 #b4 ,north transept1 ,st4 ,mark's1 #ae4 ,byzantine fragment1 ,venice4 ,venice4 #af4 ,st4 ,mark's1 upper ,colonnade4 #c4 ,nave1 ,torcello4 #ag4 ,ducal ,palace1 ,venice 7windows47 #d4 ,nave1 ,torcello4 #ah4 ,ca' ,falier1 ,venice4 #e4 ,south transept1 ,st4 ,mark's4 #ai4 ,st4 ,zeno1 ,verona4 #f4 ,northern portico1 upper shafts1 #bj4 ,san ,stefano1 ,venice4 ,st4 ,mark's4 #ba4 ,ducal ,palace1 ,venice 7windows47 #g4 ,another of the same group4 #bb4 ,nave1 ,salisbury4 #h4 ,cortile of ,st4 ,ambrogio1 ,milan4 #bc4 ,santa ,fosca1 ,torcello4 #i4 ,nave shafts1 ,st4 ,michele1 ,pavia4 #bd4 ,nave1 ,lyons ,cathedral4 #aj4 ,outside wall base1 ,st4 ,mark's1 #be4 ,notre ,dame1 ,dijon4 ,venice4 #bf4 ,nave1 ,bourges ,cathedral4 #aa4 ,fondaco de' ,turchi1 ,venice4 #bg4 ,nave1 ,mortain 7,normandy74 #ab4 ,nave1 ,vienne1 ,france4 #bh4 ,nave1 ,rouen ,cathedral4 #ac4 ,fondaco de' ,turchi1 ,venice4 ,,vi4 ,eighteen out of the twenty eight varieties are ,venetian1 being bases to which ,i shall have need of future reference2 but the interspersed examples1 #h1 #i1 #ab1 and #ai1 from ,milan1 ,pavia1 ,vienne 7,france71 and ,verona1 show the exactly correspondent conditions of the ,romanesque base at the period1 throughout the centre of ,europe4 ,the last five examples show the changes effected by the ,french ,gothic architects3 the ,salisbury base 7#bb7 ,i have only introduced to show its dulness and vulgarity beside them2 and #bc1 from ,torcello1 for a special reason1 in that place4 ,,vii4 ,the reader will observe that the two bases1 #h and #i1 from the two most important ,lombardic churches of ,italy1 ,st4 ,ambrogio of ,milan and ,st4 ,michele of ,pavia1 mark the character of the barbaric base founded on pure ,roman models1 sometimes approximating to such models very closely2 and the varieties #aj1 #aa1 #ac1 #af are ,byzantine types1 also founded on ,roman models4 ,but in the bases #a to #g inclusive1 and1 still more characteristically1 in #bc below1 there is evidently an original element1 a tendency to use the fillet and hollow instead of the roll1 which is eminently ,gothic2 which in the base #c reminds one even of ,flamboyant conditions1 and is excessively remarkable as occurring in ,italian work certainly not later than the tenth century1 taking even the date of the last rebuilding of the ,duomo of ,torcello1 though ,i am strongly inclined to consider these bases portions of the original church4 ,and ,i have therefore put the base #bc among the ,gothic group to which it has so strong relationship1 though1 on the last supposition1 five centuries older than the earliest of the five terminal examples2 and it is still more remarkable because it reverses the usual treatment of the lower roll1 which is in general a tolerably accurate test of the age of a base1 in the degree of its projection4 ,thus1 in the examples #b1 #c1 #d1 #e1 #i1 #aj1 #ab1 the lower roll is hardly rounded at all1 and diametrically opposed to the late ,gothic conditions1 #bd to #bh1 in which it advances gradually1 like a wave preparing to break1 and at last is actually seen curling over with the long-backed rush of surf upon the shore4 ,yet the ,torcello base resembles these ,gothic ones both in expansion beneath and in depth of cavetto above4 ,,viii4 ,there can be no question of the ineffable superiority of these ,gothic bases1 in grace of profile1 to any ever invented by the ancients4 ,but they have all two great faults3 ,they seem1 in the first place1 to have been designed without sufficient reference to the necessity of their being usually seen from above2 their grace of profile cannot be estimated when so seen1 and their excessive expansion gives them an appearance of flatness and separation from the shaft1 as if they had splashed out under its pressure3 in the second place their cavetto is so deeply cut that it has the appearance of a black fissure between the members of the base2 and in the ,lyons and ,bourges shafts1 #bd and #bf1 it is impossible to conquer the idea suggested by it1 that the two stones above and below have been intended to join close1 but that some pebbles have got in and kept them from fitting2 one is always expecting the pebbles to be crushed1 and the shaft to settle into its place with a thunder-clap4 ,,ix4 ,for these reasons1 ,i said that the profile of the pure classic base had hardly been materially improved2 but the various conditions of it are beautiful or commonplace1 in proportion to the variety of proportion among their lines and the delicacy of their curvatures2 that is to say1 the expression of characters like those of the abstract lines in ,plate ,,vii4 ,the five best profiles in ,plate ,x4 are #aj1 #ag1 #ai1 #bj1 #ba2 #aj is peculiarly beautiful in the opposition between the bold projection of its upper roll1 and the delicate leafy curvature of its lower2 and this and #ba may be taken as nearly perfect types1 the one of the steep1 the other of the expansive basic profiles4 ,the characters of all1 however1 are so dependent upon their place and expression1 that it is unfair to judge them thus separately2 and the precision of curvature is a matter of so small consequence in general effect1 that we need not here pursue the subject farther4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lix4 ,x4 ,we have thus far1 however1 considered only the lines of moulding in the member ,x b1 whether of wall or shaft base4 ,but the reader will remember that in our best shaft base1 in ,fig4 ,,xii4 7p4 #gh71 certain props or spurs were applied to the slope of ,x b2 but now that ,x b is divided into these delicate mouldings1 we cannot conveniently apply the spur to its irregular profile2 we must be content to set it against the lower roll4 ,let the upper edge of this lower roll be the curved line here1 a1 d1 e1 b1 ,fig4 ,,lix41 and c the angle of the square plinth projecting beneath it4 ,then the spur1 applied as we saw in ,chap4 ,,vii41 will be of some such form as the triangle c e d1 ,fig4 ,,lix4 ,,xi4 ,now it has just been stated that it is of small importance whether the abstract lines of the profile of a base moulding be fine or not1 because we rarely stoop down to look at them4 ,but this triangular spur is nearly always seen from above1 and the eye is drawn to it as one of the most important features of the whole base2 therefore it is a point of immediate necessity to substitute for its harsh right lines 7c d1 c e7 some curve of noble abstract character4 ,,xii4 ,i mentioned1 in speaking of the line of the salvia leaf at p4 #bbd1 that ,i had marked off the portion of it1 x y1 because ,i thought it likely to be generally useful to us afterwards2 and ,i promised the reader that as he had built1 so he should decorate his edifice at his own free will4 ,if1 therefore1 he likes the above triangular spur1 c d e1 by all means let him keep it2 but if he be on the whole dissatisfied with it1 ,i may be permitted1 perhaps1 to advise him to set to work like a tapestry bee1 to cut off the little bit of line of salvia leaf x y1 and try how he can best substitute it for the awkward lines c d c e4 ,he may try it any way that he likes2 but if he puts the salvia curvature inside the present lines1 he will find the spur looks weak1 and ,i think he will determine at last on placing it as ,i have done at c d1 c e1 ,fig4 ,,lx4 7,if the reader will be at the pains to transfer the salvia leaf line with tracing paper1 he will find it accurately used in this figure47 ,then ,i merely add an outer circular line to represent the outer swell of the roll against which the spur is set1 and ,i put another such spur to the opposite corner of the square1 and we have the half base1 ,fig4 ,,lx41 which is a general type of the best ,gothic bases in existence1 being very nearly that of the upper shafts of the ,ducal ,palace of ,venice4 ,in those shafts the quadrant a b1 or the upper edge of the lower roll1 is #b feet #a-c_/h inches round1 and the base of the spur d e1 is #aj inches2 the line d e being therefore to a b as #aj to #be-c_/h4 ,in ,fig4 ,,lx4 it is as #aj to #bd1 the measurement being easier and the type somewhat more generally representative of the best1 i4e4 broadest1 spurs of ,italian ,gothic4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lx4 ,,xiii4 ,now1 the reader is to remember1 there is nothing magical in salvia leaves3 the line ,i take from them happened merely to fall conveniently on the page1 and might as well have been taken from anything else2 it is simply its character of gradated curvature which fits it for our use4 ,on ,plate ,,xi41 opposite1 ,i have given plans of the spurs and quadrants of twelve ,italian and three ,northern bases2 these latter 7#ac71 from ,bourges1 7#ad7 from ,lyons1 7#ae7 from ,rouen1 are given merely to show the ,northern disposition to break up bounding lines1 and lose breadth in picturesqueness4 ,these ,northern bases look the prettiest in this plate1 because this variation of the outline is nearly all the ornament they have1 being cut very rudely2 but the ,italian bases above them are merely prepared by their simple outlines for far richer decoration at the next step1 as we shall see presently4 ,the ,northern bases are to be noted also for another grand error3 the projection of the roll beyond the square plinth1 of which the corner is seen1 in various degrees of advancement1 in the three examples4 #ac is the base whose profile is ,no4 #bf in ,plate ,x42 #ad is #bd in the same plate2 and #ae is #bh4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,xi4 ,,plans ,,of ,,bases4 ,,xiv4 ,the ,italian bases are the following2 all1 except #g and #aj1 being ,venetian3 #a and #b1 upper colonnade1 ,st4 ,mark's2 #c1 ,ca' ,falier2 #d1 lower colonnade1 and #e1 transept1 ,st4 ,mark's2 #f1 from the ,church of ,st4 ,john and ,paul2 #g1 from the tomb near ,st4 ,anastasia1 ,verona1 described above 7p4 #adb72 #h and #i1 ,fon daco de' ,turchi1 ,venice2 #aj1 tomb of ,can ,mastino della ,scala1 ,verona2 #aa1 ,san ,stefano1 ,venice2 #ab1 ,ducal ,palace1 ,venice1 upper colonnade4 ,the ,nos4 #c1 #h1 #i1 #aa are the bases whose profiles are respectively ,nos4 #ah1 #aa1 #ac1 and #bj in ,plate ,x4 ,the flat surfaces of the basic plinths are here shaded2 and in the lower corner of the square occupied by each quadrant is put1 also shaded1 the central profile of each spur1 from its root at the roll of the base to its point2 those of ,nos4 #a and #b being conjectural1 for their spurs were so rude and ugly1 that ,i took no note of their profiles2 but they would probably be as here given4 ,as these bases1 though here1 for the sake of comparison1 reduced within squares of equal size1 in reality belong to shafts of very different size1 #i being some six or seven inches in diameter1 and #f1 three or four feet1 the proportionate size of the roll varies accordingly1 being largest1 as in #i1 where the base is smallest1 and in #f and #ab the leaf profile is given on a larger scale than the plan1 or its character could not have been exhibited4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,xii4 ,,decoration ,,of ,,bases4 ,,xv4 ,now1 in all these spurs1 the reader will observe that the narrowest are for the most part the earliest4 ,no4 #b1 from the upper colonnade of ,st4 ,mark's1 is the only instance ,i ever saw of the double spur1 as transitive between the square and octagon plinth2 the truncated form1 #a1 is also rare and very ugly4 ,nos4 #c1 #d1 #e1 #g and #i are the general conditions of the ,byzantine spur2 #h is a very rare form of plan in ,byzantine work1 but proved to be so by its rude level profile2 while #g1 on the contrary1 ,byzantine in plan1 is eminently ,gothic in the profile4 #i to #ab are from formed ,gothic buildings1 equally refined in their profile and plan4 ,,xvi4 ,the character of the profile is indeed much altered by the accidental nature of the surface decoration2 but the importance of the broad difference between the raised and flat profile will be felt on glancing at the examples #a to #f in ,plate ,,xii4 ,the three upper examples are the ,romanesque types1 which occur as parallels with the ,byzantine types1 #a to #c of ,plate ,,xi4 ,their plans would be nearly the same2 but instead of resembling flat leaves1 they are literally spurs1 or claws1 as high as they are broad2 and the third1 from ,st4 ,michele of ,pavia1 appears to be intended to have its resemblance to a claw enforced by the transverse fillet4 #a is from ,st4 ,ambrogio1 ,milan2 #b from ,vienne1 ,france4 ,the #dth type1 ,plate ,,xii41 almost like the extremity of a man's foot1 is a ,byzantine form 7perhaps worn on the edges71 from the nave of ,st4 ,mark's2 and the two next show the unity of the two principles1 forming the perfect ,italian ,gothic types1--#e1 from tomb of ,can ,signorio della ,scala1 ,verona2 #f1 from ,san ,stefano1 ,venice 7the base #aa of ,plate ,,xi41 in perspective74 ,the two other bases1 #aj and #ab of ,plate ,,xi41 are conditions of the same kind1 showing the varieties of rise and fall in exquisite modulation2 the #ajth1 a type more frequent at ,verona than ,venice1 in which the spur profile overlaps the roll1 instead of rising out of it1 and seems to hold it down1 as if it were a ring held by sockets4 ,this is a character found both in early and late work2 a kind of band1 or fillet1 appears to hold1 and even compress1 the centre of the roll in the base of one of the crypt shafts of ,st4 ,peter's1 ,oxford1 which has also spurs at its angles2 and long bands flow over the base of the angle shaft of the ,ducal ,palace of ,venice1 next the ,porta della ,carta4 ,,xvii4 ,when the main contours of the base are once determined1 its decoration is as easy as it is infinite4 ,i have merely given1 in ,plate ,,xii41 three examples to which ,i shall need to refer1 hereafter4 ,no4 #i is a very early and curious one2 the decoration of the base #f in ,plate ,,xi41 representing a leaf turned over and flattened down2 or1 rather1 the idea of the turned leaf1 worked as well as could be imagined on the flat contour of the spur4 ,then #aj is the perfect1 but simplest possible development of the same idea1 from the earliest bases of the upper colonnade of the ,ducal ,palace1 that is to say1 the bases of the sea faade2 and #g and #h are its lateral profile and transverse section4 ,finally1 #aa and #ab are two of the spurs of the later shafts of the same colonnade on the ,piazzetta side 7,no4 #ab of ,plate ,,xi474 ,no4 #aa occurs on one of these shafts only1 and is singularly beautiful4 ,i suspect it to be earlier than the other1 which is the characteristic base of the rest of the series1 and already shows the loose1 sensual1 ungoverned character of fifteenth century ornament in the dissoluteness of its rolling4 ,,xviii4 ,i merely give these as examples ready to my hand1 and necessary for future reference2 not as in anywise representative of the variety of the ,italian treatment of the general contour1 far less of the endless caprices of the ,north4 ,the most beautiful base ,i ever saw1 on the whole1 is a ,byzantine one in the ,baptistery of ,st4 ,mark's1 in which the spur profile approximates to that of ,no4 #aj in ,plate ,,xi42 but it is formed by a cherub1 who sweeps downwards on the wing4 ,his two wings1 as they half close1 form the upper part of the spur1 and the rise of it in the front is formed by exactly the action of ,alichino1 swooping on the pitch lake3 quei drizzo1 volando1 suso il petto4 ,but it requires noble management to confine such a fancy within such limits4 ,the greater number of the best bases are formed of leaves2 and the reader may amuse himself as he will by endless inventions of them1 from types which he may gather among the weeds at the nearest roadside4 ,the value of the vegetable form is especially here1 as above noted1 ,chap4 ,,xx41 ,,xxxii41 its capability of unity with the mass of the base1 and of being suggested by few lines2 none but the ,northern ,gothic architects are able to introduce entire animal forms in this position with perfect success4 ,there is a beautiful instance at the north door of the west front of ,rouen2 a lizard pausing and curling himself round a little in the angle2 one expects him the next instant to lash round the shaft and vanish3 and we may with advantage compare this base with those of ,renaissance ,scuola di ,san ,rocca#gi at ,venice1 in which the architect1 imitating the medival bases1 which he did not understand1 has put an elephant1 four inches higher1 in the same position4 ,,xix4 ,i have not in this chapter spoken at all of the profiles which are given in ,northern architecture to the projections of the lower members of the base1 b and c in ,fig4 ,,ii41 nor of the methods in which both these1 and the rolls of the mouldings in ,plate ,x41 are decorated1 especially in ,roman architecture1 with superadded chain work or chasing of various patterns4 ,of the first ,i have not spoken1 because ,i shall have no occasion to allude to them in the following essay2 nor of the second1 because ,i consider them barbarisms4 ,decorated rolls and decorated ogee profiles1 such1 for instance1 as the base of the ,arc de l',etoile at ,paris1 are among the richest and farthest refinements of decorative appliances2 and they ought always to be reserved for jambs1 cornices1 and archivolts3 if you begin with them in the base1 you have no power of refining your decorations as you ascend1 and1 which is still worse1 you put your most delicate work on the jutting portions of the foundation1--the very portions which are most exposed to abrasion4 ,the best expression of a base is that of stern endurance1--the look of being able to bear roughing2 or1 if the whole building is so delicate that no one can be expected to treat even its base with unkindness1#hj then at least the expression of quiet1 prefatory simplicity4 ,the angle spur may receive such decoration as we have seen1 because it is one of the most important features in the whole building2 and the eye is always so attracted to it that it cannot be in rich architecture left altogether blank2 the eye is stayed upon it by its position1 but glides1 and ought to glide1 along the basic rolls to take measurement of their length3 and even with all this added fitness1 the ornament of the basic spur is best1 in the long run1 when it is boldest and simplest4 ,the base above described1 ,,xviii41 as the most beautiful ,i ever saw1 was not for that reason the best ,i ever saw3 beautiful in its place1 in a quiet corner of a ,baptistery sheeted with jasper and alabaster1 it would have been utterly wrong1 nay1 even offensive1 if used in sterner work1 or repeated along a whole colonnade4 ,the base ,no4 #aj of ,plate ,,xii4 is the richest with which ,i was ever perfectly satisfied for general service2 and the basic spurs of the building which ,i have named as the best ,gothic monument in the world 7p4 #ada71 have no ornament upon them whatever4 ,the adaptation1 therefore1 of rich cornice and roll mouldings to the level and ordinary lines of bases1 whether of walls or shafts1 ,i hold to be one of the worst barbarisms which the ,roman and ,renaissance architects ever committed2 and that nothing can afterwards redeem the effeminacy and vulgarity of the buildings in which it prominently takes place4 ,,xx4 ,i have also passed over1 without present notice1 the fantastic bases formed by couchant animals1 which sustain many ,lombardic shafts4 ,the pillars they support have independent bases of the ordinary kind2 and the animal form beneath is less to be considered as a true base 7though often exquisitely combined with it1 as in the shaft on the south-west angle of the cathedral of ,genoa7 than as a piece of sculpture1 otherwise necessary to the nobility of the building1 and deriving its value from its special positive fulfilment of expressional purposes1 with which we have here no concern4 ,as the embodiment of a wild superstition1 and the representation of supernatural powers1 their appeal to the imagination sets at utter defiance all judgment based on ordinary canons of law2 and the magnificence of their treatment atones1 in nearly every case1 for the extravagance of their conception4 ,i should not admit this appeal to the imagination1 if it had been made by a nation in whom the powers of body and mind had been languid2 but by the ,lombard1 strong in all the realities of human life1 we need not fear being led astray3 the visions of a distempered fancy are not indeed permitted to replace the truth1 or set aside the laws of science3 but the imagination which is thoroughly under the command of the intelligent will1#ha has a dominion indiscernible by science1 and illimitable by law2 and we may acknowledge the authority of the ,lombardic gryphons in the mere splendor of their presence1 without thinking idolatry an excuse for mechanical misconstruction1 or dreading to be called upon1 in other cases1 to admire a systemless architecture1 because it may happen to have sprung from an irrational religion4 ,,footnotes3 #gh ,another most important reason for the peculiar sufficiency and value of this base1 especially as opposed to the bulging forms of the single or double roll1 without the cavetto1 has been suggested by the writer of the ,essay on the sthetics of ,gothic ,architecture in the ,british ,quarterly for ,august1 #ahdi3--,the ,attic base recedes at the point where1 if it suffered from superincumbent weight1 it would bulge out4 #gi ,i have put in ,appendix #bd1 ,renaissance ,bases1 my memorandum written respecting this building on the spot4 ,but the reader had better delay referring to it1 until we have completed our examination of ornaments in shafts and capitals4 #hj ,appendix #be1 ,romanist ,decoration of ,bases4 #ha ,in all the wildness of the ,lombardic fancy 7described in ,appendix #h71 this command of the will over its action is as distinct as it is stern4 ,the fancy is1 in the early work of the nation1 visibly diseased2 but never the will1 nor the reason4 ,,chapter ,,xxvi4 ,,the ,,wall ,,veil ,,and ,,shaft4 ,i4 ,no subject has been more open ground of dispute among architects than the decoration of the wall veil1 because no decoration appeared naturally to grow out of its construction2 nor could any curvatures be given to its surface large enough to produce much impression on the eye4 ,it has become1 therefore1 a kind of general field for experiments of various effects of surface ornament1 or has been altogether abandoned to the mosaicist and fresco painter4 ,but we may perhaps conclude1 from what was advanced in the ,fifth ,chapter1 that there is one kind of decoration which will1 indeed1 naturally follow on its construction4 ,for it is perfectly natural that the different kinds of stone used in its successive courses should be of different colors2 and there are many associations and analogies which metaphysically justify the introduction of horizontal bands of color1 or of light and shade4 ,they are1 in the first place1 a kind of expression of the growth or age of the wall1 like the rings in the wood of a tree2 then they are a farther symbol of the alternation of light and darkness1 which was above noted as the source of the charm of many inferior mouldings3 again1 they are valuable as an expression of horizontal space to the imagination1 space of which the conception is opposed1 and gives more effect by its opposition1 to the enclosing power of the wall itself 7this ,i spoke of as probably the great charm of these horizontal bars to the ,arabian mind73 and again they are valuable in their suggestion of the natural courses of rocks1 and beds of the earth itself4 ,and to all these powerful imaginative reasons we have to add the merely ocular charm of interlineal opposition of color2 a charm so great1 that all the best colorists1 without a single exception1 depend upon it for the most piquant of their pictorial effects1 some vigorous mass of alternate stripes or bars of color being made central in all their richest arrangements4 ,the whole system of ,tintoret's great picture of the ,miracle of ,st4 ,mark is poised on the bars of blue1 which cross the white turban of the executioner4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,xiii4 ,,wall ,,veil ,,decorations4 ,,ii4 ,there are1 therefore1 no ornaments more deeply suggestive in their simplicity than these alternate bars of horizontal colors2 nor do ,i know any buildings more noble than those of the ,pisan ,romanesque1 in which they are habitually employed2 and certainly none so graceful1 so attractive1 so enduringly delightful in their nobleness4 ,yet1 of this pure and graceful ornamentation1 ,professor ,willis says1 a practice more destructive of architectural grandeur can hardly be conceived3 and modern architects have substituted for it the ingenious ornament of which the reader has had one specimen above1 ,fig4 ,,iii41 p4 #fa1 and with which half the large buildings in ,london are disfigured1 or else traversed by mere straight lines1 as1 for instance1 the back of the ,bank4 ,the lines on the ,bank may1 perhaps1 be considered typical of accounts2 but in general the walls1 if left destitute of them1 would have been as much fairer than the walls charged with them1 as a sheet of white paper is than the leaf of a ledger4 ,but that the reader may have free liberty of judgment in this matter1 ,i place two examples of the old and the ,renaissance ornament side by side on the opposite page4 ,that on the right is ,romanesque1 from ,st4 ,pietro of ,pistoja2 that on the left1 modern ,english1 from the ,arthur ,club-house1 ,st4 ,james's ,street4 ,,iii4 ,but why1 it will be asked1 should the lines which mark the division of the stones be wrong when they are chiselled1 and right when they are marked by color8 ,first1 because the color separation is a natural one4 ,you build with different kinds of stone1 of which1 probably1 one is more costly than another2 which latter1 as you cannot construct your building of it entirely1 you arrange in conspicuous bars4 ,but the chiselling of the stones is a wilful throwing away of time and labor in defacing the building3 it costs much to hew one of those monstrous blocks into shape2 and1 when it is done1 the building is weaker than it was before1 by just as much stone as has been cut away from its joints4 ,and1 secondly1 because1 as ,i have repeatedly urged1 straight lines are ugly things as lines1 but admirable as limits of colored spaces2 and the joints of the stones1 which are painful in proportion to their regularity1 if drawn as lines1 are perfectly agreeable when marked by variations of hue4 ,,iv4 ,what is true of the divisions of stone by chiselling1 is equally true of divisions of bricks by pointing4 ,nor1 of course1 is the mere horizontal bar the only arrangement in which the colors of brickwork or masonry can be gracefully disposed4 ,it is rather one which can only be employed with advantage when the courses of stone are deep and bold4 ,when the masonry is small1 it is better to throw its colors into chequered patterns4 ,we shall have several interesting examples to study in ,venice besides the well-known one of the ,ducal ,palace4 ,the town of ,moulins1 in ,france1 is one of the most remarkable on this side the ,alps for its chequered patterns in bricks4 ,the church of ,christchurch1 ,streatham1 lately built1 though spoiled by many grievous errors 7the iron work in the campanile being the grossest71 yet affords the inhabitants of the district a means of obtaining some idea of the variety of effects which are possible with no other material than brick4 ,v4 ,we have yet to notice another effort of the ,renaissance architects to adorn the blank spaces of their walls by what is called ,rustication4 ,there is sometimes an obscure trace of the remains of the imitation of something organic in this kind of work4 ,in some of the better ,french eighteenth century buildings it has a distinctly floral character1 like a final degradation of ,flamboyant leafage2 and some of our modern ,english architects appear to have taken the decayed teeth of elephants for their type2 but1 for the most part1 it resembles nothing so much as worm casts2 nor these with any precision4 ,if it did1 it would not bring it within the sphere of our properly imitative ornamentation4 ,i thought it unnecessary to warn the reader that he was not to copy forms of refuse or corruption2 and that1 while he might legitimately take the worm or the reptile for a subject of imitation1 he was not to study the worm cast or coprolite4 ,,vi4 ,it is1 however1 ,i believe1 sometimes supposed that rustication gives an appearance of solidity to foundation stones4 ,not so2 at least to any one who knows the look of a hard stone4 ,you may1 by rustication1 make your good marble or granite look like wet slime1 honeycombed by sand-eels1 or like half-baked tufo covered with slow exudation of stalactite1 or like rotten claystone coated with concretions of its own mud2 but not like the stones of which the hard world is built4 ,do not think that nature rusticates her foundations4 ,smooth sheets of rock1 glistening like sea waves1 and that ring under the hammer like a brazen bell1--that is her preparation for first stories4 ,she does rusticate sometimes3 crumbly sand-stones1 with their ripple-marks filled with red mud2 dusty lime-stones1 which the rains wash into labyrinthine cavities2 spongy lavas1 which the volcano blast drags hither and thither into ropy coils and bubbling hollows2--these she rusticates1 indeed1 when she wants to make oyster-shells and magnesia of them2 but not when she needs to lay foundations with them4 ,then she seeks the polished surface and iron heart1 not rough looks and incoherent substance4 ,,vii4 ,of the richer modes of wall decoration it is impossible to institute any general comparison2 they are quite infinite1 from mere inlaid geometrical figures up to incrustations of elaborate bas-relief4 ,the architect has perhaps more license in them1 and more power of producing good effect with rude design than in any other features of the building2 the chequer and hatchet work of the ,normans and the rude bas-reliefs of the ,lombards being almost as satisfactory as the delicate panelling and mosaic of the ,duomo of ,florence4 ,but this is to be noted of all good wall ornament1 that it retains the expression of firm and massive substance1 and of broad surface1 and that architecture instantly declined when linear design was substituted for massive1 and the sense of weight of wall was lost in a wilderness of upright or undulating rods4 ,of the richest and most delicate wall veil decoration by inlaid work1 as practised in ,italy from the twelfth to the fifteenth century1 ,i have given the reader two characteristic examples in ,plates ,,xx4 and ,,xxi4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lxi4 ,,viii4 ,there are1 however1 three spaces in which the wall veil1 peculiarly limited in shape1 was always felt to be fitted for surface decoration of the most elaborate kind2 and in these spaces are found the most majestic instances of its treatment1 even to late periods4 ,one of these is the spandril space1 or the filling between any two arches1 commonly of the shape a1 ,fig4 ,,lxi42 the half of which1 or the flank filling of any arch1 is called a spandril4 ,in ,chapter ,,xvii41 on ,filling of ,apertures1 the reader will find another of these spaces noted1 called the tympanum1 and commonly of the form b1 ,fig4 ,,lxi43 and finally1 in ,chapter ,,xviii41 he will find the third space described1 that between an arch and its protecting gable1 approximating generally to the form c1 ,fig4 ,,lxi4 ,,ix4 ,the methods of treating these spaces might alone furnish subject for three very interesting essays2 but ,i shall only note the most essential points respecting them4 7#a47 ,the ,spandril4 ,it was observed in ,chapter ,,xii41 that this portion of the arch load might frequently be lightened with great advantage by piercing it with a circle1 or with a group of circles2 and the roof of the ,euston ,square railroad station was adduced as an example4 ,one of the spandril decorations of ,bayeux ,cathedral is given in the ,seven ,lamps1 ,plate ,,vii4 fig4 #d4 ,it is little more than one of these ,euston ,square spandrils1 with its circles foliated4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,xiv4 ,,spandril ,,decoration ,,the ,,ducal ,,palace4 ,sometimes the circle is entirely pierced2 at other times it is merely suggested by a mosaic or light tracery on the wall surface1 as in the plate opposite1 which is one of the spandrils of the ,ducal ,palace at ,venice4 ,it was evidently intended that all the spandrils of this building should be decorated in this manner1 but only two of them seem to have been completed4#hb ,x4 ,the other modes of spandril filling may be broadly reduced to four heads4 #a4 ,free figure sculpture1 as in the ,chapter-house of ,salisbury1 and very superbly along the west front of ,bourges1 the best ,gothic spandrils ,i know4 #b4 ,radiated foliage1 more or less referred to the centre1 or to the bottom of the spandril for its origin2 single figures with expanded wings often answering the same purpose4 #c4 ,trefoils2 and #d1 ordinary wall decoration continued into the spandril space1 as in ,plate ,,xiii41 above1 from ,st4 ,pietro at ,pistoja1 and in ,westminster ,abbey4 ,the ,renaissance architects introduced spandril fillings composed of colossal human figures reclining on the sides of the arch1 in precarious lassitude2 but these cannot come under the head of wall veil decoration4 ,,xi4 7#b47 ,the ,tympanum4 ,it was noted that1 in ,gothic architecture1 this is for the most part a detached slab of stone1 having no constructional relation to the rest of the building4 ,the plan of its sculpture is therefore quite arbitrary2 and1 as it is generally in a conspicuous position1 near the eye1 and above the entrance1 it is almost always charged with a series of rich figure sculptures1 solemn in feeling and consecutive in subject4 ,it occupies in ,christian sacred edifices very nearly the position of the pediment in ,greek sculpture4 ,this latter is itself a kind of tympanum1 and charged with sculpture in the same manner4 ,,xii4 7#c47 ,the ,gable4 ,the same principles apply to it which have been noted respecting the spandril1 with one more of some importance4 ,the chief difficulty in treating a gable lies in the excessive sharpness of its upper point4 ,it may1 indeed1 on its outside apex1 receive a finial2 but the meeting of the inside lines of its terminal mouldings is necessarily both harsh and conspicuous1 unless artificially concealed4 ,the most beautiful victory ,i have ever seen obtained over this difficulty was by placing a sharp shield1 its point1 as usual1 downwards1 at the apex of the gable1 which exactly reversed the offensive lines1 yet without actually breaking them2 the gable being completed behind the shield4 ,the same thing is done in the ,northern and ,southern ,gothic3 in the porches of ,abbeville and the tombs of ,verona4 ,,xiii4 ,i believe there is little else to be noted of general laws of ornament respecting the wall veil4 ,we have next to consider its concentration in the shaft4 ,now the principal beauty of a shaft is its perfect proportion to its work1--its exact expression of necessary strength4 ,if this has been truly attained1 it will hardly need1 in some cases hardly bear1 more decoration than is given to it by its own rounding and taper curvatures2 for1 if we cut ornaments in intaglio on its surface1 we weaken it2 if we leave them in relief1 we overcharge it1 and the sweep of the line from its base to its summit1 though deduced in ,chapter ,,viii41 from necessities of construction1 is already one of gradated curvature1 and of high decorative value4 ,,xiv4 ,it is1 however1 carefully to be noted1 that decorations are admissible on colossal and on diminutive shafts1 which are wrong upon those of middle size4 ,for1 when the shaft is enormous1 incisions or sculpture on its sides 7unless colossal also71 do not materially interfere with the sweep of its curve1 nor diminish the efficiency of its sustaining mass4 ,and if it be diminutive1 its sustaining function is comparatively of so small importance1 the injurious results of failure so much less1 and the relative strength and cohesion of its mass so much greater1 that it may be suffered in the extravagance of ornament or outline which would be unendurable in a shaft of middle size1 and impossible in one of colossal4 ,thus1 the shafts drawn in ,plate ,,xiii41 of the ,seven ,lamps1 though given as examples of extravagance1 are yet pleasing in the general effect of the arcade they support2 being each some six or seven feet high4 ,but they would have been monstrous1 as well as unsafe1 if they had been sixty or seventy4 ,,xv4 ,therefore1 to determine the general rule for shaft decoration1 we must ascertain the proportions representative of the mean bulk of shafts3 they might easily be calculated from a sufficient number of examples1 but it may perhaps be assumed1 for our present general purpose1 that the mean standard would be of some twenty feet in height1 by eight or nine in circumference3 then this will be the size on which decoration is most difficult and dangerous3 and shafts become more and more fit subjects for decoration1 as they rise farther above1 or fall farther beneath it1 until very small and very vast shafts will both be found to look blank unless they receive some chasing or imagery2 blank1 whether they support a chair or table on the one side1 or sustain a village on the ridge of an ,egyptian architrave on the other4 ,,xvi4 ,of the various ornamentation of colossal shafts1 there are no examples so noble as the ,egyptian2 these the reader can study in ,mr4 ,roberts' work on ,egypt nearly as well1 ,i imagine1 as if he were beneath their shadow1 one of their chief merits1 as examples of method1 being the perfect decision and visibility of their designs at the necessary distance3 contrast with these the incrustations of bas-relief on the ,trajan pillar1 much interfering with the smooth lines of the shaft1 and yet themselves untraceable1 if not invisible4 ,,xvii4 ,on shafts of middle size1 the only ornament which has ever been accepted as right1 is the ,doric fluting1 which1 indeed1 gave the effect of a succession of unequal lines of shade1 but lost much of the repose of the cylindrical gradation4 ,the ,corinthian fluting1 which is a mean multiplication and deepening of the ,doric1 with a square instead of a sharp ridge between each hollow1 destroyed the serenity of the shaft altogether1 and is always rigid and meagre4 ,both are1 in fact1 wrong in principle2 they are an elaborate weakening#hc of the shaft1 exactly opposed 7as above shown7 to the ribbed form1 which is the result of a group of shafts bound together1 and which is especially beautiful when special service is given to each member4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lxii4 ,,xviii4 ,on shafts of inferior size1 every species of decoration may be wisely lavished1 and in any quantity1 so only that the form of the shaft be clearly visible4 ,this ,i hold to be absolutely essential1 and that barbarism begins wherever the sculpture is either so bossy1 or so deeply cut1 as to break the contour of the shaft1 or compromise its solidity4 ,thus1 in ,plate ,,xxi4 7,appendix #h71 the richly sculptured shaft of the lower story has lost its dignity and definite function1 and become a shapeless mass1 injurious to the symmetry of the building1 though of some value as adding to its imaginative and fantastic character4 ,had all the shafts been like it1 the faade would have been entirely spoiled2 the inlaid pattern1 on the contrary1 which is used on the shortest shaft of the upper story1 adds to its preciousness without interfering with its purpose1 and is every way delightful1 as are all the inlaid shaft ornaments of this noble church 7another example of them is given in ,plate ,,xii4 of the ,seven ,lamps74 ,the same rule would condemn the ,caryatid2 which ,i entirely agree with ,mr4 ,fergusson in thinking 7both for this and other reasons7 one of the chief errors of the ,greek schools2 and1 more decisively still1 the ,renaissance inventions of shaft ornament1 almost too absurd and too monstrous to be seriously noticed1 which consist in leaving square blocks between the cylinder joints1 as in the portico of ,no4 #a1 ,regent ,street1 and many other buildings in ,london2 or in rusticating portions of the shafts1 or wrapping fleeces about them1 as at the entrance of ,burlington ,house1 in ,piccadilly2 or tying drapery round them in knots1 as in the new buildings above noticed 7,chap4 #bj1 ,,vii471 at ,paris4 ,but1 within the limits thus defined1 there is no feature capable of richer decoration than the shaft2 the most beautiful examples of all ,i have seen1 are the slender pillars1 encrusted with arabesques1 which flank the portals of the ,baptistery and ,duomo at ,pisa1 and some others of the ,pisan and ,lucchese churches2 but the varieties of sculpture and inlaying1 with which the small ,romanesque shafts1 whether ,italian or ,northern1 are adorned when they occupy important positions1 are quite endless1 and nearly all admirable4 ,mr4 ,digby ,wyatt has given a beautiful example of inlaid work so employed1 from the cloisters of the ,lateran1 in his work on early mosaic2 an example which unites the surface decoration of the shaft with the adoption of the spiral contour4 ,this latter is often all the decoration which is needed1 and none can be more beautiful2 it has been spoken against1 like many other good and lovely things1 because it has been too often used in extravagant degrees1 like the well-known twisting of the pillars in ,raffaelle's ,beautiful gate4 ,but that extravagant condition was a ,renaissance barbarism3 the old ,romanesque builders kept their spirals slight and pure2 often1 as in the example from ,st4 ,zeno1 in ,plate ,,xvii4 below1 giving only half a turn from the base of the shaft to its head1 and nearly always observing what ,i hold to be an imperative law1 that no twisted shaft shall be single1 but composed of at least two distinct members1 twined with each other4 ,i suppose they followed their own right feeling in doing this1 and had never studied natural shafts2 but the type they might have followed was caught by one of the few great painters who were not affected by the evil influence of the fifteenth century1 ,benozzo ,gozzoli1 who1 in the frescoes of the ,ricardi ,palace1 among stems of trees for the most part as vertical as stone shafts1 has suddenly introduced one of the shape given in ,fig4 ,,lxii4 ,many forest trees present1 in their accidental contortions1 types of most complicated spiral shafts1 the plan being originally of a grouped shaft rising from several roots2 nor1 indeed1 will the reader ever find models for every kind of shaft decoration1 so graceful or so gorgeous1 as he will find in the great forest aisle1 where the strength of the earth itself seems to rise from the roots into the vaulting2 but the shaft surface1 barred as it expands with rings of ebony and silver1 is fretted with traceries of ivy1 marbled with purple moss1 veined with grey lichen1 and tesselated1 by the rays of the rolling heaven1 with flitting fancies of blue shadow and burning gold4 ,,footnotes3 #hb ,vide end of ,appendix #bj4 #hc ,vide1 however1 their defence in the ,essay above quoted1 p4 #bea4 ,,chapter ,,xxvii4 ,,the ,,cornice ,,and ,,capital4 ,i4 ,there are no features to which the attention of architects has been more laboriously directed1 in all ages1 than these crowning members of the wall and shaft2 and it would be vain to endeavor1 within any moderate limits1 to give the reader any idea of the various kinds of admirable decoration which have been invented for them4 ,but1 in proportion to the effort and straining of the fancy1 have been the extravagances into which it has occasionally fallen2 and while it is utterly impossible severally to enumerate the instances either of its success or its error1 it is very possible to note the limits of the one and the causes of the other4 ,this is all that we shall attempt in the present chapter1 tracing first for ourselves1 as in previous instances1 the natural channels by which invention is here to be directed or confined1 and afterwards remarking the places where1 in real practice1 it has broken bounds4 ,,ii4 ,the reader remembers1 ,i hope1 the main points respecting the cornice and capital1 established above in the ,chapters on ,construction4 ,of these ,i must1 however1 recapitulate thus much3-- #a4 ,that both the cornice and capital are1 with reference to the slope of their profile or bell1 to be divided into two great orders2 in one of which the ornament is convex1 and in the other concave4 7,ch4 ,,vi41 ,v47 #b4 ,that the capital1 with reference to the method of twisting the cornice round to construct it1 and to unite the circular shaft with the square abacus1 falls into five general forms1 represented in ,fig4 ,,xxii41 p4 #aai4 #c4 ,that the most elaborate capitals were formed by true or simple capitals with a common cornice added above their abacus4 7,ch4 ,,ix41 ,,xxiv47 ,we have then1 in considering decoration1 first to observe the treatment of the two great orders of the cornice2 then their gathering into the five of the capital2 then the addition of the secondary cornice to the capital when formed4 ,,iii4 ,the two great orders or families of cornice were above distinguished in ,fig4 ,v41 p4 #fi42 and it was mentioned in the same place that a third family arose from their combination4 ,we must deal with the two great opposed groups first4 ,they were distinguished in ,fig4 ,v4 by circular curves drawn on opposite sides of the same line4 ,but we now know that in these smaller features the circle is usually the least interesting curve that we can use2 and that it will be well1 since the capital and cornice are both active in their expression1 to use some of the more abstract natural lines4 ,we will go back1 therefore1 to our old friend the salvia leaf2 and taking the same piece of it we had before1 x y1 ,plate ,,vii41 we will apply it to the cornice line2 first within it1 giving the concave cornice1 then without1 giving the convex cornice4 ,in all the figures1 a1 b1 c1 d1 ,plate ,,xv41 the dotted line is at the same slope1 and represents an average profile of the root of cornices 7a1 ,fig4 ,v41 p4 #fi72 the curve of the salvia leaf is applied to it in each case1 first with its roundest curvature up1 then with its roundest curvature down2 and we have thus the two varieties1 a and b1 of the concave family1 and c and d1 of the convex family4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,xv4 ,,cornice ,,profiles4 ,,iv4 ,these four profiles will represent all the simple cornices in the world2 represent them1 ,i mean1 as central types3 for in any of the profiles an infinite number of slopes may be given to the dotted line of the root 7which in these four figures is always at the same angle72 and on each of these innumerable slopes an innumerable variety of curves may be fitted1 from every leaf in the forest1 and every shell on the shore1 and every movement of the human fingers and fancy2 therefore1 if the reader wishes to obtain something like a numerical representation of the number of possible and beautiful cornices which may be based upon these four types or roots1 and among which the architect has leave to choose according to the circumstances of his building and the method of its composition1 let him set down a figure #a to begin with1 and write ciphers after it as fast as he can1 without stopping1 for an hour4 ,v4 ,none of the types are1 however1 found in perfection of curvature1 except in the best work4 ,very often cornices are worked with circular segments 7with a noble1 massive effect1 for instance1 in ,st4 ,michele of ,lucca71 or with rude approximation to finer curvature1 especially a1 ,plate ,,xv41 which occurs often so small as to render it useless to take much pains upon its curve4 ,it occurs perfectly pure in the condition represented by #a of the series #a-f1 in ,plate ,,xv41 on many of the ,byzantine and early ,gothic buildings of ,venice2 in more developed form it becomes the profile of the bell of the capital in the later ,venetian ,gothic1 and in much of the best ,northern ,gothic4 ,it also represents the ,corinthian capital1 in which the curvature is taken from the bell to be added in some excess to the nodding leaves4 ,it is the most graceful of all simple profiles of cornice and capital4 ,,vi4 b is a much rarer and less manageable type3 for this evident reason1 that while a is the natural condition of a line rooted and strong beneath1 but bent out by superincumbent weight1 or nodding over in freedom1 b is yielding at the base and rigid at the summit4 ,it has1 however1 some exquisite uses1 especially in combination1 as the reader may see by glancing in advance at the inner line of the profile #ad in ,plate ,,xv4 ,,vii4 c is the leading convex or ,doric type1 as a is the leading concave or ,corinthian4 ,its relation to the best ,greek ,doric is exactly what the relation of a is to the ,corinthian2 that is to say1 the curvature must be taken from the straighter limb of the curve and added to the bolder bend1 giving it a sudden turn inwards 7as in the ,corinthian a nod outwards71 as the reader may see in the capital of the ,parthenon in the ,british ,museum1 where the lower limb of the curve is all but a right line4#hd ,but these ,doric and ,corinthian lines are mere varieties of the great families which are represented by the central lines a and c1 including not only the ,doric capital1 but all the small cornices formed by a slight increase of the curve of c1 which are of so frequent occurrence in ,greek ornaments4 ,,viii4 d is the ,christian ,doric1 which ,i said 7,chap4 ,i41 ,,xx47 was invented to replace the antique3 it is the representative of the great ,byzantine and ,norman families of convex cornice and capital1 and1 next to the profile a1 the most important of the four1 being the best profile for the convex capital1 as a is for the concave2 a being the best expression of an elastic line inserted vertically in the shaft1 and d of an elastic line inserted horizontally and rising to meet vertical pressure4 ,if the reader will glance at the arrangements of boughs of trees1 he will find them commonly dividing into these two families1 a and d3 they rise out of the trunk and nod from it as a1 or they spring with sudden curvature out from it1 and rise into sympathy with it1 as at d2 but they only accidentally display tendencies to the lines b or c4 ,boughs which fall as they spring from the tree also describe the curve d in the plurality of instances1 but reversed in arrangement2 their junction with the stem being at the top of it1 their sprays bending out into rounder curvature4 ,,ix4 ,these then being the two primal groups1 we have next to note the combined group1 formed by the concave and convex lines joined in various proportions of curvature1 so as to form together the reversed or ogee curve1 represented in one of its most beautiful states by the glacier line a1 on ,plate ,,vii4 ,i would rather have taken this line than any other to have formed my third group of cornices by1 but as it is too large1 and almost too delicate1 we will take instead that of the ,matterhorn side1 e f1 ,plate ,,vii4 ,for uniformity's sake ,i keep the slope of the dotted line the same as in the primal forms2 and applying this ,matterhorn curve in its four relative positions to that line1 ,i have the types of the four cornices or capitals of the third family1 e1 f1 g1 h1 on ,plate ,,xv4 ,these are1 however1 general types only thus far1 that their line is composed of one short and one long curve1 and that they represent the four conditions of treatment of every such line2 namely1 the longest curve concave in e and f1 and convex in g and h2 and the point of contrary flexure set high in e and g1 and low in f and h4 ,the relative depth of the arcs1 or nature of their curvature1 cannot be taken into consideration without a complexity of system which my space does not admit4 ,of the four types thus constituted1 e and f are of great importance2 the other two are rarely used1 having an appearance of weakness in consequence of the shortest curve being concave3 the profiles e and f1 when used for cornices1 have usually a fuller sweep and somewhat greater equality between the branches of the curve2 but those here given are better representatives of the structure applicable to capitals and cornices indifferently4 ,x4 ,very often1 in the farther treatment of the profiles e or f1 another limb is added to their curve in order to join it to the upper or lower members of the cornice or capital4 ,i do not consider this addition as forming another family of cornices1 because the leading and effective part of the curve is in these1 as in the others1 the single ogee2 and the added bend is merely a less abrupt termination of it above or below3 still this group is of so great importance in the richer kinds of ornamentation that we must have it sufficiently represented4 ,we shall obtain a type of it by merely continuing the line of the ,matterhorn side1 of which before we took only a fragment4 ,the entire line e to g on ,plate ,,vii41 is evidently composed of three curves of unequal lengths1 which if we call the shortest #a1 the intermediate one #b1 and the longest #c1 are there arranged in the order #a1 #c1 #b1 counting upwards4 ,but evidently we might also have had the arrangements #a1 #b1 #c1 and #b1 #a1 #c1 giving us three distinct lines1 altogether independent of position1 which being applied to one general dotted slope will each give four cornices1 or twelve altogether4 ,of these the six most important are those which have the shortest curve convex3 they are given in light relief from k to p1 ,plate ,,xv41 and1 by turning the page upside down1 the other six will be seen in dark relief1 only the little upright bits of shadow at the bottom are not to be considered as parts of them1 being only admitted in order to give the complete profile of the more important cornices in light4 ,,xi4 ,in these types1 as in e and f1 the only general condition is1 that their line shall be composed of three curves of different lengths and different arrangements 7the depth of arcs and radius of curvatures being unconsidered74 ,they are arranged in three couples1 each couple being two positions of the same entire line2 so that numbering the component curves in order of magnitude and counting upwards1 they will read-- k #a1 #b1 #c1 l #c1 #b1 #a1 m #a1 #c1 #b1 n #b1 #c1 #a1 o #b1 #a1 #c1 p #c1 #a1 #b4 m and n1 which are the ,matterhorn line1 are the most beautiful and important of all the twelve2 k and l the next2 o and p are used only for certain conditions of flower carving on the surface4 ,the reverses 7dark7 of k and l are also of considerable service2 the other four hardly ever used in good work4 ,,xii4 ,if we were to add a fourth curve to the component series1 we should have forty-eight more cornices3 but there is no use in pursuing the system further1 as such arrangements are very rare and easily resolved into the simpler types with certain arbitrary additions fitted to their special place2 and1 in most cases1 distinctly separate from the main curve1 as in the inner line of ,no4 #ad1 which is a form of the type e1 the longest curve1 i4e41 the lowest1 having deepest curvature1 and each limb opposed by a short contrary curve at its extremities1 the convex limb by a concave1 the concave by a convex4 ,,xiii4 ,such1 then1 are the great families of profile lines into which all cornices and capitals may be divided2 but their best examples unite two such profiles in a mode which we cannot understand till we consider the further ornament with which the profiles are charged4 ,and in doing this we must1 for the sake of clearness1 consider1 first the nature of the designs themselves1 and next the mode of cutting them4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,xvi4 ,,cornice ,,decoration4 ,,xiv4 ,in ,plate ,,xvi41 opposite1 ,i have thrown together a few of the most characteristic medival examples of the treatment of the simplest cornice profiles3 the uppermost1 a1 is the pure root of cornices from ,st4 ,mark's4 ,the second1 d1 is the ,christian ,doric cornice1 here lettered d in order to avoid confusion1 its profile being d of ,plate ,,xv4 in bold development1 and here seen on the left-hand side1 truly drawn1 though filled up with the ornament to show the mode in which the angle is turned4 ,this is also from ,st4 ,mark's4 ,the third1 b1 is b of ,plate ,,xv41 the pattern being inlaid in black because its office was in the interior of ,st4 ,mark's1 where it was too dark to see sculptured ornament at the required distance4 7,the other two simple profiles1 a and c of ,plate ,,xv41 would be decorated in the same manner1 but require no example here1 for the profile a is of so frequent occurrence that it will have a page to itself alone in the next volume2 and c may be seen over nearly every shop in ,london1 being that of the common ,greek egg cornice47 ,the fourth1 e in ,plate ,,xvi41 is a transitional cornice1 passing from ,byzantine into ,venetian ,gothic3 f is a fully developed ,venetian ,gothic cornice founded on ,byzantine traditions2 and g the perfect ,lombardic-,gothic cornice1 founded on the ,pisan ,romanesque traditions1 and strongly marked with the noblest ,northern element1 the ,lombardic vitality restrained by classical models4 ,i consider it a perfect cornice1 and of the highest order4 ,,xv4 ,now in the design of this series of ornaments there are two main points to be noted2 the first1 that they all1 except b1 are distinctly rooted in the lower part of the cornice1 and spring to the top4 ,this arrangement is constant in all the best cornices and capitals2 and it is essential to the expression of the supporting power of both4 ,it is exactly opposed to the system of running cornices and banded#he capitals1 in which the ornament flows along them horizontally1 or is twined round them1 as the mouldings are in the early ,english capital1 and the foliage in many decorated ones4 ,such cornices have arisen from a mistaken appliance of the running ornaments1 which are proper to archivolts1 jambs1 c41 to the features which have definite functions of support4 ,a tendril may nobly follow the outline of an arch1 but must not creep along a cornice1 nor swathe or bandage a capital2 it is essential to the expression of these features that their ornament should have an elastic and upward spring2 and as the proper profile for the curve is that of a tree bough1 as we saw above1 so the proper arrangement of its farther ornament is that which best expresses rooted and ascendant strength like that of foliage4 ,there are certain very interesting exceptions to the rule 7we shall see a curious one presently72 and in the carrying out of the rule itself1 we may see constant licenses taken by the great designers1 and momentary violations of it1 like those above spoken of1 respecting other ornamental laws--violations which are for our refreshment1 and for increase of delight in the general observance2 and this is one of the peculiar beauties of the cornice g1 which1 rooting itself in strong central clusters1 suffers some of its leaves to fall languidly aside1 as the drooping outer leaves of a natural cluster do so often2 but at the very instant that it does this1 in order that it may not lose any of its expression of strength1 a fruit-stalk is thrown up above the languid leaves1 absolutely vertical1 as much stiffer and stronger than the rest of the plant as the falling leaves are weaker4 ,cover this with your finger1 and the cornice falls to pieces1 like a bouquet which has been untied4 ,,xvi4 ,there are some instances in which1 though the real arrangement is that of a running stem1 throwing off leaves up and down1 the positions of the leaves give nearly as much elasticity and organisation to the cornice1 as if they had been rightly rooted2 and others1 like b1 where the reversed portion of the ornament is lost in the shade1 and the general expression of strength is got by the lower member4 ,this cornice will1 nevertheless1 be felt at once to be inferior to the rest2 and though we may often be called upon to admire designs of these kinds1 which would have been exquisite if not thus misplaced1 the reader will find that they are both of rare occurrence1 and significative of declining style2 while the greater mass of the banded capitals are heavy and valueless1 mere aggregations of confused sculpture1 swathed round the extremity of the shaft1 as if she had dipped it into a mass of melted ornament1 as the glass-blower does his blow-pipe into the metal1 and brought up a quantity adhering glutinously to its extremity4 ,we have many capitals of this kind in ,england3 some of the worst and heaviest in the choir of ,york4 ,the later capitals of the ,italian ,gothic have the same kind of effect1 but owing to another cause3 for their structure is quite pure1 and based on the ,corinthian type3 and it is the branching form of the heads of the leaves which destroys the effect of their organisation4 ,on the other hand1 some of the ,italian cornices which are actually composed by running tendrils1 throwing off leaves into oval interstices1 are so massive in their treatment1 and so marked and firm in their vertical and arched lines1 that they are nearly as suggestive of support as if they had been arranged on the rooted system4 ,a cornice of this kind is used in ,st4 ,michele of ,lucca 7,plate ,,vi4 in the ,seven ,lamps1 and ,,xxi4 here71 and with exquisite propriety2 for that cornice is at once a crown to the story beneath it and a foundation to that which is above it1 and therefore unites the strength and elasticity of the lines proper to the cornice with the submission and prostration of those proper to the foundation4 ,,xvii4 ,this1 then1 is the first point needing general notice in the designs in ,plate ,,xvi4 ,the second is the difference between the freedom of the ,northern and the sophistication of the classical cornices1 in connection with what has been advanced in ,appendix #h4 ,the cornices1 a1 d1 and b1 are of the same date1 but they show a singular difference in the workman's temper3 that at b is a single copy of a classical mosaic2 and many carved cornices occur1 associated with it1 which are1 in like manner1 mere copies of the ,greek and ,roman egg and arrow mouldings4 ,but the cornices a and d are copies of nothing of the kind3 the idea of them has indeed been taken from the ,greek honeysuckle ornament1 but the chiselling of them is in no wise either ,greek1 or ,byzantine1 in temper4 ,the ,byzantines were languid copyists3 this work is as energetic as its original2 energetic1 not in the quantity of work1 but in the spirit of it3 an indolent man1 forced into toil1 may cover large spaces with evidence of his feeble action1 or accumulate his dulness into rich aggregation of trouble1 but it is gathered weariness still4 ,the man who cut those two uppermost cornices had no time to spare3 did as much cornice as he could in half an hour2 but would not endure the slightest trace of error in a curve1 or of bluntness in an edge4 ,his work is absolutely unreproveable2 keen1 and true1 as ,nature's own2 his entire force is in it1 and fixed on seeing that every line of it shall be sharp and right3 the faithful energy is in him3 we shall see something come of that cornice3 ,the fellow who inlaid the other 7b71 will stay where he is for ever2 and when he has inlaid one leaf up1 will inlay another down1--and so undulate up and down to all eternity3 but the man of a and d will cut his way forward1 or there is no truth in handicrafts1 nor stubbornness in stone4 ,,xviii4 ,but there is something else noticeable in those two cornices1 besides the energy of them3 as opposed either to b1 or the ,greek honeysuckle or egg patterns1 they are natural designs4 ,the ,greek egg and arrow cornice is a nonsense cornice1 very noble in its lines1 but utterly absurd in meaning4 ,arrows have had nothing to do with eggs 7at least since ,leda's time71 neither are the so-called arrows like arrows1 nor the eggs like eggs1 nor the honeysuckles like honeysuckles2 they are all conventionalised into a monotonous successiveness of nothing1--pleasant to the eye1 useless to the thought4 ,but those ,christian cornices are1 as far as may be1 suggestive2 there is not the tenth of the work in them that there is in the ,greek arrows1 but1 as far as that work will go1 it has consistent intention2 with the fewest possible incisions1 and those of the easiest shape1 they suggest the true image1 of clusters of leaves1 each leaf with its central depression from root to point1 and that distinctly visible at almost any distance from the eye1 and in almost any light4 ,,xix4 ,here1 then1 are two great new elements visible2 energy and naturalism3--,life1 with submission to the laws of ,god1 and love of his works2 this is ,christianity1 dealing with her classical models4 ,now look back to what ,i said in ,chap4 #a4 ,,xx4 of this dealing of hers1 and invention of the new ,doric line2 then to what is above stated 7 ,,viii47 respecting that new ,doric1 and the boughs of trees2 and now to the evidence in the cutting of the leaves on the same ,doric section1 and see how the whole is beginning to come together4 ,,xx4 ,we said that something would come of these two cornices1 a and d4 ,in e and f we see that something has come of them3 e is also from ,st4 ,mark's1 and one of the earliest examples in ,venice of the transition from the ,byzantine to the ,gothic cornice4 ,it is already singularly developed2 flowers have been added between the clusters of leaves1 and the leaves themselves curled over3 and observe the well-directed thought of the sculptor in this curling2--the old incisions are retained below1 and their excessive rigidity is one of the proofs of the earliness of the cornice2 but those incisions now stand for the under surface of the leaf2 and behold1 when it turns over1 on the top of it you see true ribs4 ,look at the upper and under surface of a cabbage-leaf1 and see what quick steps we are making4 ,,xxi4 ,the fifth example 7f7 was cut in #acdg2 it is from the tomb of ,marco ,giustiniani1 in the church of ,st4 ,john and ,paul1 and it exhibits the character of the central ,venetian ,gothic fully developed4 ,the lines are all now soft and undulatory1 though elastic2 the sharp incisions have become deeply-gathered folds2 the hollow of the leaf is expressed completely beneath1 and its edges are touched with light1 and incised into several lobes1 and their ribs delicately drawn above4 7,the flower between is only accidentally absent2 it occurs in most cornices of the time47 ,but in both these cornices the reader will notice that while the naturalism of the sculpture is steadily on the increase1 the classical formalism is still retained4 ,the leaves are accurately numbered1 and sternly set in their places2 they are leaves in office1 and dare not stir nor wave4 ,they have the shapes of leaves1 but not the functions1 having the form of knowledge1 but denying the power thereof4 ,what is the meaning of this8 ,,xxii4 ,look back to the ,x,x,x,i,i,ird paragraph of the first chapter1 and you will see the meaning of it4 ,these cornices are the ,venetian ,ecclesiastical ,gothic2 the ,christian element struggling with the ,formalism of the ,papacy1--the ,papacy being entirely heathen in all its principles4 ,that officialism of the leaves and their ribs means ,apostolic succession1 and ,i don't know how much more1 and is already preparing for the transition to old ,heathenism again1 and the ,renaissance4#hf ,,xxiii4 ,now look to the last cornice 7g74 ,that is ,protestantism1--a slight touch of ,dissent1 hardly amounting to schism1 in those falling leaves1 but true life in the whole of it4 ,the forms all broken through1 and sent heaven knows where1 but the root held fast2 and the strong sap in the branches2 and1 best of all1 good fruit ripening and opening straight towards heaven1 and in the face of it1 even though some of the leaves lie in the dust4 ,now1 observe4 ,the cornice f represents ,heathenism and ,papistry1 animated by the mingling of ,christianity and nature4 ,the good in it1 the life of it1 the veracity and liberty of it1 such as it has1 are ,protestantism in its heart2 the rigidity and saplessness are the ,romanism of it4 ,it is the mind of ,fra ,angelico in the monk's dress1--,christianity before the ,reformation4 ,the cornice g has the ,lombardic life element in its fulness1 with only some color and shape of ,classicalism mingled with it--the good of classicalism2 as much method and ,formalism as are consistent with life1 and fitting for it3 ,the continence within certain border lines1 the unity at the root1 the simplicity of the great profile1--all these are the healthy classical elements retained3 the rest is reformation1 new strength1 and recovered liberty4 ,,xxiv4 ,there is one more point about it especially noticeable4 ,the leaves are thoroughly natural in their general character1 but they are of no particular species3 and after being something like cabbage-leaves in the beginning1 one of them suddenly becomes an ivy-leaf in the end4 ,now ,i don't know what to say of this4 ,i know it1 indeed1 to be a classical character2--it is eminently characteristic of ,southern work2 and markedly distinctive of it from the ,northern ornament1 which would have been oak1 or ivy1 or apple1 but not anything1 nor two things in one4 ,it is1 ,i repeat1 a clearly classical element2 but whether a good or bad element1 ,i am not sure2--whether it is the last trace of ,centaurism and other monstrosity dying away2 or whether it has a figurative purpose1 legitimate in architecture 7though never in painting71 and has been rightly retained by the ,christian sculptor1 to express the working of that spirit which grafts one nature upon another1 and discerns a law in its members warring against the law of its mind4 ,,xxv4 ,these1 then1 being the points most noticeable in the spirit both of the designs and the chiselling1 we have now to return to the question proposed in ,,xiii41 and observe the modifications of form of profile which resulted from the changing contours of the leafage2 for up to ,,xiii41 we had1 as usual1 considered the possible conditions of form in the abstract2--the modes in which they have been derived from each other in actual practice require to be followed in their turn4 ,how the ,greek ,doric or ,greek ogee cornices were invented is not easy to determine1 and1 fortunately1 is little to our present purpose2 for the medival ogee cornices have an independent development of their own1 from the first type of the concave cornice a in ,plate ,,xv4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lxiii4 ,,xxvi4 ,that cornice occurs1 in the simplest work1 perfectly pure1 but in finished work it was quickly felt that there was a meagreness in its junction with the wall beneath it1 where it was set as here at a1 ,fig4 ,,lxiii41 which could only be conquered by concealing such junction in a bar of shadow4 ,there were two ways of getting this bar3 one by a projecting roll at the foot of the cornice 7b1 ,fig4 ,,lxiii471 the other by slipping the whole cornice a little forward 7c4 ,fig4 ,,lxiii474 ,from these two methods arise two groups of cornices and capitals1 which we shall pursue in succession4 ,,xxvii4 ,first group4 ,with the roll at the base 7b1 ,fig4 ,,lxiii474 ,the chain of its succession is represented from #a to #f1 in ,plate ,,xv43 #a and #b are the steps already gained1 as in ,fig4 ,,lxiii42 and in them the profile of cornice used is a of ,plate ,,xv41 or a refined condition of b of ,fig4 ,v41 p4 #fi1 above4 ,now1 keeping the same refined profile1 substitute the condition of it1 f of ,fig4 ,v4 7and there accounted for71 above the roll here1 and you have #c1 ,plate ,,xv4 ,this superadded abacus was instantly felt to be harsh in its projecting angle2 but you know what to do with an angle when it is harsh4 ,use your simplest chamfer on it 7a or b1 ,fig4 ,,liii41 page #bhg1 above71 but on the visible side only1 and you have fig4 #d1 ,plate ,,xv4 7the top stone being made deeper that you may have room to chamfer it74 ,now this fig4 #d is the profile of ,lombardic and ,venetian early capitals and cornices1 by tens of thousands2 and it continues into the late ,venetian ,gothic1 with this only difference1 that as times advances1 the vertical line at the top of the original cornice begins to slope outwards1 and through a series of years rises like the hazel wand in the hand of a diviner3--but how slowly6 a stone dial which marches but #de degrees in three centuries1 and through the intermediate condition #e arrives at #f1 and so stays4 ,in tracing this chain ,i have kept all the profiles of the same height in order to make the comparison more easy2 the depth chosen is about intermediate between that which is customary in cornices on the one hand1 which are often a little shorter1 and capitals on the other1 which are often a little deeper4#hg ,and it is to be noted that the profiles #e and #f establish themselves in capitals chiefly1 while #d is retained in cornices to the latest times4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lxiv4 ,,xxviii4 ,second group 7c1 ,fig4 ,,lxiii474 ,if the lower angle1 which was quickly felt to be hard1 be rounded off1 we have the form a1 ,fig4 ,,lxiv4 ,the front of the curved line is then decorated1 as we have seen2 and the termination of the decorated surface marked by an incision1 as in an ordinary chamfer1 as at b here4 ,this ,i believe to have been the simple origin of most of the ,venetian ogee cornices2 but they are farther complicated by the curves given to the leafage which flows over them4 ,in the ordinary ,greek cornices1 and in a and d of ,plate ,,xvi41 the decoration is incised from the outside profile1 without any suggestion of an interior surface of a different contour4 ,but in the leaf cornices which follow1 the decoration is represented as overlaid on one of the early profiles1 and has another outside contour of its own2 which is1 indeed1 the true profile of the cornice1 but beneath which1 more or less1 the simpler profile is seen or suggested1 which terminates all the incisions of the chisel4 ,this under profile will often be found to be some condition of the type a or b1 ,fig4 ,,lxiv42 and the leaf profile to be another ogee with its fullest curve up instead of down1 lapping over the cornice edge above1 so that the entire profile might be considered as made up of two ogee curves laid1 like packed herrings1 head to tail4 ,figures #h and #i of ,plate ,,xv4 exemplify this arrangement4 ,fig4 #g is a heavier contour1 doubtless composed in the same manner1 but of which ,i had not marked the innermost profile1 and which ,i have given here only to complete the series which1 from #g to #ab inclusive1 exemplifies the gradual restriction of the leaf outline1 from its boldest projection in the cornice to its most modest service in the capital4 ,this change1 however1 is not one which indicates difference of age1 but merely of office and position3 the cornice #g is from the tomb of the ,doge ,andrea ,dandolo 7#acej7 in ,st4 ,mark's1 #h from a canopy over a door of about the same period1 #i from the tomb of the ,dogaressa ,agnese ,venier 7#adaa71 #aj from that of ,pietro ,cornaro 7#acfa71hh and #aa from that of ,andrea ,morosini 7#acdg71 all in the church of ,san ,giov4 and ,paola1 all these being cornice profiles2 and1 finally1 #ab from a capital of the ,ducal ,palace1 of fourteen century work4 ,,xxix4 ,now the reader will doubtless notice that in the three examples1 #aj to #ab1 the leaf has a different contour from that of #g1 #h1 or #i4 ,this difference is peculiarly significant4 ,i have always desired that the reader should theoretically consider the capital as a concentration of the cornice2 but in practice it often happens that the cornice is1 on the contrary1 an unrolled capital2 and one of the richest early forms of the ,byzantine cornice 7not given in ,plate ,,xv41 because its separate character and importance require examination apart7 is nothing more than an unrolled continuation of the lower range of acanthus leaves on the ,corinthian capital4 ,from this cornice others appear to have been derived1 like e in ,plate ,,xvi41 in which the acanthus outline has become confused with that of the honeysuckle1 and the rosette of the centre of the ,corinthian capital introduced between them2 and thus their forms approach more and more to those derived from the cornice itself4 ,now if the leaf has the contour of #aj1 #aa1 or #ab1 ,plate ,,xv41 the profile is either actually of a capital1 or of a cornice derived from a capital2 while1 if the leaf have the contour of #g or #h1 the profile is either actually of a cornice or of a capital derived from a cornice4 ,where the ,byzantines use the acanthus1 the ,lombards use the ,persepolitan water-leaf2 but the connection of the cornices and capitals is exactly the same4 ,,xxx4 ,thus far1 however1 we have considered the characters of profile which are common to the cornice and capital both4 ,we have now to note what farther decorative features or peculiarities belong to the capital itself1 or result from the theoretical gathering of the one into the other4 ,look back to ,fig4 ,,xxii41 p4 #aaj4 ,the five types there given1 represented the five different methods of concentration of the root of cornices1 a of ,fig4 ,v4 ,now1 as many profiles of cornices as were developed in ,plate ,,xv4 from this cornice root1 there represented by the dotted slope1 so many may be applied to each of the five types in ,fig4 ,,xxii41--applied simply in a and b1 but with farther modifications1 necessitated by their truncations or spurs1 in c1 d1 and e4 ,then1 these cornice profiles having been so applied in such length and slope as is proper for capitals1 the farther condition comes into effect described in ,chapter ,,ix4 ,,xxiv41 and any one of the cornices in ,plate ,,xv4 may become the abacus of a capital formed out of any other1 or out of itself4 ,the infinity of forms thus resultant cannot1 as may well be supposed1 be exhibited or catalogued in the space at present permitted to us3 but the reader1 once master of the principle1 will easily be able to investigate for himself the syntax of all examples that may occur to him1 and ,i shall only here1 as a kind of exercise1 put before him a few of those which he will meet with most frequently in his ,venetian inquiries1 or which illustrate points1 not hitherto touched upon1 in the disposition of the abacus4 ,,xxxi4 ,in ,plate ,,xvii4 the capital at the top1 on the left hand1 is the rudest possible gathering of the plain ,christian ,doric cornice1 d of ,plate ,,xv4 ,the shaft is octagonal1 and the capital is not cut to fit it1 but is square at the base2 and the curve of its profile projects on two of its sides more than on the other two1 so as to make the abacus oblong1 in order to carry an oblong mass of brickwork1 dividing one of the upper lights of a ,lombard campanile at ,milan4 ,the awkward stretching of the brickwork1 to do what the capital ought to have done1 is very remarkable4 ,there is here no second superimposed abacus4 ,,xxxii4 ,the figure on the right hand1 at the top1 shows the simple but perfect fulfilment of all the requirements in which the first example fails4 ,the mass of brickwork to be carried is exactly the same in size and shape2 but instead of being trusted to a single shaft1 it has two of smaller area 7compare ,chap4 ,,viii41 ,,xiii471 and all the expansion necessary is now gracefully attained by their united capitals1 hewn out of one stone4 ,take the section of these capitals through their angle1 and nothing can be simpler or purer2 it is composed of #b1 in ,plate ,,xv41 used for the capital itself1 with c of ,fig4 ,,lxiii4 used for the abacus2 the reader could hardly have a neater little bit of syntax for a first lesson4 ,if the section be taken through the side of the bell1 the capital profile is the root of cornices1 a of ,fig4 ,v41 with the added roll4 ,this capital is somewhat remarkable in having its sides perfectly straight1 some slight curvature being usual on so bold a scale2 but it is all the better as a first example1 the method of reduction being of order d1 in ,fig4 ,,xxii41 p4 #aaj1 and with a concave cut1 as in ,fig4 ,,xxi41 p4 #aji4 ,these two capitals are from the cloister of the duomo of ,verona4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,xvii4 ,,capitals ,,concave ,,group4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lxv4 ,,xxxiii4 ,the lowermost figure in ,plate ,,xvii4 represents an exquisitely finished example of the same type1 from ,st4 ,zeno of ,verona4 ,above1 at #b1 in ,plate ,,ii41 the plan of the shafts was given1 but ,i inadvertently reversed their position3 in comparing that plan with ,plate ,,xvii41 ,plate ,,ii4 must be held upside down4 ,the capitals1 with the band connecting them1 are all cut out of one block2 their profile is an adaptation of #d of ,plate ,,xv41 with a plain headstone superimposed4 ,this method of reduction is that of order d in ,fig4 ,,xxii41 but the peculiarity of treatment of their truncation is highly interesting4 ,fig4 ,,lxv4 represents the plans of the capitals at the base1 the shaded parts being the bells3 the open line1 the roll with its connecting band4 ,the bell of the one1 it will be seen1 is the exact reverse of that of the other3 the angle truncations are1 in both1 curved horizontally as well as uprightly2 but their curve is convex in the one1 and in the other concave4 ,plate ,,xvii4 will show the effect of both1 with the farther incisions1 to the same depth1 on the flank of the one with the concave truncation1 which join with the rest of its singularly bold and keen execution in giving the impression of its rather having been cloven into its form by the sweeps of a sword1 than by the dull travail of a chisel4 ,its workman was proud of it1 as well he might be3 he has written his name upon its front 7,i would that more of his fellows had been as kindly vain71 and the goodly stone proclaims for ever1 ,,adaminus ,,de ,,sancto ,,giorgio ,,me ,,fecit4 ,,xxxiv4 ,the reader will easily understand that the gracefulness of this kind of truncation1 as he sees it in ,plate ,,xvii41 soon suggested the idea of reducing it to a vegetable outline1 and laying four healing leaves1 as it were1 upon the wounds which the sword had made4 ,these four leaves1 on the truncations of the capital1 correspond to the four leaves which we saw1 in like manner1 extend themselves over the spurs of the base1 and1 as they increase in delicacy of execution1 form one of the most lovely groups of capitals which the ,gothic workmen ever invented2 represented by two perfect types in the capitals of the ,piazzetta columns of ,venice4 ,but this pure group is an isolated one2 it remains in the first simplicity of its conception far into the thirteenth century1 while around it rise up a crowd of other forms1 imitative of the old ,corinthian1 and in which other and younger leaves spring up in luxuriant growth among the primal four4 ,the varieties of their grouping we shall enumerate hereafter3 one general characteristic of them all must be noted here4 ,,xxxv4 ,the reader has been told repeatedly#hi that there are two1 and only two1 real orders of capitals1 originally represented by the ,corinthian and the ,doric2 and distinguished by the concave or convex contours of their bells1 as shown by the dotted lines at e1 ,fig4 ,v41 p4 #fe4 ,and hitherto1 respecting the capital1 we have been exclusively concerned with the methods in which these two families of simple contours have gathered themselves together1 and obtained reconciliation to the abacus above1 and the shaft below4 ,but the last paragraph introduces us to the surface ornament disposed upon these1 in the chiselling of which the characters described above1 ,,xxviii41 which are but feebly marked in the cornice1 boldly distinguish and divide the families of the capital4 ,,xxxvi4 ,whatever the nature of the ornament be1 it must clearly have relief of some kind1 and must present projecting surfaces separated by incisions4 ,but it is a very material question whether the contour1 hitherto broadly considered as that of the entire bell1 shall be that of the outside of the projecting and relieved ornaments1 or of the bottoms of the incisions which divide them2 whether1 that is to say1 we shall first cut out the bell of our capital quite smooth1 and then cut farther into it1 with incisions1 which shall leave ornamental forms in relief1 or whether1 in originally cutting the contour of the bell1 we shall leave projecting bits of stone1 which we may afterwards work into the relieved ornament4 ,,xxxvii4 ,now1 look back to ,fig4 ,v41 p4 #fe4 ,clearly1 if to ornament the already hollowed profile1 b1 we cut deep incisions into it1 we shall so far weaken it at the top1 that it will nearly lose all its supporting power4 ,clearly1 also1 if to ornament the already bulging profile c we were to leave projecting pieces of stone outside of it1 we should nearly destroy all its relation to the original sloping line ,x1 and produce an unseemly and ponderous mass1 hardly recognizable as a cornice profile4 ,it is evident1 on the other hand1 that we can afford to cut into this profile without fear of destroying its strength1 and that we can afford to leave projections outside of the other1 without fear of destroying its lightness4 ,such is1 accordingly1 the natural disposition of the sculpture1 and the two great families of capitals are therefore distinguished1 not merely by their concave and convex contours1 but by the ornamentation being left outside the bell of the one1 and cut into the bell of the other2 so that1 in either case1 the ornamental portions will fall between the dotted lines at e1 ,fig4 ,v41 and the pointed oval1 or vesica piscis1 which is traced by them1 may be called the ,limit of ornamentation4 ,,xxxviii4 ,several distinctions in the quantity and style of the ornament must instantly follow from this great distinction in its position4 ,first1 in its quantity4 ,for1 observe3 since in the ,doric profile1 c of ,fig4 ,v41 the contour itself is to be composed of the surface of the ornamentation1 this ornamentation must be close and united enough to form1 or at least suggest1 a continuous surface2 it must1 therefore1 be rich in quantity and close in aggregation2 otherwise it will destroy the massy character of the profile it adorns1 and approximate it to its opposite1 the concave4 ,on the other hand1 the ornament left projecting from the concave1 must be sparing enough1 and dispersed enough1 to allow the concave bell to be clearly seen beneath it2 otherwise it will choke up the concave profile1 and approximate it to its opposite1 the convex4 ,,xxxix4 ,and1 secondly1 in its style4 ,for1 clearly1 as the sculptor of the concave profile must leave masses of rough stone prepared for his outer ornament1 and cannot finish them at once1 but must complete the cutting of the smooth bell beneath first1 and then return to the projecting masses 7for if he were to finish these latter first1 they would assuredly1 if delicate or sharp1 be broken as he worked on2 since1 ,i say1 he must work in this foreseeing and predetermined method1 he is sure to reduce the system of his ornaments to some definite symmetrical order before he begins72 and the habit of conceiving beforehand all that he has to do1 will probably render him not only more orderly in its arrangement1 but more skilful and accurate in its execution1 than if he could finish all as he worked on4 ,on the other hand1 the sculptor of the convex profile has its smooth surface laid before him1 as a piece of paper on which he can sketch at his pleasure2 the incisions he makes in it are like touches of a dark pencil2 and he is at liberty to roam over the surface in perfect freedom1 with light incisions or with deep2 finishing here1 suggesting there1 or perhaps in places leaving the surface altogether smooth4 ,it is ten to one1 therefore1 but that1 if he yield to the temptation1 he becomes irregular in design1 and rude in handling2 and we shall assuredly find the two families of capitals distinguished1 the one by its symmetrical1 thoroughly organised1 and exquisitely executed ornament1 the other by its rambling1 confused1 and rudely chiselled ornament3 ,but1 on the other hand1 while we shall often have to admire the disciplined precision of the one1 and as often to regret the irregular rudeness of the other1 we shall not fail to find balancing qualities in both4 ,the severity of the disciplinarian capital represses the power of the imagination2 it gradually degenerates into ,formalism2 and the indolence which cannot escape from its stern demand of accurate workmanship1 seeks refuge in copyism of established forms1 and loses itself at last in lifeless mechanism4 ,the license of the other1 though often abused1 permits full exercise to the imagination3 the mind of the sculptor1 unshackled by the niceties of chiselling1 wanders over its orbed field in endless fantasy2 and1 when generous as well as powerful1 repays the liberty which has been granted to it with interest1 by developing through the utmost wildness and fulness of its thoughts1 an order as much more noble than the mechanical symmetry of the opponent school1 as the domain which it regulates is vaster4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,xviii4 ,,capitals ,,convex ,,group4 ,,xl4 ,and now the reader shall judge whether ,i had not reason to cast aside the so-called ,five orders of the ,renaissance architects1 with their volutes and fillets1 and to tell him that there were only two real orders1 and that there could never be more4#ij ,for we now find that these two great and real orders are representative of the two great influences which must for ever divide the heart of man3 the one of ,lawful ,discipline1 with its perfection and order1 but its danger of degeneracy into ,formalism2 the other of ,lawful ,freedom1 with its vigor and variety1 but its danger of degeneracy into ,licentiousness4 ,,xli4 ,i shall not attempt to give any illustrations here of the most elaborate developments of either order2 they will be better given on a larger scale3 but the examples in ,plate ,,xvii4 and ,,xviii4 represent the two methods of ornament in their earliest appliance4 ,the two lower capitals in ,plate ,,xvii4 are a pure type of the concave school2 the two in the centre of ,plate ,,xviii41 of the convex4 ,at the top of ,plate ,,xviii4 are two ,lombardic capitals2 that on the left from ,sta4 ,sofia at ,padua1 that on the right from the cortile of ,st4 ,ambrogio at ,milan4 ,they both have the concave angle truncation2 but being of date prior to the time when the idea of the concave bell was developed1 they are otherwise left square1 and decorated with the surface ornament characteristic of the convex school4 ,the relation of the designs to each other is interesting2 the cross being prominent in the centre of each1 but more richly relieved in that from ,st4 ,ambrogio4 ,the two beneath are from the southern portico of ,st4 ,mark's2 the shafts having been of different lengths1 and neither1 in all probability1 originally intended for their present place1 they have double abaci1 of which the uppermost is the cornice running round the whole faade4 ,the zigzagged capital is highly curious1 and in its place very effective and beautiful1 although one of the exceptions which it was above noticed that we should sometimes find to the law stated in ,,xv4 above4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lxvi4 ,,xlii4 ,the lower capital1 which is also of the true convex school1 exhibits one of the conditions of the spurred type1 e of ,fig4 ,,xxii41 respecting which one or two points must be noticed4 ,if we were to take up the plan of the simple spur1 represented at e in ,fig4 ,,xxii41 p4 #aaj1 and treat it1 with the salvia leaf1 as we did the spur of the base1 we should have for the head of our capital a plan like ,fig4 ,,lxvi41 which is actually that of one of the capitals of the ,fondaco de' ,turchi at ,venice2 with this only difference1 that the intermediate curves between the spurs would have been circular3 the reason they are not so1 here1 is that the decoration1 instead of being confined to the spur1 is now spread over the whole mass1 and contours are therefore given to the intermediate curves which fit them for this ornament2 the inside shaded space being the head of the shaft1 and the outer1 the abacus4 ,the reader has in ,fig4 ,,lxvi4 a characteristic type of the plans of the spurred capitals1 generally preferred by the sculptors of the convex school1 but treated with infinite variety1 the spurs often being cut into animal forms1 or the incisions between them multiplied1 for richer effect2 and in our own ,norman capital the type c of ,fig4 ,,xxii4 is variously subdivided by incisions on its slope1 approximating in general effect to many conditions of the real spurred type1 e1 but totally differing from them in principle4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lxvii4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lxviii4 ,,xliii4 ,the treatment of the spur in the concave school is far more complicated1 being borrowed in nearly every case from the original ,corinthian4 ,its plan may be generally represented by ,fig4 ,,lxvii4 ,the spur itself is carved into a curling tendril or concave leaf1 which supports the projecting angle of a four-sided abacus1 whose hollow sides fall back behind the bell1 and have generally a rosette or other ornament in their centres4 ,the medival architects often put another square abacus above all1 as represented by the shaded portion of ,fig4 ,,lxvii41 and some massy conditions of this form1 elaborately ornamented1 are very beautiful2 but it is apt to become rigid and effeminate1 as assuredly it is in the original ,corinthian1 which is thoroughly mean and meagre in its upper tendrils and abacus4 ,,xliv4 ,the lowest capital in ,plate ,,xviii4 is from ,st4 ,mark's1 and singular in having double spurs2 it is therefore to be compared with the doubly spurred base1 also from ,st ,mark's1 in ,plate ,,xi4 ,in other respects it is a good example of the union of breadth of mass with subtlety of curvature1 which characterises nearly all the spurred capitals of the convex school4 ,its plan is given in ,fig4 ,,lxviii43 the inner shaded circle is the head of the shaft2 the white cross1 the bottom of the capital1 which expands itself into the external shaded portions at the top4 ,each spur1 thus formed1 is cut like a ship's bow1 with the ,doric profile2 the surfaces so obtained are then charged with arborescent ornament4 ,,xlv4 ,i shall not here farther exemplify the conditions of the treatment of the spur1 because ,i am afraid of confusing the reader's mind1 and diminishing the distinctness of his conception of the differences between the two great orders1 which it has been my principal object to develope throughout this chapter4 ,if all my readers lived in ,london1 ,i could at once fix this difference in their minds by a simple1 yet somewhat curious illustration4 ,in many parts of the west end of ,london1 as1 for instance1 at the corners of ,belgrave ,square1 and the north side of ,grosvenor ,square1 the ,corinthian capitals of newly-built houses are put into cages of wire4 ,the wire cage is the exact form of the typical capital of the convex school2 the ,corinthian capital1 within1 is a finished and highly decorated example of the concave4 ,the space between the cage and capital is the limit of ornamentation4 ,,xlvi4 ,those of my readers1 however1 to whom this illustration is inaccessible1 must be content with the two profiles1 #ac and #ad1 on ,plate ,,xv4 ,if they will glance along the line of sections from #a to #f1 they will see that the profile #ac is their final development1 with a superadded cornice for its abacus4 ,it is taken from a capital in a very important ruin of a palace1 near the ,rialto of ,venice1 and hereafter to be described2 the projection1 outside of its principal curve1 is the profile of its superadded leaf ornamentation2 it may be taken as one of the simplest1 yet a perfect type of the concave group4 ,,xlvii4 ,the profile #ad is that of the capital of the main shaft of the northern portico of ,st4 ,mark's1 the most finished example ,i ever met with of the convex family1 to which1 in spite of the central inward bend of its profile1 it is marked as distinctly belonging1 by the bold convex curve at its root1 springing from the shaft in the line of the ,christian ,doric cornice1 and exactly reversing the structure of the other profile1 which rises from the shaft1 like a palm leaf from its stem4 ,farther1 in the profile #ac1 the innermost line is that of the bell2 but in the profile #ad1 the outermost line is that of the bell1 and the inner line is the limit of the incisions of the chisel1 in undercutting a reticulated veil of ornament1 surrounding a flower like a lily2 most ingeniously1 and1 ,i hope1 justly1 conjectured by the ,marchese ,selvatico to have been intended for an imitation of the capitals of the temple of ,solomon1 which ,hiram made1 with nets of checker work1 and wreaths of chain work for the chapiters that were on the top of the pillars 444 and the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch4 7#a ,kings1 vii4 #ag1 #ai47 ,,xlviii4 ,on this exquisite capital there is imposed an abacus of the profile with which we began our investigation long ago1 the profile a of ,fig4 ,v4 ,this abacus is formed by the cornice already given1 a1 of ,plate ,,xvi43 and therefore we have1 in this lovely ,venetian capital1 the summary of the results of our investigation1 from its beginning to its close3 the type of the first cornice2 the decoration of it1 in its emergence from the classical models2 the gathering into the capital2 the superimposition of the secondary cornice1 and the refinement of the bell of the capital by triple curvature in the two limits of chiselling4 ,i cannot express the exquisite refinements of the curves on the small scale of ,plate ,,xv42 ,i will give them more accurately in a larger engraving2 but the scale on which they are here given will not prevent the reader from perceiving1 and let him note it thoughtfully1 that the outer curve of the noble capital is the one which was our first example of associated curves2 that ,i have had no need1 throughout the whole of our inquiry1 to refer to any other ornamental line than the three which ,i at first chose1 the simplest of those which ,nature set by chance before me2 and that this lily1 of the delicate ,venetian marble1 has but been wrought1 by the highest human art1 into the same line which the clouds disclose1 when they break from the rough rocks of the flank of the ,matterhorn4 ,,footnotes3 #hd ,in very early ,doric it was an absolute right line2 and that capital is therefore derived from the pure cornice root1 represented by the dotted line4 #he ,the word banded is used by ,professor ,willis in a different sense2 which ,i would respect1 by applying it in his sense always to the ,impost1 and in mine to the capital itself4 7,this note is not for the general reader1 who need not trouble himself about the matter47 #hf ,the ,renaissance period being one of return to formalism on the one side1 of utter licentiousness on the other1 so that sometimes1 as here1 ,i have to declare its lifelessness1 at other times 7,chap4 ,,xxv41 ,,xvii47 its lasciviousness4 ,there is1 of course1 no contradiction in this3 but the reader might well ask how ,i knew the change from the base #aa to the base #ab1 in ,plate ,,xii41 to be one from temperance to luxury2 and from the cornice f to the cornice g1 in ,plate ,,xvi41 to be one from formalism to vitality4 ,i know it1 both by certain internal evidences1 on which ,i shall have to dwell at length hereafter1 and by the context of the works of the time4 ,but the outward signs might in both ornaments be the same1 distinguishable only as signs of opposite tendencies by the event of both4 ,the blush of shame cannot always be told from the blush of indignation4 #hg ,the reader must always remember that a cornice1 in becoming a capital1 must1 if not originally bold and deep1 have depth added to its profile1 in order to reach the just proportion of the lower member of the shaft head2 and that therefore the small ,greek egg cornices are utterly incapable of becoming capitals till they have totally changed their form and depth4 ,the ,renaissance architects1 who never obtained hold of a right principle but they made it worse than a wrong one by misapplication1 caught the idea of turning the cornice into a capital1 but did not comprehend the necessity of the accompanying change of depth4 ,hence we have pilaster heads formed of small egg cornices1 and that meanest of all mean heads of shafts1 the coarse ,roman ,doric profile chopped into a small egg and arrow moulding1 both which may be seen disfiguring half the buildings in ,london4 #hh ,i have taken these dates roughly from ,selvatico2 their absolute accuracy to within a year or two1 is here of no importance4 #hi ,chap4 ,i4 ,,xix41 ,appendix #g3 and ,chap4 ,,vi4 ,v4 #ij ,chap4 ,i41 ,,xix4 ,,chapter ,,xxviii4 ,,the ,,archivolt ,,and ,,aperture4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,xix4 ,,archivolt ,,decoration4 ,,at ,,verona4 ,i4 ,if the windows and doors of some of our best northern ,gothic buildings were built up1 and the ornament of their archivolts concealed1 there would often remain little but masses of dead wall and unsightly buttress2 the whole vitality of the building consisting in the graceful proportions or rich mouldings of its apertures4 ,it is not so in the south1 where1 frequently1 the aperture is a mere dark spot on the variegated wall2 but there the column1 with its horizontal or curved architrave1 assumes an importance of another kind1 equally dependent upon the methods of lintel and archivolt decoration4 ,these1 though in their richness of minor variety they defy all exemplification1 may be very broadly generalized4 ,of the mere lintel1 indeed1 there is no specific decoration1 nor can be2 it has no organism to direct its ornament1 and therefore may receive any kind and degree of ornament1 according to its position4 ,in a ,greek temple1 it has meagre horizontal lines2 in a ,romanesque church1 it becomes a row of upright niches1 with an apostle in each2 and may become anything else at the architect's will4 ,but the arch head has a natural organism1 which separates its ornament into distinct families1 broadly definable4 ,,ii4 ,in speaking of the arch-line and arch masonry1 we considered the arch to be cut straight through the wall2 so that1 if half built1 it would have the appearance at a1 ,fig4 ,,lxix4 ,but in the chapter on ,form of ,apertures1 we found that the side of the arch1 or jamb of the aperture1 might often require to be bevelled1 so as to give the section b1 ,fig4 ,,lxix4 ,it is easily conceivable that when two ranges of voussoirs were used1 one over another1 it would be easier to leave those beneath1 of a smaller diameter1 than to bevel them to accurate junction with those outside4 ,whether influenced by this facility1 or by decorative instinct1 the early northern builders often substitute for the bevel the third condition1 c1 of ,fig4 ,,lxix42 so that1 of the three forms in that figure1 a belongs principally to the south1 c to the north1 and b indifferently to both4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lxix4 ,,iii4 ,if the arch in the northern building be very deep1 its depth will probably be attained by a succession of steps1 like that in c2 and the richest results of northern archivolt decoration are entirely based on the aggregation of the ornament of these several steps2 while those of the south are only the complete finish and perfection of the ornament of one4 ,in this ornament of the single arch1 the points for general note are very few4 ,,iv4 ,it was1 in the first instance1 derived from the classical architrave1#ia and the early ,romanesque arches are nothing but such an architrave1 bent round4 ,the horizontal lines of the latter become semicircular1 but their importance and value remain exactly the same2 their continuity is preserved across all the voussoirs1 and the joints and functions of the latter are studiously concealed4 ,as the builders get accustomed to the arch1 and love it better1 they cease to be ashamed of its structure3 the voussoirs begin to show themselves confidently1 and fight for precedence with the architrave lines2 and there is an entanglement of the two structures1 in consequence1 like the circular and radiating lines of a cobweb1 until at last the architrave lines get worsted1 and driven away outside of the voussoirs2 being permitted to stay at all only on condition of their dressing themselves in medival costume1 as in the plate opposite4 ,v4 ,in other cases1 however1 before the entire discomfiture of the architrave1 a treaty of peace is signed between the adverse parties on these terms3 ,that the architrave shall entirely dismiss its inner three meagre lines1 and leave the space of them to the voussoirs1 to display themselves after their manner2 but that1 in return for this concession1 the architrave shall have leave to expand the small cornice which usually terminates it 7the reader had better look at the original form in that of the ,erechtheum1 in the middle of the ,elgin room of the ,british ,museum7 into bolder prominence1 and even to put brackets under it1 as if it were a roof cornice1 and thus mark with a bold shadow the terminal line of the voussoirs4 ,this condition is seen in the arch from ,st4 ,pietro of ,pistoja1 ,plate ,,xiii41 above4 ,,vi4 ,if the ,gothic spirit of the building be thoroughly determined1 and victorious1 the architrave cornice is compelled to relinquish its classical form1 and take the profile of a ,gothic cornice or dripstone2 while1 in other cases1 as in much of the ,gothic of ,verona1 it is forced to disappear altogether4 ,but the voussoirs then concede1 on the other hand1 so much of their dignity as to receive a running ornament of foliage or animals1 like a classical frieze1 and continuous round the arch4 ,in fact1 the contest between the adversaries may be seen running through all the early architecture of ,italy3 success inclining sometimes to the one1 sometimes to the other1 and various kinds of truce or reconciliation being effected between them3 sometimes merely formal1 sometimes honest and affectionate1 but with no regular succession in time4 ,the greatest victory of the voussoir is to annihilate the cornice1 and receive an ornament of its own outline1 and entirely limited by its own joints3 and yet this may be seen in the very early apse of ,murano4 ,,vii4 ,the most usual condition1 however1 is that unity of the two members above described1 ,v41 and which may be generally represented by the archivolt section a1 ,fig4 ,,lxx42 and from this descend a family of ,gothic archivolts of the highest importance4 ,for the cornice1 thus attached to the arch1 suffers exactly the same changes as the level cornice1 or capital2 receives1 in due time1 its elaborate ogee profile and leaf ornaments1 like ,fig4 #h or #i of ,plate ,,xv42 and1 when the shaft loses its shape1 and is lost in the later ,gothic jamb1 the archivolt has influence enough to introduce this ogee profile in the jamb also1 through the banded impost3 and we immediately find ourselves involved in deep successions of ogee mouldings in sides of doors and windows1 which never would have been thought of1 but for the obstinate resistance of the classical architrave to the attempts of the voussoir at its degradation or banishment4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lxx4 ,,viii4 ,this1 then1 will be the first great head under which we shall in future find it convenient to arrange a large number of archivolt decorations4 ,it is the distinctively ,southern and ,byzantine form1 and typically represented by the section a1 of ,fig4 ,,lxx42 and it is susceptible of almost every species of surface ornament1 respecting which only this general law may be asserted3 that1 while the outside or vertical surface may properly be decorated1 and yet the soffit or under surface left plain1 the soffit is never to be decorated1 and the outer surface left plain4 ,much beautiful sculpture is1 in the best ,byzantine buildings1 half lost by being put under soffits2 but the eye is led to discover it1 and even to demand it1 by the rich chasing of the outside of the voussoirs4 ,it would have been an hypocrisy to carve them externally only4 ,but there is not the smallest excuse for carving the soffit1 and not the outside2 for1 in that case1 we approach the building under the idea of its being perfectly plain2 we do not look for the soffit decoration1 and1 of course1 do not see it3 or1 if we do1 it is merely to regret that it should not be in a better place4 ,in the ,renaissance architects1 it may1 perhaps1 for once1 be considered a merit1 that they put their bad decoration systematically in the places where we should least expect it1 and can seldomest see it3--,approaching the ,scuola di ,san ,rocco1 you probably will regret the extreme plainness and barrenness of the window traceries2 but1 if you will go very close to the wall beneath the windows1 you may1 on sunny days1 discover a quantity of panel decorations which the ingenious architect has concealed under the soffits4 ,the custom of decorating the arch soffit with panelling is a ,roman application of the ,greek roof ornament1 which1 whatever its intrinsic merit 7compare ,chap4 ,,xxix4 ,,iv471 may rationally be applied to waggon vaults1 as of ,st4 ,peter's1 and to arch soffits under which one walks4 ,but the ,renaissance architects had not wit enough to reflect that people usually do not walk through windows4 ,,ix4 ,so far1 then1 of the ,southern archivolt3 ,in ,fig4 ,,lxix41 above1 it will be remembered that c represents the simplest form of the ,northern4 ,in the farther development of this1 which we have next to consider1 the voussoirs1 in consequence of their own negligence or over-confidence1 sustain a total and irrecoverable defeat4 ,that archivolt is in its earliest conditions perfectly pure and undecorated1--the simplest and rudest of ,gothic forms4 ,necessarily1 when it falls on the pier1 and meets that of the opposite arch1 the entire section of masonry is in the shape of a cross1 and is carried by the crosslet shaft1 which we above stated to be distinctive of ,northern design4 ,i am more at a loss to account for the sudden and fixed development of this type of archivolt than for any other architectural transition with which ,i am acquainted4 ,but there it is1 pure and firmly established1 as early as the building of ,st4 ,michele of ,pavia2 and we have thenceforward only to observe what comes of it4 ,x4 ,we find it first1 as ,i said1 perfectly barren2 cornice and architrave altogether ignored1 the existence of such things practically denied1 and a plain1 deep-cut recess with a single mighty shadow occupying their place4 ,the voussoirs1 thinking their great adversary utterly defeated1 are at no trouble to show themselves2 visible enough in both the upper and under archivolts1 they are content to wait the time when1 as might have been hoped1 they should receive a new decoration peculiar to themselves4 ,,xi4 ,in this state of paralysis1 or expectation1 their flank is turned by an insidious chamfer4 ,the edges of the two great blank archivolts are felt to be painfully conspicuous2 all the four are at once beaded or chamfered1 as at b1 ,fig4 ,,lxx42 a rich group of deep lines1 running concentrically with the arch1 is the result on the instant1 and the fate of the voussoirs is sealed4 ,they surrender at once without a struggle1 and unconditionally2 the chamfers deepen and multiply themselves1 cover the soffit1 ally themselves with other forms resulting from grouped shafts or traceries1 and settle into the inextricable richness of the fully developed ,gothic jamb and arch2 farther complicated in the end by the addition of niches to their recesses1 as above described4 ,,xii4 ,the voussoirs1 in despair1 go over to the classical camp1 in hope of receiving some help or tolerance from their former enemies4 ,they receive it indeed3 but as traitors should1 to their own eternal dishonor4 ,they are sharply chiselled at the joints1 or rusticated1 or cut into masks and satyrs' heads1 and so set forth and pilloried in the various detestable forms of which the simplest is given above in ,plate ,,xiii4 7on the left72 and others may be seen in nearly every large building in ,london1 more especially in the bridges2 and1 as if in pure spite at the treatment they had received from the archivolt1 they are now not content with vigorously showing their lateral joints1 but shape themselves into right-angled steps at their heads1 cutting to pieces their limiting line1 which otherwise would have had sympathy with that of the arch1 and fitting themselves to their new friend1 the ,renaissance ,ruled ,copy-book wall4 ,it had been better they had died ten times over1 in their own ancient cause1 than thus prolonged their existence4 ,,xiii4 ,we bid them farewell in their dishonor1 to return to our victorious chamfer4 ,it had not1 we said1 obtained so easy a conquest1 unless by the help of certain forms of the grouped shaft4 ,the chamfer was quite enough to decorate the archivolts1 if there were no more than two2 but if1 as above noticed in ,,iii41 the archivolt was very deep1 and composed of a succession of such steps1 the multitude of chamferings were felt to be weak and insipid1 and instead of dealing with the outside edges of the archivolts1 the group was softened by introducing solid shafts in their dark inner angles4 ,this1 the manliest and best condition of the early northern jamb and archivolt1 is represented in section at fig4 #ab of ,plate ,,ii42 and its simplest aspect in ,plate ,v41 from the ,broletto of ,como1--an interesting example1 because there the voussoirs being in the midst of their above-described southern contest with the architrave1 were better prepared for the flank attack upon them by the shaft and chamfer1 and make a noble resistance1 with the help of color1 in which even the shaft itself gets slightly worsted1 and cut across in several places1 like ,general ,zach's column at ,marengo4 ,,xiv4 ,the shaft1 however1 rapidly rallies1 and brings up its own peculiar decorations to its aid2 and the intermediate archivolts receive running or panelled ornaments1 also1 until we reach the exquisitely rich conditions of our own ,norman archivolts1 and of the parallel ,lombardic designs1 such as the entrance of the ,duomo1 and of ,san ,fermo1 at ,verona4 ,this change1 however1 occupies little time1 and takes place principally in doorways1 owing to the greater thickness of wall1 and depth of archivolt2 so that we find the rich shafted succession of ornament1 in the doorway and window aperture1 associated with the earliest and rudest double archivolt1 in the nave arches1 at ,st4 ,michele of ,pavia4 ,the nave arches1 therefore1 are most usually treated by the chamfer1 and the voussoirs are there defeated much sooner than by the shafted arrangements1 which they resist1 as we saw1 in the south by color2 and even in the north1 though forced out of their own shape1 they take that of birds' or monsters' heads1 which for some time peck and pinch the rolls of the archivolt to their hearts' content2 while the ,norman zigzag ornament allies itself with them1 each zigzag often restraining itself amicably between the joints of each voussoir in the ruder work1 and even in the highly finished arches1 distinctly presenting a concentric or sunlike arrangement of lines2 so much so1 as to prompt the conjecture1 above stated1 ,chap4 ,,xx4 ,,xxvi41 that all such ornaments were intended to be typical of light issuing from the orb of the arch4 ,i doubt the intention1 but acknowledge the resemblance2 which perhaps goes far to account for the never-failing delightfulness of this zigzag decoration4 ,the diminution of the zigzag1 as it gradually shares the defeat of the voussoir1 and is at last overwhelmed by the complicated1 railroad-like fluency of the later ,gothic mouldings1 is to me one of the saddest sights in the drama of architecture4 ,,xv4 ,one farther circumstance is deserving of especial note in ,plate ,v41 the greater depth of the voussoirs at the top of the arch4 ,this has been above alluded to as a feature of good construction1 ,chap4 ,,xi41 ,,iii42 it is to be noted now as one still more valuable in decoration3 for when we arrive at the deep succession of concentric archivolts1 with which northern portals1 and many of the associated windows1 are headed1 we immediately find a difficulty in reconciling the outer curve with the inner4 ,if1 as is sometimes the case1 the width of the group of archivolts be twice or three times that of the inner aperture1 the inner arch may be distinctly pointed1 and the outer one1 if drawn with concentric arcs1 approximate very nearly to a round arch4 ,this is actually the case in the later ,gothic of ,verona2 the outer line of the archivolt having a hardly perceptible point1 and every inner arch of course forming the point more distinctly1 till the innermost becomes a lancet4 ,by far the nobler method1 however1 is that of the pure early ,italian ,gothic2 to make every outer arch a magnified fac-simile of the innermost one1 every arc including the same number of degrees1 but degrees of a larger circle4 ,the result is the condition represented in ,plate ,v41 often found in far bolder development2 exquisitely springy and elastic in its expression1 and entirely free from the heaviness and monotony of the deep northern archivolts4 ,,xvi4 ,we have not spoken of the intermediate form1 b1 of ,fig4 ,,lxix4 7which its convenience for admission of light has rendered common in nearly all architectures71 because it has no transitions peculiar to itself3 in the north it sometimes shares the fate of the outer architrave1 and is channelled into longitudinal mouldings2 sometimes remains smooth and massy1 as in military architecture1 or in the simpler forms of domestic and ecclesiastical4 ,in ,italy it receives surface decoration like the architrave1 but has1 perhaps1 something of peculiar expression in being placed between the tracery of the window within1 and its shafts and tabernacle work without1 as in the ,duomo of ,florence3 in this position it is always kept smooth in surface1 and inlaid 7or painted7 with delicate arabesques2 while the tracery and the tabernacle work are richly sculptured4 ,the example of its treatment by colored voussoirs1 given in ,plate ,,xix41 may be useful to the reader as a kind of central expression of the aperture decoration of the pure ,italian ,gothic2--aperture decoration proper2 applying no shaft work to the jambs1 but leaving the bevelled opening unenriched2 using on the outer archivolt the voussoirs and concentric architrave in reconcilement 7the latter having1 however1 some connection with the ,norman zigzag72 and beneath them1 the pure ,italian two-pieced and mid-cusped arch1 with rich cusp decoration4 ,it is a ,veronese arch1 probably of the thirteenth century1 and finished with extreme care2 the red portions are all in brick1 delicately cast3 and the most remarkable feature of the whole is the small piece of brick inlaid on the angle of each stone voussoir1 with a most just feeling1 which every artist will at once understand1 that the color ought not to be let go all at once4 ,,xvii4 ,we have traced the various conditions of treatment in the archivolt alone2 but1 except in what has been said of the peculiar expression of the voussoirs1 we might throughout have spoken in the same terms of the jamb4 ,even a parallel to the expression of the voussoir may be found in the ,lombardic and ,norman divisions of the shafts1 by zigzags and other transverse ornamentation1 which in the end are all swept away by the canaliculated mouldings4 ,then1 in the recesses of these and of the archivolts alike1 the niche and statue decoration develops itself2 and the vaulted and cavernous apertures are covered with incrustations of fretwork1 and with every various application of foliage to their fantastic mouldings4 ,,xviii4 ,i have kept the inquiry into the proper ornament of the archivolt wholly free from all confusion with the questions of beauty in tracery2 for1 in fact1 all tracery is a mere multiplication and entanglement of small archivolts1 and its cusp ornament is a minor condition of that proper to the spandril4 ,it does not reach its completely defined form until the jamb and archivolt have been divided into longitudinal mouldings2 and then the tracery is formed by the innermost group of the shafts or fillets1 bent into whatever forms or foliations the designer may choose2 but this with a delicacy of adaptation which ,i rather choose to illustrate by particular examples1 of which we shall meet with many in the course of our inquiry1 than to delay the reader by specifying here4 ,as for the conditions of beauty in the disposition of the tracery bars1 ,i see no hope of dealing with the subject fairly but by devoting1 if ,i can find time1 a separate essay to it--which1 in itself1 need not be long1 but would involve1 before it could be completed1 the examination of the whole mass of materials lately collected by the indefatigable industry of the ,english architects who have devoted their special attention to this subject1 and which are of the highest value as illustrating the chronological succession or mechanical structure of tracery1 but which1 in most cases1 touch on their sthetic merits incidentally only4 ,of works of this kind1 by far the best ,i have met with is ,mr4 ,edmund ,sharpe's1 on ,decorated ,windows1 which seems to me1 as far as a cursory glance can enable me to judge1 to exhaust the subject as respects ,english ,gothic2 and which may be recommended to the readers who are interested in the subject1 as containing a clear and masterly enunciation of the general principles by which the design of tracery has been regulated1 from its first development to its final degradation4 ,,footnotes3 #ia ,the architrave is properly the horizontal piece of stone laid across the tops of the pillars in ,greek buildings1 and commonly marked with horizontal lines1 obtained by slight projections of its surface1 while it is protected above in the richer orders1 by a small cornice4 ,,chapter ,,xxix4 ,,the ,,roof4 ,i4 ,the modes of decoration hitherto considered1 have been common to the exteriors and interiors of all noble buildings2 and we have taken no notice of the various kinds of ornament which require protection from weather1 and are necessarily confined to interior work4 ,but in the case of the roof1 the exterior and interior treatments become1 as we saw in construction1 so also in decoration1 separated by broad and bold distinctions4 ,one side of a wall is1 in most cases1 the same as another1 and if its structure be concealed1 it is mostly on the inside2 but1 in the roof1 the anatomical structure1 out of which decoration should naturally spring1 is visible1 if at all1 in the interior only3 so that the subject of internal ornament becomes both wide and important1 and that of external1 comparatively subordinate4 ,,ii4 ,now1 so long as we were concerned principally with the outside of buildings1 we might with safety leave expressional character out of the question for the time1 because it is not to be expected that all persons who pass the building1 or see it from a distance1 shall be in the temper which the building is properly intended to induce2 so that ornaments somewhat at variance with this temper may often be employed externally without painful effect4 ,but these ornaments would be inadmissible in the interior1 for those who enter will for the most part either be in the proper temper which the building requires1 or desirous of acquiring it4 7,the distinction is not rigidly observed by the medival builders1 and grotesques1 or profane subjects1 occur in the interior of churches1 in bosses1 crockets1 capitals1 brackets1 and such other portions of minor ornament3 but we do not find the interior wall covered with hunting and battle pieces1 as often the ,lombardic exteriors47 ,and thus the interior expression of the roof or ceiling becomes necessarily so various1 and the kind and degree of fitting decoration so dependent upon particular circumstances1 that it is nearly impossible to classify its methods1 or limit its application4 ,,iii4 ,i have little1 therefore1 to say here1 and that touching rather the omission than the selection of decoration1 as far as regards interior roofing4 ,whether of timber or stone1 roofs are necessarily divided into surfaces1 and ribs or beams2--surfaces1 flat or carved2 ribs1 traversing these in the directions where main strength is required2 or beams1 filling the hollow of the dark gable with the intricate roof-tree1 or supporting the flat ceiling4 ,wherever the ribs and beams are simply and unaffectedly arranged1 there is no difficulty about decoration2 the beams may be carved1 the ribs moulded1 and the eye is satisfied at once2 but when the vaulting is unribbed1 as in plain waggon vaults and much excellent early ,gothic1 or when the ceiling is flat1 it becomes a difficult question how far their services may receive ornamentation independent of their structure4 ,i have never myself seen a flat ceiling satisfactorily decorated1 except by painting3 there is much good and fanciful panelling in old ,english domestic architecture1 but it always is in some degree meaningless and mean4 ,the flat ceilings of ,venice1 as in the ,scuola di ,san ,rocco and ,ducal ,palace1 have in their vast panellings some of the noblest paintings 7on stretched canvas7 which the world possesses3 and this is all very well for the ceiling2 but one would rather have the painting in a better place1 especially when the rain soaks through its canvas1 as ,i have seen it doing through many a noble ,tintoret4 ,on the whole1 flat ceilings are as much to be avoided as possible2 and1 when necessary1 perhaps a panelled ornamentation with rich colored patterns is the most satisfying1 and loses least of valuable labor4 ,but ,i leave the question to the reader's thought1 being myself exceedingly undecided respecting it3 except only touching one point--that a blank ceiling is not to be redeemed by a decorated ventilator4 ,,iv4 ,i have a more confirmed opinion1 however1 respecting the decoration of curved surfaces4 ,the majesty of a roof is never1 ,i think1 so great1 as when the eye can pass undisturbed over the course of all its curvatures1 and trace the dying of the shadows along its smooth and sweeping vaults4 ,and ,i would rather1 myself1 have a plain ridged ,gothic vault1 with all its rough stones visible1 to keep the sleet and wind out of a cathedral aisle1 than all the fanning and pendanting and foliation that ever bewildered ,tudor weight4 ,but mosaic or fresco may of course be used as far as we can afford or obtain them2 for these do not break the curvature4 ,perhaps the most solemn roofs in the world are the apse conchas of the ,romanesque basilicas1 with their golden ground and severe figures4 ,exactly opposed to these are the decorations which disturb the serenity of the curve without giving it interest1 like the vulgar panelling of ,st4 ,peter's and the ,pantheon2 both1 ,i think1 in the last degree detestable4 ,v4 ,as roofs internally may be divided into surfaces and ribs1 externally they may be divided into surfaces1 and points1 or ridges2 these latter often receiving very bold and distinctive ornament4 ,the outside surface is of small importance in central ,europe1 being almost universally low in slope1 and tiled throughout ,spain1 ,south ,france1 and ,north ,italy3 of still less importance where it is flat1 as a terrace2 as often in ,south ,italy and the ,east1 mingled with low domes3 but the larger ,eastern and ,arabian domes become elaborate in ornamentation3 ,i cannot speak of them with confidence2 to the mind of an inhabitant of the north1 a roof is a guard against wild weather2 not a surface which is forever to bask in serene heat1 and gleam across deserts like a rising moon4 ,i can only say1 that ,i have never seen any drawing of a richly decorated ,eastern dome that made me desire to see the original4 ,,vi4 ,our own northern roof decoration is necessarily simple4 ,colored tiles are used in some cases with quaint effect2 but ,i believe the dignity of the building is always greater when the roof is kept in an undisturbed mass1 opposing itself to the variegation and richness of the walls4 ,the ,italian round tile is itself decoration enough1 a deep and rich fluting1 which all artists delight in2 this1 however1 is fitted exclusively for low pitch of roofs4 ,on steep domestic roofs1 there is no ornament better than may be obtained by merely rounding1 or cutting to an angle1 the lower extremities of the flat tiles or shingles1 as in ,switzerland3 thus the whole surface is covered with an appearance of scales1 a fish-like defence against water1 at once perfectly simple1 natural1 and effective at any distance2 and the best decoration of sloping stone roofs1 as of spires1 is a mere copy of this scale armor2 it enriches every one of the spires and pinnacles of the cathedral of ,coutances1 and of many ,norman and early ,gothic buildings4 ,roofs covered or edged with lead have often patterns designed upon the lead1 gilded and relieved with some dark color1 as on the house of ,jaques ,coeur at ,bourges2 and ,i imagine the effect of this must have been singularly delicate and beautiful1 but only traces of it now remain4 ,the northern roofs1 however1 generally stand in little need of surface decoration1 the eye being drawn to the fantastic ranges of their dormer windows1 and to the finials and fringes on their points and ridges4 ,,vii4 ,whether dormer windows are legitimately to be classed as decorative features1 seems to me to admit of doubt4 ,the northern spire system is evidently a mere elevation and exaggeration of the domestic turret with its look-out windows1 and one can hardly part with the grotesque lines of the projections1 though nobody is to be expected to live in the spire3 but1 at all events1 such windows are never to be allowed in places visibly inaccessible1 or on less than a natural and serviceable scale4 ,,viii4 ,under the general head of roof-ridge and point decoration1 we may include1 as above noted1 the entire race of fringes1 finials1 and crockets4 ,as there is no use in any of these things1 and as they are visible additions and parasitical portions of the structure1 more caution is required in their use than in any other features of ornament1 and the architect and spectator must both be in felicitous humor before they can be well designed or thoroughly enjoyed4 ,they are generally most admirable where the grotesque ,northern spirit has most power2 and ,i think there is almost always a certain spirit of playfulness in them1 adverse to the grandest architectural effects1 or at least to be kept in severe subordination to the serener character of the prevalent lines4 ,but as they are opposed to the seriousness of majesty on the one hand1 so they are to the weight of dulness on the other2 and ,i know not any features which make the contrast between continental domestic architecture1 and our own1 more humiliatingly felt1 or which give so sudden a feeling of new life and delight1 when we pass from the streets of ,london to those of ,abbeville or ,rouen1 as the quaint points and pinnacles of the roof gables and turrets4 ,the commonest and heaviest roof may be redeemed by a spike at the end of it1 if it is set on with any spirit2 but the foreign builders have 7or had1 at least7 a peculiar feeling in this1 and gave animation to the whole roof by the fringe of its back1 and the spike on its forehead1 so that all goes together1 like the dorsal fins and spines of a fish3 but our spikes have a dull1 screwed on1 look2 a far-off relationship to the nuts of machinery2 and our roof fringes are sure to look like fenders1 as if they were meant to catch ashes out of the ,london smoke-clouds4 ,,ix4 ,stone finials and crockets are1 ,i think1 to be considered in architecture1 what points and flashes of light are in the color of painting1 or of nature4 ,there are some landscapes whose best character is sparkling1 and there is a possibility of repose in the midst of brilliancy1 or embracing it1--as on the fields of summer sea1 or summer land3 ,calm1 and deep peace1 on this high wold1 ,and on the dews that drench the furze1 ,and on the silvery gossamers1 ,that twinkle into green and gold4 ,and there are colorists who can keep their quiet in the midst of a jewellery of light2 but1 for the most part1 it is better to avoid breaking up either lines or masses by too many points1 and to make the few points used exceedingly precious4 ,so the best crockets and finials are set1 like stars1 along the lines1 and at the points1 which they adorn1 with considerable intervals between them1 and exquisite delicacy and fancy of sculpture in their own designs2 if very small1 they may become more frequent1 and describe lines by a chain of points2 but their whole value is lost if they are gathered into bunches or clustered into tassels and knots2 and an over-indulgence in them always marks lowness of school4 ,in ,venice1 the addition of the finial to the arch-head is the first sign of degradation2 all her best architecture is entirely without either crockets or finials2 and her ecclesiastical architecture may be classed1 with fearless accuracy1 as better or worse1 in proportion to the diminution or expansion of the crocket4 ,the absolutely perfect use of the crocket is found1 ,i think1 in the tower of ,giotto1 and in some other buildings of the ,pisan school4 ,in the ,north they generally err on one side or other1 and are either florid and huge1 or mean in outline1 looking as if they had been pinched out of the stonework1 as throughout the entire cathedral of ,amiens2 and are besides connected with the generally spotty system which has been spoken of under the head of archivolt decoration4 ,x4 ,employed1 however1 in moderation1 they are among the most delightful means of delicate expression2 and the architect has more liberty in their individual treatment than in any other feature of the building4 ,separated entirely from the structural system1 they are subjected to no shadow of any other laws than those of grace and chastity2 and the fancy may range without rebuke1 for materials of their design1 through the whole field of the visible or imaginable creation4 ,,chapter ,,xxx4 ,,the ,,vestibule4 ,i4 ,i have hardly kept my promise4 ,the reader has decorated but little for himself as yet2 but ,i have not1 at least1 attempted to bias his judgment4 ,of the simple forms of decoration which have been set before him1 he has always been left free to choose2 and the stated restrictions in the methods of applying them have been only those which followed on the necessities of construction previously determined4 ,these having been now defined1 ,i do indeed leave my reader free to build2 and with what a freedom6 ,all the lovely forms of the universe set before him1 whence to choose1 and all the lovely lines that bound their substance or guide their motion2 and of all these lines1--and there are myriads of myriads in every bank of grass and every tuft of forest2 and groups of them divinely harmonized1 in the bell of every flower1 and in every several member of bird and beast1--of all these lines1 for the principal forms of the most important members of architecture1 ,i have used but ,three6 ,what1 therefore1 must be the infinity of the treasure in them all6 ,there is material enough in a single flower for the ornament of a score of cathedrals1 but suppose we were satisfied with less exhaustive appliance1 and built a score of cathedrals1 each to illustrate a single flower8 that would be better than trying to invent new styles1 ,i think4 ,there is quite difference of style enough1 between a violet and a harebell1 for all reasonable purposes4 ,,ii4 ,perhaps1 however1 even more strange than the struggle of our architects to invent new styles1 is the way they commonly speak of this treasure of natural infinity4 ,let us take our patience to us for an instant1 and hear one of them1 not among the least intelligent3-- ,it is not true that all natural forms are beautiful4 ,we may hardly be able to detect this in ,nature herself2 but when the forms are separated from the things1 and exhibited alone 7by sculpture or carving71 we then see that they are not all fitted for ornamental purposes2 and indeed that very few1 perhaps none1 are so fitted without correction4 ,yes1 ,i say correction1 for though it is the highest aim of every art to imitate nature1 this is not to be done by imitating any natural form1 but by criticising and correcting it1--criticising it by ,nature's rules gathered from all her works1 but never completely carried out by her in any one work2 correcting it1 by rendering it more natural1 i4e4 more conformable to the general tendency of ,nature1 according to that noble maxim recorded of ,raffaelle1 'that the artist's object was to make things not as ,nature makes them1 but as she ,,would make them2' as she ever tries to make them1 but never succeeds1 though her aim may be deduced from a comparison of her efforts2 just as if a number of archers had aimed unsuccessfully at a mark upon a wall1 and this mark were then removed1 we could by the examination of their arrow marks point out the most probable position of the spot aimed at1 with a certainty of being nearer to it than any of their shots4#ib ,,iii4 ,i had thought that1 by this time1 we had done with that stale1 second-hand1 one-sided1 and misunderstood saying of ,raffaelle's2 or that at least1 in these days of purer ,christian light1 men might have begun to get some insight into the meaning of it3 ,raffaelle was a painter of humanity1 and assuredly there is something the matter with humanity1 a few dovrebbe's1 more or less1 wanting in it4 ,we have most of us heard of original sin1 and may perhaps1 in our modest moments1 conjecture that we are not quite what ,god1 or nature1 would have us to be4 ,raffaelle had something to mend in ,humanity3 ,i should have liked to have seen him mending a daisy6--or a pease-blossom1 or a moth1 or a mustard seed1 or any other of ,god's slightest works4 ,if he had accomplished that1 one might have found for him more respectable employment1--to set the stars in better order1 perhaps 7they seem grievously scattered as they are1 and to be of all manner of shapes and sizes1--except the ideal shape1 and the proper size72 or to give us a corrected view of the ocean2 that1 at least1 seems a very irregular and improveable thing2 the very fishermen do not know1 this day1 how far it will reach1 driven up before the west wind3--perhaps ,some ,one else does1 but that is not our business4 ,let us go down and stand by the beach of it1--of the great irregular sea1 and count whether the thunder of it is not out of time4 ,one1--two3--here comes a well-formed wave at last1 trembling a little at the top1 but1 on the whole1 orderly4 ,so1 crash among the shingle1 and up as far as this grey pebble2 now stand by and watch6 ,another3--,ah1 careless wave6 why couldn't you have kept your crest on8 it is all gone away into spray1 striking up against the cliffs there--,i thought as much--missed the mark by a couple of feet6 ,another3--,how now1 impatient one6 couldn't you have waited till your friend's reflux was done with1 instead of rolling yourself up with it in that unseemly manner8 ,you go for nothing4 ,a fourth1 and a goodly one at last4 ,what think we of yonder slow rise1 and crystalline hollow1 without a flaw8 ,steady1 good wave2 not so fast2 not so fast2 where are you coming to8--,by our architectural word1 this is too bad2 two yards over the mark1 and ever so much of you in our face besides2 and a wave which we had some hope of1 behind there1 broken all to pieces out at sea1 and laying a great white table-cloth of foam all the way to the shore1 as if the marine gods were to dine off it6 ,alas1 for these unhappy arrow shots of ,nature2 she will never hit her mark with those unruly waves of hers1 nor get one of them1 into the ideal shape1 if we wait for a thousand years4 ,let us send for a ,greek architect to do it for her4 ,he comes--the great ,greek architect1 with measure and rule4 ,will he not also make the weight for the winds8 and weigh out the waters by measure8 and make a decree for the rain1 and a way for the lightning of the thunder8 ,he sets himself orderly to his work1 and behold6 this is the mark of nature1 and this is the thing into which the great ,greek architect improves the sea-- ,illustration ,greek3 ,thalatta1 thalatta3 ,was it this1 then1 that they wept to see from the sacred mountain--those wearied ones8 ,,iv4 ,but the sea was meant to be irregular6 ,yes1 and were not also the leaves1 and the blades of grass2 and1 in a sort1 as far as may be without mark of sin1 even the countenance of man8 ,or would it be pleasanter and better to have us all alike1 and numbered on our foreheads1 that we might be known one from the other8 ,v4 ,is there1 then1 nothing to be done by man's art8 ,have we only to copy1 and again copy1 for ever1 the imagery of the universe8 ,not so4 ,we have work to do upon it2 there is not any one of us so simple1 nor so feeble1 but he has work to do upon it4 ,but the work is not to improve1 but to explain4 ,this infinite universe is unfathomable1 inconceivable1 in its whole2 every human creature must slowly spell out1 and long contemplate1 such part of it as may be possible for him to reach2 then set forth what he has learned of it for those beneath him2 extricating it from infinity1 as one gathers a violet out of grass2 one does not improve either violet or grass in gathering it1 but one makes the flower visible2 and then the human being has to make its power upon his own heart visible also1 and to give it the honor of the good thoughts it has raised up in him1 and to write upon it the history of his own soul4 ,and sometimes he may be able to do more than this1 and to set it in strange lights1 and display it in a thousand ways before unknown3 ways specially directed to necessary and noble purposes1 for which he had to choose instruments out of the wide armory of ,god4 ,all this he may do3 and in this he is only doing what every ,christian has to do with the written1 as well as the created word1 rightly dividing the word of truth4 ,out of the infinity of the written word1 he has also to gather and set forth things new and old1 to choose them for the season and the work that are before him1 to explain and manifest them to others1 with such illustration and enforcement as may be in his power1 and to crown them with the history of what1 by them1 ,god has done for his soul4 ,and1 in doing this1 is he improving the ,word of ,god8 ,just such difference as there is between the sense in which a minister may be said to improve a text1 to the people's comfort1 and the sense in which an atheist might declare that he could improve the ,book1 which1 if any man shall add unto1 there shall be added unto him the plagues that are written therein2 just such difference is there between that which1 with respect to ,nature1 man is1 in his humbleness1 called upon to do1 and that which1 in his insolence1 he imagines himself capable of doing4 ,,vi4 ,have no fear1 therefore1 reader1 in judging between nature and art1 so only that you love both4 ,if you can love one only1 then let it be ,nature2 you are safe with her3 but do not then attempt to judge the art1 to which you do not care to give thought1 or time4 ,but if you love both1 you may judge between them fearlessly2 you may estimate the last1 by its making you remember the first1 and giving you the same kind of joy4 ,if1 in the square of the city1 you can find a delight1 finite1 indeed1 but pure and intense1 like that which you have in a valley among the hills1 then its art and architecture are right2 but if1 after fair trial1 you can find no delight in them1 nor any instruction like that of nature1 ,i call on you fearlessly to condemn them4 ,we are forced1 for the sake of accumulating our power and knowledge1 to live in cities2 but such advantage as we have in association with each other is in great part counterbalanced by our loss of fellowship with nature4 ,we cannot all have our gardens now1 nor our pleasant fields to meditate in at eventide4 ,then the function of our architecture is1 as far as may be1 to replace these2 to tell us about nature2 to possess us with memories of her quietness2 to be solemn and full of tenderness1 like her1 and rich in portraitures of her2 full of delicate imagery of the flowers we can no more gather1 and of the living creatures now far away from us in their own solitude4 ,if ever you felt or found this in a ,london ,street1--if ever it furnished you with one serious thought1 or one ray of true and gentle pleasure1--if there is in your heart a true delight in its grim railings and dark casements1 and wasteful finery of shops1 and feeble coxcombry of club-houses1--it is well3 promote the building of more like them4 ,but if they never taught you anything1 and never made you happier as you passed beneath them1 do not think they have any mysterious goodness nor occult sublimity4 ,have done with the wretched affectation1 the futile barbarism1 of pretending to enjoy3 for1 as surely as you know that the meadow grass1 meshed with fairy rings1 is better than the wood pavement1 cut into hexagons2 and as surely as you know the fresh winds and sunshine of the upland are better than the choke-damp of the vault1 or the gas-light of the ball-room1 you may know1 as ,i told you that you should1 that the good architecture1 which has life1 and truth1 and joy in it1 is better than the bad architecture1 which has death1 dishonesty1 and vexation of heart in it1 from the beginning to the end of time4 ,,vii4 ,and now come with me1 for ,i have kept you too long from your gondola3 come with me1 on an autumnal morning1 through the dark gates of ,padua1 and let us take the broad road leading towards the ,east4 ,it lies level1 for a league or two1 between its elms1 and vine festoons full laden1 their thin leaves veined into scarlet hectic1 and their clusters deepened into gloomy blue2 then mounts an embankment above the ,brenta1 and runs between the river and the broad plain1 which stretches to the north in endless lines of mulberry and maize4 ,the ,brenta flows slowly1 but strongly2 a muddy volume of yellowish-grey water1 that neither hastens nor slackens1 but glides heavily between its monotonous banks1 with here and there a short1 babbling eddy twisted for an instant into its opaque surface1 and vanishing1 as if something had been dragged into it and gone down4 ,dusty and shadeless1 the road fares along the dyke on its northern side2 and the tall white tower of ,dolo is seen trembling in the heat mist far away1 and never seems nearer than it did at first4 ,presently you pass one of the much vaunted villas on the ,brenta3 a glaring1 spectral shell of brick and stucco1 its windows with painted architraves like picture-frames1 and a court-yard paved with pebbles in front of it1 all burning in the thick glow of the feverish sunshine1 but fenced from the high road1 for magnificence sake1 with goodly posts and chains2 then another1 of ,kew ,gothic1 with ,chinese variations1 painted red and green2 a third composed for the greater part of dead-wall1 with fictitious windows painted upon it1 each with a pea-green blind1 and a classical architrave in bad perspective2 and a fourth1 with stucco figures set on the top of its garden-wall3 some antique1 like the kind to be seen at the corner of the ,new ,road1 and some of clumsy grotesque dwarfs1 with fat bodies and large boots4 ,this is the architecture to which her studies of the ,renaissance have conducted modern ,italy4 ,,viii4 ,the sun climbs steadily1 and warms into intense white the walls of the little piazza of ,dolo1 where we change horses4 ,another dreary stage among the now divided branches of the ,brenta1 forming irregular and half-stagnant canals2 with one or two more villas on the other side of them1 but these of the old ,venetian type1 which we may have recognised before at ,padua1 and sinking fast into utter ruin1 black1 and rent1 and lonely1 set close to the edge of the dull water1 with what were once small gardens beside them1 kneaded into mud1 and with blighted fragments of gnarled hedges and broken stakes for their fencing2 and here and there a few fragments of marble steps1 which have once given them graceful access from the water's edge1 now settling into the mud in broken joints1 all aslope1 and slippery with green weed4 ,at last the road turns sharply to the north1 and there is an open space1 covered with bent grass1 on the right of it3 but do not look that way4 ,,ix4 ,five minutes more1 and we are in the upper room of the little inn at ,mestre1 glad of a moment's rest in shade4 ,the table is 7always1 ,i think7 covered with a cloth of nominal white and perennial grey1 with plates and glasses at due intervals1 and small loaves of a peculiar white bread1 made with oil1 and more like knots of flour than bread4 ,the view from its balcony is not cheerful3 a narrow street1 with a solitary brick church and barren campanile on the other side of it2 and some coventual buildings1 with a few crimson remnants of fresco about their windows2 and1 between them and the street1 a ditch with some slow current in it1 and one or two small houses beside it1 one with an arbor of roses at its door1 as in an ,english tea-garden2 the air1 however1 about us having in it nothing of roses1 but a close smell of garlic and crabs1 warmed by the smoke of various stands of hot chestnuts4 ,there is much vociferation also going on beneath the window respecting certain wheelbarrows which are in rivalry for our baggage3 we appease their rivalry with our best patience1 and follow them down the narrow street4 ,x4 ,we have but walked some two hundred yards when we come to a low wharf or quay1 at the extremity of a canal1 with long steps on each side down to the water1 which latter we fancy for an instant has become black with stagnation2 another glance undeceives us1--it is covered with the black boats of ,venice4 ,we enter one of them1 rather to try if they be real boats or not1 than with any definite purpose1 and glide away2 at first feeling as if the water were yielding continually beneath the boat and letting her sink into soft vacancy4 ,it is something clearer than any water we have seen lately1 and of a pale green2 the banks only two or three feet above it1 of mud and rank grass1 with here and there a stunted tree2 gliding swiftly past the small casement of the gondola1 as if they were dragged by upon a painted scene4 ,stroke by stroke we count the plunges of the oar1 each heaving up the side of the boat slightly as her silver beak shoots forward4 ,we lose patience1 and extricate ourselves from the cushions3 the sea air blows keenly by1 as we stand leaning on the roof of the floating cell4 ,in front1 nothing to be seen but long canal and level bank2 to the west1 the tower of ,mestre is lowering fast1 and behind it there have risen purple shapes1 of the color of dead rose-leaves1 all round the horizon1 feebly defined against the afternoon sky1--the ,alps of ,bassano4 ,forward still3 the endless canal bends at last1 and then breaks into intricate angles about some low bastions1 now torn to pieces and staggering in ugly rents towards the water1--the bastions of the fort of ,malghera4 ,another turn1 and another perspective of canal2 but not interminable4 ,the silver beak cleaves it fast1--it widens3 the rank grass of the banks sinks lower1 and lower1 and at last dies in tawny knots along an expanse of weedy shore4 ,over it1 on the right1 but a few years back1 we might have seen the lagoon stretching to the horizon1 and the warm southern sky bending over ,malamocco to the sea4 ,now we can see nothing but what seems a low and monotonous dock-yard wall1 with flat arches to let the tide through it2--this is the railroad bridge1 conspicuous above all things4 ,but at the end of those dismal arches1 there rises1 out of the wide water1 a straggling line of low and confused brick buildings1 which1 but for the many towers which are mingled among them1 might be the suburbs of an ,english manufacturing town4 ,four or five domes1 pale1 and apparently at a greater distance1 rise over the centre of the line2 but the object which first catches the eye is a sullen cloud of black smoke brooding over the northern half of it1 and which issues from the belfry of a church4 ,it is ,venice4 ,,footnotes3 #ib ,garbett on ,design1 p4 #gd4 ,,appendix4 #a4 ,,foundation ,,of ,,venice4 ,i find the chroniclers agree in fixing the year #dba1 if any3 the following sentence from ,de ,monaci may perhaps interest the reader4 ,god1 who punishes the sins of men by war sorrows1 and whose ways are past finding out1 willing both to save the innocent blood1 and that a great power1 beneficial to the whole world1 should arise in a spot strange beyond belief1 moved the chief men of the cities of the ,venetian province 7which from the border of ,pannonia1 extended as far as the ,adda1 a river of ,lombardy71 both in memory of past1 and in dread of future distress1 to establish states upon the nearer islands of the inner gulphs of the ,adriatic1 to which1 in the last necessity1 they might retreat for refuge4 ,and first ,galienus de ,fontana1 ,simon de ,glauconibus1 and ,antonius ,calvus1 or1 as others have it1 ,adalburtus ,falerius1 ,thomas ,candiano1 ,comes ,daulus1 ,consuls of ,padua1 by the command of their ,king and the desire of the citizens1 laid the foundations of the new commonwealth1 under good auspices1 on the island of the ,rialto1 the highest and nearest to the mouth of the deep river now called the ,brenta1 in the year of ,our ,lord1 as many writers assure us1 four hundred and twenty-one1 on the #beth day of ,march4#ic ,it is matter also of very great satisfaction to know that ,venice was founded by good ,christians3 ,la qual citade stada hedificada da veri e boni ,christiani3 which information ,i found in the ,,ms4 copy of the ,zancarol ,chronicle1 in the library of ,st4 ,mark's4 ,finally the conjecture as to the origin of her name1 recorded by ,sansovino1 will be accepted willingly by all who love ,venice3 ,fu interpretato da alcuni1 che questa voce ,,venetia voglia dire ,,veni ,,etiam1 cio1 vieni ancora1 e ancora1 percioche quante volte verrai1 sempre vedrai nuove cose1 enuove bellezze4 #b4 ,,power ,,of ,,the ,,doges4 ,the best authorities agree in giving the year #fig as that of the election of the first doge1 ,paul ,luke ,anafeste4 ,he was elected in a general meeting of the commonalty1 tribunes1 and clergy1 at ,heraclea1 divinis rebus procuratis1 as usual1 in all serious work1 in those times4 ,his authority is thus defined by ,sabellico1 who was not likely to have exaggerated it3--,penes quem decus omne imperii ac majestas esset3 cui jus concilium cogendi quoties de republica aliquid referri oporteret2 qui tribunos annuos in singulas insulas legeret1 a quibus ad ,ducem esset provocatio4 ,cterum1 si quis dignitatem1 ecclesiam1 sacerdotumve cleri populique suffragio esset adeptus1 ita demum id ratum haberetur si dux ipse auctor factus esset4 7,lib4 ,i47 ,the last clause is very important1 indicating the subjection of the ecclesiastical to the popular and ducal 7or patrician7 powers1 which1 throughout her career1 was one of the most remarkable features in the policy of ,venice4 ,the appeal from the tribunes to the doge is also important2 and the expression decus omne imperii1 if of somewhat doubtful force1 is at least as energetic as could have been expected from an historian under the influence of the ,council of ,ten4 #c4 ,,serrar ,,del ,,consiglio4 ,the date of the decree which made the right of sitting in the grand council hereditary1 is variously given2 the ,venetian historians themselves saying as little as they can about it4 ,the thing was evidently not accomplished at once1 several decrees following in successive years3 the ,council of ,ten was established without any doubt in #acaj1 in consequence of the conspiracy of ,tiepolo4 ,the ,venetian verse1 quoted by ,mutinelli 7,annali ,urbani di ,venezia1 p4 #aec71 is worth remembering4 ,del mille tresento e diese ,a mezzo el mese delle ceriese ,bagiamonte pass el ponte ,e per esso fo fatto el ,consegio di diese4 ,the reader cannot do better than take #abig as the date of the beginning of the change of government1 and this will enable him exactly to divide the #aajj years from the election of the first doge into #fjj of monarchy and #ejj of aristocracy4 ,the coincidence of the numbers is somewhat curious2 #fig the date of the establishment of the government1 #abig of its change1 and #agig of its fall4 #d4 ,s4 ,,pietro ,,di ,,castello4 ,it is credibly reported to have been founded in the seventh century1 and 7with somewhat less of credibility7 in a place where the ,trojans1 conducted by ,antenor1 had1 after the destruction of ,troy1 built un castello1 chiamato prima ,troja1 poscia ,olivolo1 interpretato1 luogo pieno4 ,it seems that ,st4 ,peter appeared in person to the ,bishop of ,heraclea1 and commanded him to found in his honor1 a church in that spot of the rising city on the ,rialto3 ove avesse veduto una mandra di buoi e di pecore pascolare unitamente4 ,questa fu la prodigiosa origine della ,chiesa di ,san ,pietro1 che poscia1 o rinovata1 o ristaurata1 da ,orso ,participazio ,,iv ,vescovo ,olivolense1 divenne la ,cattedrale della ,nuova citta4 7,notizie ,storiche delle ,chiese e ,monasteri di ,venezia4 ,padua1 #ageh47 ,what there was so prodigious in oxen and sheep feeding together1 we need ,st4 ,peter1 ,i think1 to tell us4 ,the title of ,bishop of ,castello was first taken in #ajia3 ,st4 ,mark's was not made the cathedral church till #ahjg4 ,it may be thought hardly fair to conclude the small importance of the old ,st4 ,pietro di ,castello from the appearance of the wretched modernisations of #afbj4 ,but these modernisations are spoken of as improvements2 and ,i find no notice of peculiar beauties in the older building1 either in the work above quoted1 or by ,sansovino2 who only says that when it was destroyed by fire 7as everything in ,venice was1 ,i think1 about three times in a century71 in the reign of ,vital ,michele1 it was rebuilt with good thick walls1 maintaining1 for all that1 the order of its arrangement taken from the ,greek mode of building4 ,this does not seem the description of a very enthusiastic effort to rebuild a highly ornate cathedral4 ,the present church is among the least interesting in ,venice2 a wooden bridge1 something like that of ,battersea on a small scale1 connects its island1 now almost deserted1 with a wretched suburb of the city behind the arsenal2 and a blank level of lifeless grass1 rotted away in places rather than trodden1 is extended before its mildewed faade and solitary tower4 #e4 ,,papal ,,power ,,in ,,venice4 ,i may refer the reader to the eleventh chapter of the twenty-eighth book of ,daru for some account of the restraints to which the ,venetian clergy were subjected4 ,i have not myself been able to devote any time to the examination of the original documents bearing on this matter1 but the following extract from a letter of a friend1 who will not at present permit me to give his name1 but who is certainly better conversant with the records of the ,venetian ,state than any other ,englishman1 will be of great value to the general reader3-- ,in the year #adaj1 or perhaps at the close of the thirteenth century1 churchmen were excluded from the ,grand ,council and declared ineligible to civil employment2 and in the same year1 #adaj1 the ,council of ,ten1 with the ,giunta1 decreed that whenever in the state's councils matters concerning ecclesiastical affairs were being treated1 all the kinsfolk of ,venetian beneficed clergymen were to be expelled2 and1 in the year #adcd1 the ,,relations of churchmen were declared ineligible to the post of ambassador at ,rome4 ,the ,venetians never gave possession of any see in their territories to bishops unless they had been proposed to the pope by the senate1 which elected the patriarch1 who was supposed1 at the end of the sixteenth century1 to be liable to examination by his ,holiness1 as an act of confirmation of installation2 but of course1 everything depended on the relative power at any given time of ,rome and ,venice3 for instance1 a few days after the accession of ,julius ,,ii41 in #aejc1 he requests the ,signory1 cap in hand1 to ,,allow him to confer the archbishopric of ,zara on a dependant of his1 one ,cipico the ,bishop of ,famagosta4 ,six years later1 when ,venice was overwhelmed by the leaguers of ,cambrai1 that furious pope would assuredly have conferred ,zara on ,cipico ,,without asking leave4 ,in #afjh1 the rich ,camaldolite ,abbey of ,vangadizza1 in the ,polesine1 fell vacant through the death of ,lionardo ,loredano1 in whose family it had been since some while4 ,the ,venetian ambassador at ,rome received the news on the night of the #bhth ,december2 and1 on the morrow1 requested ,paul ,,iv4 not to dispose of this preferment until he heard from the senate4 ,the pope talked of 'poor cardinals' and of his nephew1 but made no positive reply2 and1 as ,francesco ,contarini was withdrawing1 said to him3 ',my ,lord ambassador1 with this opportunity we will inform you that1 to our very great regret1 we understand that the chiefs of the ,ten mean to turn sacristans2 for they order the parish priests to close the church doors at the ,ave ,maria1 and not to ring the bells at certain hours4 ,this is precisely the sacristan's office2 we don't know why their lordships1 by printed edicts1 which we have seen1 choose to interfere in this matter4 ,this is pure and mere ecclesiastical jurisdiction2 and even1 in case of any inconvenience arising1 is there not the patriarch1 who is at any rate your own2 why not apply to him1 who could remedy these irregularities8 ,these are matters which cause us very notable displeasure2 we say so that they may be written and known3 it is decided by the councils and canons1 and not uttered by us1 that whosoever forms any resolve against the ecclesiastical liberty1 cannot do so without incurring censure3 and in order that ,father ,paul ,bacon's correspondent may not say hereafter1 as he did in his past writings1 that our predecessors assented either tacitly or by permission1 we declare that we do not give our assent1 nor do we approve it2 nay1 we blame it1 and let this be announced in ,venice1 so that1 for the rest1 every one may take care of his own conscience4 ,st4 ,thomas ,becket1 whose festival is celebrated this very day1 suffered martyrdom for the ecclesiastical liberty2 it is our duty likewise to support and defend it4' ,contarini says3 ',this remonstrance was delivered with some marks of anger1 which induced me to tell him how the tribunal of the most excellent the ,lords chiefs of the ,ten is in our country supreme2 that it does not do its business unadvisedly1 or condescend to unworthy matters2 and that1 therefore1 should those ,lords have come to any public declaration of their will1 it must be attributed to orders anterior1 and to immemorial custom and authority1 recollecting that1 on former occasions likewise1 similar commissions were given to prevent divers incongruities2 wherefore an upright intention1 such as this1 ought not to be taken in any other sense than its own1 especially as the parishes of ,venice were in her own gift1' c4 c4 ,the pope persisted in bestowing the abbacy on his nephew1 but the republic would not give possession1 and a compromise was effected by its being conferred on the ,venetian ,matteo ,priuli1 who allowed the cardinal five thousand ducats per annum out of its revenues4 ,a few years before this1 this very same pope excommunicated the ,state1 because she had imprisoned two churchmen for heinous crimes2 the strife lasted for more than a year1 and ended through the mediation of ,henry ,,iv41 at whose suit the prisoners were delivered to the ,french ambassador1 who made them over to a papal commissioner4 ,in ,january1 #adhd1 a tournament was in preparation on ,st4 ,mark's ,square3 some murmurs had been heard about the distribution of the prizes having been pre-arranged1 without regard to the 'best man4' ,one of the chiefs of the ,ten was walking along ,rialto on the #bhth ,january1 when a young priest1 twenty-two years old1 a sword-cutlers son1 and a ,bolognese1 and one of ,perugia1 both men-at-arms under ,robert ,sansoverino1 fell upon a clothier with drawn weapons4 ,the chief of the ,ten desired they might be seized1 but at the moment the priest escaped2 he was1 however1 subsequently retaken1 and in that very evening hanged by torch-light between the columns with the two soldiers4 ,innocent ,,viii4 was less powerful than ,paul ,,iv42 ,venice weaker in #afje than in #adhd4 99 99 99 ,the exclusion from the ,grand ,council1 whether at the end of the fourteenth or commencement of the following century1 of the ,venetian ecclesiastics1 7as induced either by the republic's acquisitions on the main land then made1 and which1 through the rich benefices they embraced1 might have rendered an ambitious churchman as dangerous in the ,grand ,council as a victorious condottiere2 or from dread of their allegiance being divided between the church and their country1 it being acknowledged that no man can serve two masters17 did not render them hostile to their fatherland1 whose interests were1 with very few exceptions1 eagerly fathered by the ,venetian prelates at ,rome1 who1 in their turn1 received all honor at ,venice1 where state receptions given to cardinals of the houses of ,correr1 ,grimani1 ,cornaro1 ,pisani1 ,contarini1 ,zeno1 ,delfino1 and others1 vouch for the good understanding that existed between the ',papalists' and their countrymen4 ,the ,cardinal ,grimani was instrumental in detaching ,julius ,,ii4 from the league of ,cambrai2 the ,cardinal ,cornaro always aided the state to obtain anything required of ,leo ,x42 and1 both before and after their times1 all ,venetians that had a seat in the ,sacred ,college were patriots rather than pluralists3 ,i mean that they cared more for ,venice than for their benefices1 admitting thus the soundness of that policy which denied them admission into the ,grand ,council4 ,to this interesting statement1 ,i shall add1 from the twenty-eighth book of ,daru1 two passages1 well deserving consideration by us ,english in present days3 ,pour tre parfaitement assure contre les envahissements de la puissance ecclsiastique1 ,venise commena par lui ter tout prtexte d'intervenir dans les affaires de l',etat2 elle resta invariablement fidle au dogme4 ,jamais aucune des opinions nouvelles n'y prit la moindre faveur2 jamais aucun hrsiarque ne sortit de ,venise4 ,les conciles1 les disputes1 les guerres de religion1 se passrent sans qu'elle y prit jamais la moindre part4 ,inbranlable dans sa foi1 elle ne fut pas moins invariable dans son systme de tolrance4 ,non seulement ses sujets de la religion grecque conservrent l'exercise de leur culte1 leurs vques et leurs prtres2 mais les ,protestantes1 les ,armniens1 les ,mahomitans1 les ,juifs1 toutes les religions1 toutes les sectes qui se trouvaient dans ,venise1 avaient des temples1 et la spulture dans les glises n'tait point refus aux hrtiques4 ,une police vigilante s'appliquait avec le mme soin teindre les discordes1 et empcher les fanatiques et les novateurs de troubler l',etat4 99 99 99 99 99 ,si on considre que c'est dans un temps o presque toutes les nations tremblaient devant la puissance pontificale1 que les ,vnitiens surent tenir leur clerg dans la dpendance1 et braver souvent les censures ecclsiastiques et les interdits1 sans encourir jamais aucun reproche sur la puret de leur foi1 on sera forc de reconnatre que cette rpublique avait dvanc de loin les autres peuples dans cette partie de la science du gouvernement4 ,la fameuse maxime1 ',siamo veneziani1 poi christiani1' n'tait qu'une formule nergique qui ne prouvait point quils voulussent placer l'intrt de la religion aprs celui de l',etat1 mais qui annonait leur invariable rsolution de ne pas souffrir qu'un pouvoir tranger portt atteinte aux droits de la rpublique4 ,dans toute la dure de son existence1 an milieu des revers comme dans la prosprit cet inbranlable gouvernement ne fit qu'une seule fois des concessions la cour de ,borne1 et ce fut pour dtacher le ,pape ,jules ,,ii4 de la ligue de ,cambrai4 ,jamais il ne se relcha du soin de tenir le clerg dans une nullit absolue relativement aux affaires politiques2 on peut en juger par la conduite qu'il tint avec l'ordre religieux le plus redoutable et le plus accoutum s'immiscer dans les secrets de l',etat et dans les intrts temporels4 ,the main points1 next stated1 respecting the ,jesuits are1 that the decree which permitted their establishment in ,venice required formal renewal every three years2 that no ,jesuit could stay in ,venice more than three years2 that the slightest disobedience to the authority of the government was instantly punished by imprisonment2 that no ,venetian could enter the order without express permission from the government2 that the notaries were forbidden to sanction any testamentary disposal of property to the ,jesuits2 finally1 that the heads of noble families were forbidden to permit their children to be educated in the ,jesuits' colleges1 on pain of degradation from their rank4 ,now1 let it be observed that the enforcement of absolute exclusion of the clergy from the councils of the state1 dates exactly from the period which ,i have marked for the commencement of the decline of the ,venetian power4 ,the ,romanist is welcome to his advantage in this fact1 if advantage it be2 for ,i do not bring forward the conduct of the senate of ,venice1 as ,daru does1 by way of an example of the general science of government4 ,the ,venetians accomplished therein what we ridiculously call a separation of ,church and ,state 7as if the ,state were not1 in all ,christendom1 necessarily also the ,church#id71 but ought to call a separation of lay and clerical officers4 ,i do not point out this separation as subject of praise1 but as the witness borne by the ,venetians against the principles of the ,papacy4 ,if they were to blame1 in yielding to their fear of the ambitious spirit of ,rome so far as to deprive their councils of all religious element1 what excuse are we to offer for the state1 which1 with ,lords ,spiritual of her own faith already in her senate1 permits the polity of ,rome to be represented by lay members8 ,to have sacrificed religion to mistaken policy1 or purchased security with ignominy1 would have been no new thing in the world's history2 but to be at once impious and impolitic1 and seek for danger through dishonor1 was reserved for the ,english parliament of #ahbi4 ,i am glad to have this opportunity of referring to1 and farther enforcing1 the note on this subject which1 not without deliberation1 ,i appended to the ,seven ,lamps2 and of adding to it the following passage1 written by my father in the year #ahci1 and published in one of the journals of that year3--a passage remarkable as much for its intrinsic value1 as for having stated1 twelve years ago1 truths to which the mind of ,england seems but now1 and that slowly1 awakening4 ,we hear it said1 that it cannot be merely the ,roman religion that causes the difficulty respecting ,ireland1 for we were once all ,roman ,catholics1 and nations abroad of this faith are not as the ,irish4 ,it is totally overlooked1 that when we were so1 our government was despotic1 and fit to cope with this dangerous religion1 as most of the ,continental governments yet are4 ,in what ,roman ,catholic state1 or in what age of ,roman ,catholic ,england1 did we ever hear of such agitation as now exists in ,ireland by evil men taking advantage of an anomalous state of things--,roman ,catholic ignorance in the people1 ,protestant toleration in the government8 ,we have yet to feel the tremendous difficulty in which ,roman ,catholic emancipation has involved us4 ,too late we discover that a ,roman ,catholic is wholly incapable of being safely connected with the ,british constitution1 as it now exists1 in any near relation4 ,the present constitution is no longer fit for ,catholics4 ,it is a creature essentially ,protestant1 growing with the growth1 and strengthening with the strength1 of ,protestantism4 ,so entirely is ,protestantism interwoven with the whole frame of our constitution and laws1 that ,i take my stand on this1 against all agitators in existence1 that the ,roman religion is totally incompatible with the ,british constitution4 ,we have1 in trying to combine them1 got into a maze of difficulties2 we are the worse1 and ,ireland none the better4 ,it is idle to talk of municipal reform or popular ,lords ,lieutenant4 ,the mild sway of a constitutional monarchy is not strong enough for a ,roman ,catholic population4 ,the stern soul of a ,republican would not shrink from sending half the misguided population and all the priests into exile1 and planting in their place an industrious ,protestant people4 ,but you cannot do this1 and you cannot convert the ,irish1 nor by other means make them fit to wear the mild restraints of a ,protestant ,government4 ,it was1 moreover1 a strange logic that begot the idea of admitting ,catholics to administer any part of our laws or constitution4 ,it was admitted by all that1 by the very act of abandoning the ,roman religion1 we became a free and enlightened people4 ,it was only by throwing off the yoke of that slavish religion that we attained to the freedom of thought which has advanced us in the scale of society4 ,we are so much advanced by adopting and adhering to a reformed religion1 that to prove our liberal and unprejudiced views1 we throw down the barriers betwixt the two religions1 of which the one is the acknowledged cause of light and knowledge1 the other the cause of darkness and ignorance4 ,we are so much altered to the better by leaving this people entirely1 and giving them neither part nor lot amongst us1 that it becomes proper to mingle again with them4 ,we have found so much good in leaving them1 that we deem it the best possible reason for returning to be among them4 ,no fear of their ,church again shaking us1 with all our light and knowledge4 ,it is true1 the most enlightened nations fell under the spell of her enchantments1 fell into total darkness and superstition2 but no fear of us--we are too well informed6 ,what miserable reasoning6 infatuated presumption6 ,i fear me1 when the ,roman religion rolled her clouds of darkness over the earlier ages1 that she quenched as much light1 and knowledge1 and judgment as our modern ,liberals have ever displayed4 ,i do not expect a statesman to discuss the point of ,transubstantiation betwixt ,protestant and ,catholic1 nor to trace the narrow lines which divide ,protestant sectarians from each other2 but can any statesman that shall have taken even a cursory glance at the face of ,europe1 hesitate a moment on the choice of the ,protestant religion8 ,if he unfortunately knew nothing of its being the true one in regard to our eternal interests1 he is at least bound to see whether it be not the best for the worldly prosperity of a people4 ,he may be but moderately imbued with pious zeal for the salvation of a kingdom1 but at least he will be expected to weigh the comparative merits of religion1 as of law or government2 and blind1 indeed1 must he be if he does not discern that1 in neglecting to cherish the ,protestant faith1 or in too easily yielding to any encroachments on it1 he is foregoing the use of a state engine more powerful than all the laws which the uninspired legislators of the earth have ever promulgated1 in promoting the happiness1 the peace1 prosperity1 and the order1 the industry1 and the wealth1 of a people2 in forming every quality valuable or desirable in a subject or a citizen2 in sustaining the public mind at that point of education and information that forms the best security for the state1 and the best preservative for the freedom of a people1 whether religious or political4 ,illustration3 ,plate ,,xx4 ,,wall ,,veil ,,decoration4 ,,ca' ,,trevisan4 #f4 ,,renaissance ,,ornaments4 ,there having been three principal styles of architecture in ,venice1--the ,greek or ,byzantine1 the ,gothic1 and the ,renaissance1 it will be shown1 in the sequel1 that the ,renaissance itself is divided into three correspondent families3 ,renaissance engrafted on ,byzantine1 which is earliest and best2 ,renaissance engrafted on ,gothic1 which is second1 and second best2 ,renaissance on ,renaissance1 which is double darkness1 and worst of all4 ,the palaces in which ,renaissance is engrafted on ,byzantine are those noticed by ,commynes3 they are characterized by an ornamentation very closely resembling1 and in some cases identical with1 early ,byzantine work2 namely1 groups of colored marble circles inclosed in interlacing bands4 ,i have put on the opposite page one of these ornaments1 from the ,ca' ,trevisan1 in which a most curious and delicate piece of inlaid design is introduced into a band which is almost exactly copied from the church of ,theotocos at ,constantinople1 and correspondent with others in ,st4 ,mark's4 ,there is also much ,byzantine feeling in the treatment of the animals1 especially in the two birds of the lower compartment1 while the peculiar curves of the cinque cento leafage are visible in the leaves above4 ,the dove1 alighted1 with the olive-branch plucked off1 is opposed to the raven with restless expanded wings4 ,beneath are evidently the two sacrifices of every clean fowl and of every clean beast4 ,the color is given with green and white marbles1 the dove relieved on a ground of greyish green1 and all is exquisitely finished4 ,in ,plate ,i41 p4 #ac1 the upper figure is from the same palace 7,ca' ,trevisan71 and it is very interesting in its proportions4 ,if we take five circles in geometrical proportion1 each diameter being two-thirds of the diameter next above it1 and arrange the circles so proportioned1 in contact with each other1 in the manner shown in the plate1 we shall find that an increase quite imperceptible in the diameter of the circles in the angles1 will enable us to inscribe the whole in a square4 ,the lines so described will then run in the centre of the white bands4 ,i cannot be certain that this is the actual construction of the ,trevisan design1 because it is on a high wall surface1 where ,i could not get at its measurements2 but ,i found this construction exactly coincide with the lines of my eye sketch4 ,the lower figure in ,plate ,i4 is from the front of the ,ca' ,dario1 and probably struck the eye of ,commynes in its first brightness4 ,salvatico1 indeed1 considers both the ,ca' ,trevisan 7which once belonged to ,bianca ,cappello7 and the ,ca' ,dario1 as buildings of the sixteenth century4 ,i defer the discussion of the question at present1 but have1 ,i believe1 sufficient reason for assuming the ,ca' ,dario to have been built about #adhf1 and the ,ca' ,trevisan not much later4 #g4 ,,varieties ,,of ,,the ,,orders4 ,of these phantasms and grotesques1 one of some general importance is that commonly called ,ionic1 of which the idea was taken 7,vitruvius says7 from a woman's hair1 curled2 but its lateral processes look more like rams' horns3 be that as it may1 it is a mere piece of agreeable extravagance1 and if1 instead of rams' horns1 you put ibex horns1 or cows' horns1 or an ass's head at once1 you will have ibex orders1 or ass orders1 or any number of other orders1 one for every head or horn4 ,you may have heard of another order1 the ,composite1 which is ,ionic and ,corinthian mixed1 and is one of the worst of ten thousand forms referable to the ,corinthian as their head3 it may be described as a spoiled ,corinthian4 ,and you may have also heard of another order1 called ,tuscan 7which is no order at all1 but a spoiled ,doric73 and of another called ,roman ,doric1 which is ,doric more spoiled1 both which are simply among the most stupid variations ever invented upon forms already known4 ,i find also in a ,french pamphlet upon architecture1#ie as applied to shops and dwelling houses1 a sixth order1 the ,ordre ,franais1 at least as good as any of the three last1 and to be hailed with acclamation1 considering whence it comes1 there being usually more tendency on the other side of the channel to the confusion of orders than their multiplication3 but the reader will find in the end that there are in very deed only two orders1 of which the ,greek1 ,doric1 and ,corinthian are the first examples1 and they not perfect1 nor in anywise sufficiently representative of the vast families to which they belong2 but being the first and the best known1 they may properly be considered as the types of the rest4 ,the essential distinctions of the two great orders he will find explained in ,,xxxv4 and ,,xxxvi4 of ,chap4 ,,xxvii41 and in the passages there referred to2 but ,i should rather desire that these passages might be read in the order in which they occur4 #h4 ,,the ,,northern ,,energy4 ,i have sketched above1 in the ,first ,chapter1 the great events of architectural history in the simplest and fewest words ,i could2 but this indraught of the ,lombard energies upon the ,byzantine rest1 like a wild north wind descending into a space of rarified atmosphere1 and encountered by an ,arab simoom from the south1 may well require from us some farther attention2 for the differences in all these schools are more in the degrees of their impetuosity and refinement 7these qualities being1 in most cases1 in inverse ratio1 yet much united by the ,arabs7 than in the style of the ornaments they employ4 ,the same leaves1 the same animals1 the same arrangement1 are used by ,scandinavians1 ancient ,britons1 ,saxons1 ,normans1 ,lombards1 ,romans1 ,byzantines1 and ,arabians2 all being alike descended through classic ,greece from ,egypt and ,assyria1 and some from ,phoenicia4 ,the belts which encompass the ,assyrian bulls1 in the hall of the ,british ,museum1 are the same as the belts of the ornaments found in ,scandinavian tumuli2 their method of ornamentation is the same as that of the gate of ,mycen1 and of the ,lombard pulpit of ,st4 ,ambrogio of ,milan1 and of the church of ,theotocos at ,constantinople2 the essential differences among the great schools are their differences of temper and treatment1 and science of expression2 it is absurd to talk of ,norman ornaments1 and ,lombard ornaments1 and ,byzantine ornaments1 as formally distinguished2 but there is irreconcileable separation between ,arab temper1 and ,lombard temper1 and ,byzantine temper4 ,now1 as far as ,i have been able to compare the three schools1 it appears to me that the ,arab and ,lombard are both distinguished from the ,byzantine by their energy and love of excitement1 but the ,lombard stands alone in his love of jest3 ,neither an ,arab nor ,byzantine ever jests in his architecture2 the ,lombard has great difficulty in ever being thoroughly serious2 thus they represent three conditions of humanity1 one in perfect rest1 the ,byzantine1 with exquisite perception of grace and dignity2 the ,arab1 with the same perception of grace1 but with a restless fever in his blood2 the ,lombard1 equally energetic1 but not burning himself away1 capable of submitting to law1 and of enjoying jest4 ,but the ,arabian feverishness infects even the ,lombard in the ,south1 showing itself1 however1 in endless invention1 with a refreshing firmness and order directing the whole of it4 ,the excitement is greatest in the earliest times1 most of all shown in ,st4 ,michele of ,pavia2 and ,i am strongly disposed to connect much of its peculiar manifestations with the ,lombard's habits of eating and drinking1 especially his carnivorousness4 ,the ,lombard of early times seems to have been exactly what a tiger would be1 if you could give him love of a joke1 vigorous imagination1 strong sense of justice1 fear of hell1 knowledge of northern mythology1 a stone den1 and a mallet and chisel2 fancy him pacing up and down in the said den to digest his dinner1 and striking on the wall1 with a new fancy in his head1 at every turn1 and you have the ,lombardic sculptor4 ,as civilisation increases the supply of vegetables1 and shortens that of wild beasts1 the excitement diminishes2 it is still strong in the thirteenth century at ,lyons and ,rouen2 it dies away gradually in the later ,gothic1 and is quite extinct in the fifteenth century4 ,i think ,i shall best illustrate this general idea by simply copying the entries in my diary which were written when1 after six months' close study of ,byzantine work in ,venice1 ,i came again to the ,lombard work of ,verona and ,pavia4 ,there are some other points alluded to in these entries not pertaining to the matter immediately in hand2 but ,i have left them1 as they will be of use hereafter4 7,verona47 ,comparing the arabesque and sculpture of the ,duomo here with ,st4 ,mark's1 the first thing that strikes one is the low relief1 the second1 the greater motion and spirit1 with infinitely less grace and science4 ,with the ,byzantine1 however rude the cutting1 every line is lovely1 and the animals or men are placed in any attitudes which secure ornamental effect1 sometimes impossible ones1 always severe1 restrained1 or languid4 ,with the ,romanesque workmen all the figures show the effort 7often successful7 to express energetic action2 hunting chiefly1 much fighting1 and both spirited2 some of the dogs running capitally1 straining to it1 and the knights hitting hard1 while yet the faces and drawing are in the last degree barbarous4 ,at ,venice all is graceful1 fixed1 or languid2 the eastern torpor is in every line1--the mark of a school formed on severe traditions1 and keeping to them1 and never likely or desirous to rise beyond them1 but with an exquisite sense of beauty1 and much solemn religious faith4 ,if the ,greek outer archivolt of ,st4 ,mark's is ,byzantine1 the law is somewhat broken by its busy domesticity2 figures engaged in every trade1 and in the preparation of viands of all kinds2 a crowded kind of ,london ,christmas scene1 interleaved 7literally7 by the superb balls of leafage1 unique in sculpture2 but even this is strongly opposed to the wild war and chase passion of the ,lombard4 ,farther1 the ,lombard building is as sharp1 precise1 and accurate1 as that of ,st4 ,mark's is careless4 ,the ,byzantines seem to have been too lazy to put their stones together2 and1 in general1 my first impression on coming to ,verona1 after four months in ,venice1 is of the exquisitely neat masonry and perfect feeling here2 a style of ,gothic formed by a combination of ,lombard surface ornament with ,pisan ,gothic1 than which nothing can possibly be more chaste1 pure1 or solemn4 ,i have said much of the shafts of the entrance to the crypt of ,st4 ,zeno2#if the following note of the sculptures on the archivolt above them is to our present purpose3 ,it is covered by very light but most effective bas-reliefs of jesting subject3--two cocks carrying on their shoulders a long staff to which a fox 787 is tied by the legs1 hanging down between them3 the strut of the foremost cock1 lifting one leg at right angles to the other1 is delicious4 ,then a stag hunt1 with a centaur horseman drawing a bow2 the arrow has gone clear through the stag's throat1 and is sticking there4 ,several capital hunts with dogs1 with fruit trees between1 and birds in them2 the leaves1 considering the early time1 singularly well set1 with the edges outwards1 sharp1 and deep cut3 snails and frogs filling up the intervals1 as if suspended in the air1 with some saucy puppies on their hind legs1 two or three nondescript beasts2 and1 finally1 on the centre of one of the arches on the south side1 an elephant and castle1--a very strange elephant1 yet cut as if the carver had seen one4 ,observe this elephant and castle2 we shall meet with him farther north4 ,these sculptures of ,st4 ,zeno are1 however1 quite quiet and tame compared with those of ,st4 ,michele of ,pavia1 which are designed also in a somewhat gloomier mood2 significative1 as ,i think1 of indigestion4 7,note that they are much earlier than ,st4 ,zeno2 of the seventh century at latest4 ,there is more of nightmare1 and less of wit in them47 ,lord ,lindsay has described them admirably1 but has not said half enough2 the state of mind represented by the west front is more that of a feverish dream1 than resultant from any determined architectural purpose1 or even from any definite love and delight in the grotesque4 ,one capital is covered with a mass of grinning heads1 other heads grow out of two bodies1 or out of and under feet2 the creatures are all fighting1 or devouring1 or struggling which shall be uppermost1 and yet in an ineffectual way1 as if they would fight for ever1 and come to no decision4 ,neither sphinxes nor centaurs did ,i notice1 nor a single peacock 7,i believe peacocks to be purely ,byzantine71 but mermaids with two tails 7the sculptor having perhaps seen double at the time71 strange1 large fish1 apes1 stags 7bulls871 dogs1 wolves1 and horses1 griffins1 eagles1 long-tailed birds 7cocks871 hawks1 and dragons1 without end1 or with a dozen of ends1 as the case may be2 smaller birds1 with rabbits1 and small nondescripts1 filling the friezes4 ,the actual leaf1 which is used in the best ,byzantine mouldings at ,venice1 occurs in parts of these ,pavian designs4 ,but the ,lombard animals are all alive1 and fiercely alive too1 all impatience and spring3 the ,byzantine birds peck idly at the fruit1 and the animals hardly touch it with their noses4 ,the cinque cento birds in ,venice hold it up daintily1 like train-bearers2 the birds in the earlier ,gothic peck at it hungrily and naturally2 but the ,lombard beasts gripe at it like tigers1 and tear it off with writhing lips and glaring eyes4 ,they are exactly like ,jip with the bit of geranium1 worrying imaginary cats in it4 ,the notice of the leaf in the above extract is important1--it is the vine-leaf2 used constantly both by ,byzantines and ,lombards1 but by the latter with especial frequency1 though at this time they were hardly able to indicate what they meant4 ,it forms the most remarkable generality of the ,st4 ,michele decoration2 though1 had it not luckily been carved on the faade1 twining round a stake1 and with grapes1 ,i should never have known what it was meant for1 its general form being a succession of sharp lobes1 with incised furrows to the point of each4 ,but it is thrown about in endless change2 four or five varieties of it might be found on every cluster of capitals3 and not content with this1 the ,lombards hint the same form even in their griffin wings4 ,they love the vine very heartily4 ,in ,st4 ,michele of ,lucca we have perhaps the noblest instance in ,italy of the ,lombard spirit in its later refinement4 ,it is some four centuries later than ,st4 ,michele of ,pavia1 and the method of workmanship is altogether different4 ,in the ,pavian church1 nearly all the ornament is cut in a coarse sandstone1 in bold relief3 a darker and harder stone 7,i think1 not serpentine1 but its surface is so disguised by the lustre of ages that ,i could not be certain7 is used for the capitals of the western door1 which are especially elaborate in their sculpture2--two devilish apes1 or apish devils1 ,i know not which1 with bristly moustaches and edgy teeth1 half-crouching1 with their hands impertinently on their knees1 ready for a spit or a spring if one goes near them2 but all is pure bossy sculpture2 there is no inlaying1 except of some variegated tiles in the shape of saucers set concave 7an ornament used also very gracefully in ,st4 ,jacopo of ,bologna73 and the whole surface of the church is enriched with the massy reliefs1 well preserved everywhere above the reach of human animals1 but utterly destroyed to some five or six feet from the ground2 worn away into large cellular hollows and caverns1 some almost deep enough to render the walls unsafe1 entirely owing to the uses to which the recesses of the church are dedicated by the refined and high-minded ,italians4 ,but ,st4 ,michele of ,lucca is wrought entirely in white marble and green serpentine2 there is hardly any relieved sculpture except in the capitals of the shafts and cornices1 and all the designs of wall ornament are inlaid with exquisite precision--white on dark ground2 the ground being cut out and filled with serpentine1 the figures left in solid marble4 ,the designs of the ,pavian church are encrusted on the walls2 of the ,lucchese1 incorporated with them2 small portions of real sculpture being introduced exactly where the eye1 after its rest on the flatness of the wall1 will take most delight in the piece of substantial form4 ,the entire arrangement is perfect beyond all praise1 and the morbid restlessness of the old designs is now appeased4 ,geometry seems to have acted as a febrifuge1 for beautiful geometrical designs are introduced amidst the tumult of the hunt2 and there is no more seeing double1 nor ghastly monstrosity of conception2 no more ending of everything in something else2 no more disputing for spare legs among bewildered bodies2 no more setting on of heads wrong side foremost4 ,the fragments have come together3 we are out of the ,inferno with its weeping down the spine2 we are in the fair hunting-fields of the ,lucchese mountains 7though they had their tears also71--with horse1 and hound1 and hawk2 and merry blast of the trumpet4--,very strange creatures to be hunted1 in all truth2 but still creatures with a single head1 and that on their shoulders1 which is exactly the last place in the ,pavian church where a head is to be looked for4 ,my good friend ,mr4 ,cockerell wonders1 in one of his lectures1 why ,i give so much praise to this crazy front of ,lucca4 ,but it is not crazy2 not by any means4 ,altogether sober1 in comparison with the early ,lombard work1 or with our ,norman4 ,crazy in one sense it is3 utterly neglected1 to the breaking of its old stout heart2 the venomous nights and salt frosts of the ,maremma winters have their way with it--,poor ,tom's a cold6 ,the weeds that feed on the marsh air1 have twisted themselves into its crannies2 the polished fragments of serpentine are spit and rent out of their cells1 and lie in green ruins along its ledges2 the salt sea winds have eaten away the fair shafting of its star window into a skeleton of crumbling rays4 ,it cannot stand much longer2 may ,heaven only1 in its benignity1 preserve it from restoration1 and the sands of the ,serchio give it honorable grave4 ,in the ,seven ,lamps1 ,plate ,,vi41 ,i gave a faithful drawing of one of its upper arches1 to which ,i must refer the reader2 for there is a marked piece of character in the figure of the horseman on the left of it4 ,and in making this reference1 ,i would say a few words about those much abused plates of the ,seven ,lamps4 ,they are black1 they are overbitten1 they are hastily drawn1 they are coarse and disagreeable2 how disagreeable to many readers ,i venture not to conceive4 ,but their truth is carried to an extent never before attempted in architectural drawing4 ,it does not in the least follow that because a drawing is delicate1 or looks careful1 it has been carefully drawn from the thing represented2 in nine instances out of ten1 careful and delicate drawings are made at home4 ,it is not so easy as the reader1 perhaps1 imagines1 to finish a drawing altogether on the spot1 especially of details seventy feet from the ground2 and any one who will try the position in which ,i have had to do some of my work--standing1 namely1 on a cornice or window sill1 holding by one arm round a shaft1 and hanging over the street 7or canal1 at ,venice71 with my sketch-book supported against the wall from which ,i was drawing1 by my breast1 so as to leave my right hand free--will not thenceforward wonder that shadows should be occasionally carelessly laid in1 or lines drawn with some unsteadiness4 ,but1 steady1 or infirm1 the sketches of which those plates in the ,seven ,lamps are fac-similes1 were made from the architecture itself1 and represent that architecture with its actual shadows at the time of day at which it was drawn1 and with every fissure and line of it as they now exist2 so that when ,i am speaking of some new point1 which perhaps the drawing was not intended to illustrate1 ,i can yet turn back to it with perfect certainty that if anything be found in it bearing on matters now in hand1 ,i may depend upon it just as securely as if ,i had gone back to look again at the building4 ,it is necessary that my readers should understand this thoroughly1 and ,i did not before sufficiently explain it2 but ,i believe ,i can show them the use of this kind of truth1 now that we are again concerned with this front of ,lucca4 ,they will find a drawing of the entire front in ,gally ,knight's ,architecture of ,italy4 ,it may serve to give them an idea of its general disposition1 and it looks very careful and accurate2 but every bit of the ornament on it is drawn out of the artist's head4 ,there is not one line of it that exists on the building4 ,the reader will therefore1 perhaps1 think my ugly black plate of somewhat more value1 upon the whole1 in its rough veracity1 than the other in its delicate fiction4#ig ,illustration3 ,plate ,,xxi4 ,,wall ,,veil ,,decoration4 ,as1 however1 ,i made a drawing of another part of the church somewhat more delicately1 and as ,i do not choose that my favorite church should suffer in honor by my coarse work1 ,i have had this1 as far as might be1 fac-similied by line engraving 7,plate ,,xxi474 ,it represents the southern side of the lower arcade of the west front2 and may convey some idea of the exquisite finish and grace of the whole2 but the old plate1 in the ,seven ,lamps1 gives a nearer view of one of the upper arches1 and a more faithful impression of the present aspect of the work1 and especially of the seats of the horsemen2 the limb straight1 and well down on the stirrup 7the warrior's seat1 observe1 not the jockey's71 with a single pointed spur on the heel4 ,the bit of the lower cornice under this arch ,i could not see1 and therefore had not drawn2 it was supplied from beneath another arch4 ,i am afraid1 however1 the reader has lost the thread of my story while ,i have been recommending my veracity to him4 ,i was insisting upon the healthy tone of this ,lucca work as compared with the old spectral ,lombard friezes4 ,the apes of the ,pavian church ride without stirrups1 but all is in good order and harness here3 civilisation had done its work2 there was reaping of corn in the ,val d',arno1 though rough hunting still upon its hills4 ,but in the north1 though a century or two later1 we find the forests of the ,rhone1 and its rude limestone cotes1 haunted by phantasms still 7more meat-eating1 then1 ,i think74 ,i do not know a more interesting group of cathedrals than that of ,lyons1 ,vienne1 and ,valencia3 a more interesting indeed1 generally1 than beautiful2 but there is a row of niches on the west front of ,lyons1 and a course of panelled decoration about its doors1 which is1 without exception1 the most exquisite piece of ,northern ,gothic ,i ever beheld1 and with which ,i know nothing that is even comparable1 except the work of the north transept of ,rouen1 described in the ,seven ,lamps1 p4 #aei2 work of about the same date1 and exactly the same plan2 quatrefoils filled with grotesques1 but somewhat less finished in execution1 and somewhat less wild in imagination4 ,i wrote down hastily1 and in their own course1 the subjects of some of the quatrefoils of ,lyons2 of which ,i here give the reader the sequence3-- #a4 ,elephant and castle2 less graphic than the ,st4 ,zeno one4 #b4 ,a huge head walking on two legs1 turned backwards1 hoofed2 the head has a horn behind1 with drapery over it1 which ends in another head4 #c4 ,a boar hunt2 the boar under a tree1 very spirited4 #d4 ,a bird putting its head between its legs to bite its own tail1 which ends in a head4 #e4 ,a dragon with a human head set on the wrong way4 #f4 ,st4 ,peter awakened by the angel in prison2 full of spirit1 the prison picturesque1 with a trefoiled arch1 the angel eager1 ,st4 ,peter startled1 and full of motion4 #g4 ,st4 ,peter led out by the angel4 #h4 ,the miraculous draught of fishes2 fish and all1 in the small space4 #i4 ,a large leaf1 with two snails rampant1 coming out of nautilus shells1 with grotesque faces1 and eyes at the ends of their horns4 #aj4 ,a man with an axe striking at a dog's head1 which comes out of a nautilus shell3 the rim of the shell branches into a stem with two large leaves4 #aa4 ,martyrdom of ,st4 ,sebastian2 his body very full of arrows4 #ab4 ,beasts coming to ark2 ,noah opening a kind of wicker cage4 #ac4 ,noah building the ark on shores4 #ad4 ,a vine leaf with a dragon's head and tail1 the one biting the other4 #ae4 ,a man riding a goat1 catching a flying devil4 #af4 ,an eel or muraena growing into a bunch of flowers1 which turns into two wings4 #ag4 ,a sprig of hazel1 with nuts1 thrown all around the quatrefoils with a squirrel in centre1 apparently attached to the tree only by its enormous tail1 richly furrowed into hair1 and nobly sweeping4 #ah4 ,four hares fastened together by the ears1 galloping in a circle4 ,mingled with these grotesques are many sword and buckler combats1 the bucklers being round and conical like a hat2 ,i thought the first ,i noticed1 carried by a man at full gallop on horseback1 had been a small umbrella4 ,this list of subjects may sufficiently illustrate the feverish character of the ,northern ,energy2 but influencing the treatment of the whole there is also the ,northern love of what is called the ,grotesque1 a feeling which ,i find myself1 for the present1 quite incapable either of analysing or defining1 though we all have a distinct idea attached to the word3 ,i shall try1 however1 in the next volume4 #i4 ,,wooden ,,churches ,,of ,,the ,,north4 ,i cannot pledge myself to this theory of the origin of the vaulting shaft1 but the reader will find some interesting confirmations of it in ,dahl's work on the wooden churches of ,norway4 ,the inside view of the church of ,borgund shows the timber construction of one shaft run up through a crossing architrave1 and continued into the clerestory2 while the church of ,urnes is in the exact form of a basilica2 but the wall above the arches is formed of planks1 with a strong upright above each capital4 ,the passage quoted from ,stephen ,eddy's ,life of ,bishop ,wilfrid1 at p4 #hf of ,churton's ,early ,english ,church1 gives us one of the transformations or petrifactions of the wooden ,saxon churches4 ,at ,ripon he built a new church of polished stone1 with columns variously ornamented1 and porches4 ,mr4 ,churton adds3 ,it was perhaps in bad imitation of the marble buildings he had seen in ,italy1 that he washed the walls of this original ,york ,minster1 and made them 'whiter than snow4' #aj4 ,,church ,,of ,,alexandria4 ,the very cause which enabled the ,venetians to possess themselves of the body of ,st4 ,mark1 was the destruction of the church by the caliph for the sake of its marbles3 the ,arabs and ,venetians1 though bitter enemies1 thus building on the same models2 these in reverence for the destroyed church1 and those with the very pieces of it4 ,in the somewhat prolix account of the matter given in the ,notizie ,storiche 7above quoted7 the main points are1 that il ,califa de' ,saraceni1 per fabbricarsi un ,palazzo presse di ,babilonia1 aveva ordinato che dalle ,chiese d' ,cristiani si togliessero i pi scelti marmi2 and that the ,venetians1 videro sotto i loro occhi flagellarsi crudelmente un ,cristiano per aver infranto un marmo4 ,i heartily wish that the same kind of punishment were enforced to this day1 for the same sin4 #aa4 ,,renaissance ,,landscape4 ,i am glad here to re-assert opinions which it has grieved me to be suspected of having changed4 ,the calmer tone of the second volume of ,modern ,painters1 as compared with the first1 induced1 ,i believe1 this suspicion1 very justifiably1 in the minds of many of its readers4 ,the difference resulted1 however1 from the simple fact1 that the first was written in great haste and indignation1 for a special purpose and time2--the second1 after ,i had got engaged1 almost unawares1 in inquiries which could not be hastily nor indignantly pursued2 my opinions remaining then1 and remaining now1 altogether unchanged on the subject which led me into the discussion4 ,and that no farther doubt of them may be entertained by any who may think them worth questioning1 ,i shall here1 once for all1 express them in the plainest and fewest words ,i can4 ,i think that ,j4 ,m4 ,w4 ,turner is not only the greatest 7professed7 landscape painter who ever lived1 but that he has in him as much as would have furnished all the rest with such power as they had2 and that if we put ,nicolo ,poussin1 ,salvator1 and our own ,gainsborough out of the group1 he would cut up into ,claudes1 ,cuyps1 ,ruysdaels1 and such others1 by uncounted bunches4 ,i hope this is plainly and strongly enough stated4 ,and farther1 ,i like his later pictures1 up to the year #ahde1 the best2 and believe that those persons who only like his early pictures do not1 in fact1 like him at all4 ,they do not like that which is essentially his4 ,they like that in which he resembles other men2 which he had learned from ,loutherbourg1 ,claude1 or ,wilson2 that which is indeed his own1 they do not care for4 ,not that there is not much of his own in his early works2 they are all invaluable in their way2 but those persons who can find no beauty in his strangest fantasy on the ,academy walls1 cannot distinguish the peculiarly ,turneresque characters of the earlier pictures4 ,and1 therefore1 ,i again state here1 that ,i think his pictures painted between the years #ahcj and #ahde his greatest2 and that his entire power is best represented by such pictures as the ,temeraire1 the ,sun of ,venice going to ,sea1 and others1 painted exactly at the time when the public and the press were together loudest in abuse of him4 ,turner4 ,tintoret4 ,massaccio4 ,john ,bellini4 ,albert ,durer4 ,giorgione4 ,paul ,veronese4 ,titian4 ,rubens4 ,correggio4 ,orcagna4 ,benozzo ,gozzoli4 ,giotto4 ,raffaelle4 ,perugino4 ,i desire1 however1 the reader to observe that ,i said1 above1 professed landscape painters1 among whom1 perhaps1 ,i should hardly have put ,gainsborough4 ,the landscape of the great figure painters is often majestic in the highest degree1 and ,tintoret's especially shows exactly the same power and feeling as ,turner's4 ,if with ,turner ,i were to rank the historical painters as landscapists1 estimating rather the power they show1 than the actual value of the landscape they produced1 ,i should class those1 whose landscapes ,i have studied1 in some such order as this at the side of the page3--associating with the landscape of ,perugino that of ,francia and ,angelico1 and the other severe painters of religious subjects4 ,i have put ,turner and ,tintoret side by side1 not knowing which is1 in landscape1 the greater2 ,i had nearly associated in the same manner the noble names of ,john ,bellini and ,albert ,durer2 but ,bellini must be put first1 for his profound religious peace yet not separated from the other1 if but that we might remember his kindness to him in ,venice2 and it is well we should take note of it here1 for it furnishes us with a most interesting confirmation of what was said in the text respecting the position of ,bellini as the last of the religious painters of ,venice4 ,the following passage is quoted in ,jackson's ,essay on ,wood-engraving1 from ,albert ,durer's ,diary3 ,i have many good friends among the ,italians who warn me not to eat or drink with their painters1 of whom several are my enemies1 and copy my picture in the church1 and others of mine1 wherever they can find them1 and yet they blame them1 and say they are not according to ancient art1 and therefore not good4 ,giovanni ,bellini1 however1 has praised me highly to several gentlemen1 and wishes to have something of my doing3 he called on me himself1 and requested that ,i would paint a picture for him1 for which1 he said1 he would pay me well4 ,people are all surprised that ,i should be so much thought of by a person of his reputation3 he is very old1 but is still the best painter of them all4 ,a choice little piece of description this1 of the ,renaissance painters1 side by side with the good old ,venetian1 who was soon to leave them to their own ways4 ,the ,renaissance men are seen in perfection1 envying1 stealing1 and lying1 but without wit enough to lie to purpose4 #ab4 ,,romanist ,,modern ,,art4 ,it is of the highest importance1 in these days1 that ,romanism should be deprived of the miserable influence which its pomp and picturesqueness have given it over the weak sentimentalism of the ,english people2 ,i call it a miserable influence1 for of all motives to sympathy with the ,church of ,rome1 this ,i unhesitatingly class as the basest3 ,i can1 in some measure1 respect the other feelings which have been the beginnings of apostasy2 ,i can respect the desire for unity which would reclaim the ,romanist by love1 and the distrust of his own heart which subjects the proselyte to priestly power2 ,i say ,i can respect these feelings1 though ,i cannot pardon unprincipled submission to them1 nor enough wonder at the infinite fatuity of the unhappy persons whom they have betrayed3--,fatuity1 self-inflicted1 and stubborn in resistance to ,god's ,word and man's reason6--to talk of the authority of the ,church1 as if the ,church were anything else than the whole company of ,christian men1 or were ever spoken of in ,scripture#ih as other than a company to be taught and fed1 not to teach and feed4--,fatuity6 to talk of a separation of ,church and ,state1 as if a ,christian state1 and every officer therein1 were not necessarily a part of the ,church1#ii and as if any state officer could do his duty without endeavoring to aid and promote religion1 or any clerical officer do his duty without seeking for such aid and accepting it3--,fatuity6 to seek for the unity of a living body of truth and trust in ,god1 with a dead body of lies and trust in wood1 and thence to expect anything else than plague1 and consumption by worms undying1 for both4 ,blasphemy as well as fatuity6 to ask for any better interpreter of ,god's ,word than ,god1 or to expect knowledge of it in any other way than the plainly ordered way3 if any man will do he shall know4 ,but of all these fatuities1 the basest is the being lured into the ,romanist ,church by the glitter of it1 like larks into a trap by broken glass2 to be blown into a change of religion by the whine of an organ-pipe2 stitched into a new creed by gold threads on priests' petticoats2 jangled into a change of conscience by the chimes of a belfry4 ,i know nothing in the shape of error so dark as this1 no imbecility so absolute1 no treachery so contemptible4 ,i had hardly believed that it was a thing possible1 though vague stories had been told me of the effect1 on some minds1 of mere scarlet and candles1 until ,i came on this passage in ,pugin's ,remarks on articles in the ,rambler3-- ,those who have lived in want and privation are the best qualified to appreciate the blessings of plenty2 thus1 those who have been devout and sincere members of the separated portion of the ,english ,church2 who have prayed1 and hoped1 and loved1 through all the poverty of the maimed rites which it has retained--to them does the realisation of all their longing desires appear truly ravishing4 99 99 99 ,oh6 then1 what delight6 what joy unspeakable6 when one of the solemn piles is presented to them1 in all its pristine life and glory6--the stoups are filled to the brim2 the rood is raised on high2 the screen glows with sacred imagery and rich device2 the niches are filled2 the altar is replaced1 sustained by sculptured shafts1 the relics of the saints repose beneath1 the body of ,our ,lord is enshrined on its consecrated stone2 the lamps of the sanctuary burn bright2 the saintly portraitures in the glass windows shine all gloriously2 and the albs hang in the oaken ambries1 and the cope chests are filled with orphreyed baudekins2 and pix and pax1 and chrismatory are there1 and thurible1 and cross4 ,one might have put this man under a pix1 and left him1 one should have thought2 but he has been brought forward1 and partly received1 as an example of the effect of ceremonial splendor on the mind of a great architect4 ,it is very necessary1 therefore1 that all those who have felt sorrow at this should know at once that he is not a great architect1 but one of the smallest possible or conceivable architects2 and that by his own account and setting forth of himself4 ,hear him3-- ,i believe1 as regards architecture1 few men have been so unfortunate as myself4 ,i have passed my life in thinking of fine things1 studying fine things1 designing fine things1 and realising very poor ones4 ,i have never had the chance of producing a single fine ecclesiastical building1 except my own church1 where ,i am both paymaster and architect2 but everything else1 either for want of adequate funds or injudicious interference and control1 or some other contingency1 is more or less a failure4 99 99 99 ,st4 ,george's was spoilt by the very instructions laid down by the committee1 that it was to hold #cjjj people on the floor at a limited price2 in consequence1 height1 proportion1 everything1 was sacrificed to meet these conditions4 ,nottingham was spoilt by the style being restricted to lancet1--a period well suited to a ,cistercian abbey in a secluded vale1 but very unsuitable for the centre of a crowded town4 99 99 99 ,kirkham was spoilt through several hundred pounds being reduced on the original estimate2 to effect this1 which was a great sum in proportion to the entire cost1 the area of the church was contracted1 the walls lowered1 tower and spire reduced1 the thickness of walls diminished1 and stone arches omitted4 7,remarks1 c41 by ,a4 ,welby ,pugin3 ,dolman1 #ahej47 ,is that so8 ,phidias can niche himself into the corner of a pediment1 and ,raffaelle expatiate within the circumference of a clay platter2 but ,pugin is inexpressible in less than a cathedral8 ,let his ineffableness be assured of this1 once for all1 that no difficulty or restraint ever happened to a man of real power1 but his power was the more manifested in the contending with1 or conquering it2 and that there is no field so small1 no cranny so contracted1 but that a great spirit can house and manifest itself therein4 ,the thunder that smites the ,alp into dust1 can gather itself into the width of a golden wire4 ,whatever greatness there was in you1 had it been ,buonarroti's own1 you had room enough for it in a single niche3 you might have put the whole power of it into two feet cube of ,caen stone4 ,st4 ,george's was not high enough for want of money8 ,but was it want of money that made you put that blunt1 overloaded1 laborious ogee door into the side of it8 ,was it for lack of funds that you sunk the tracery of the parapet in its clumsy zigzags8 ,was it in parsimony that you buried its paltry pinnacles in that eruption of diseased crockets8 or in pecuniary embarrassment that you set up the belfry foolscaps1 with the mimicry of dormer windows1 which nobody can ever reach nor look out of8 ,not so1 but in mere incapability of better things4 ,i am sorry to have to speak thus of any living architect2 and there is much in this man1 if he were rightly estimated1 which one might both regard and profit by4 ,he has a most sincere love for his profession1 a heartily honest enthusiasm for pixes and piscinas2 and though he will never design so much as a pix or a piscina thoroughly well1 yet better than most of the experimental architects of the day4 ,employ him by all means1 but on small work4 ,expect no cathedrals from him2 but no one1 at present1 can design a better finial4 ,that is an exceedingly beautiful one over the western door of ,st4 ,george's2 and there is some spirited impishness and switching of tails in the supporting figures at the imposts4 ,only do not allow his good designing of finials to be employed as an evidence in matters of divinity1 nor thence deduce the incompatibility of ,protestantism and art4 ,i should have said all that ,i have said above1 of artistical apostasy1 if ,giotto had been now living in ,florence1 and if art were still doing all that it did once for ,rome4 ,but the grossness of the error becomes incomprehensible as well as unpardonable1 when we look to what level of degradation the human intellect has sunk at this instant in ,italy4 ,so far from ,romanism now producing anything greater in art1 it cannot even preserve what has been given to its keeping4 ,i know no abuses of precious inheritance half so grievous1 as the abuse of all that is best in art wherever the ,romanist priesthood gets possession of it4 ,it amounts to absolute infatuation4 ,the noblest pieces of medival sculpture in ,north ,italy1 the two griffins at the central 7west7 door of the cathedral of ,verona1 were daily permitted to be brought into service1 when ,i was there in the autumn of #ahdi1 by a washerwoman living in the ,piazza1 who tied her clothes-lines to their beaks3 and the shafts of ,st4 ,mark's at ,venice were used by a salesman of common caricatures to fasten his prints upon 7,compare ,appendix #be72 and this in the face of the continually passing priests3 while the quantity of noble art annually destroyed in altarpieces by candle-droppings1 or perishing by pure brutality of neglect1 passes all estimate4 ,i do not know1 as ,i have repeatedly stated1 how far the splendor of architecture1 or other art1 is compatible with the honesty and usefulness of religious service4 ,the longer ,i live1 the more ,i incline to severe judgment in this matter1 and the less ,i can trust the sentiments excited by painted glass and colored tiles4 ,but if there be indeed value in such things1 our plain duty is to direct our strength against the superstition which has dishonored them2 there are thousands who might possibly be benefited by them1 to whom they are now merely an offence1 owing to their association with idolatrous ceremonies4 ,i have but this exhortation for all who love them1--not to regulate their creeds by their taste in colors1 but to hold calmly to the right1 at whatever present cost to their imaginative enjoyment2 sure that they will one day find in heavenly truth a brighter charm than in earthly imagery1 and striving to gather stones for the eternal building1 whose walls shall be salvation1 and whose gates shall be praise4 #ac4 ,,mr4 ,,fergusson',s ,,system4 ,the reader may at first suppose this division of the attributes of buildings into action1 voice1 and beauty1 to be the same division as ,mr4 ,fergusson's1 now well known1 of their merits1 into technic1 sthetic and phonetic4 ,but there is no connection between the two systems2 mine1 indeed1 does not profess to be a system1 it is a mere arrangement of my subject1 for the sake of order and convenience in its treatment3 but1 as far as it goes1 it differs altogether from ,mr4 ,fergusson's in these two following respects3-- ,the action of a building1 that is to say its standing or consistence1 depends on its good construction2 and the first part of the foregoing volume has been entirely occupied with the consideration of the constructive merit of buildings3 but construction is not their only technical merit4 ,there is as much of technical merit in their expression1 or in their beauty1 as in their construction4 ,there is no more mechanical or technical admirableness in the stroke of the painter who covers them with fresco1 than in the dexterity of the mason who cements their stones3 there is just as much of what is technical in their beauty1 therefore1 as in their construction2 and1 on the other hand1 there is often just as much intellect shown in their construction as there is in either their expression or decoration4 ,now ,mr4 ,fergusson means by his ,phonetic division1 whatever expresses intellect3 my constructive division1 therefore1 includes part of his phonetic3 and my expressive and decorative divisions include part of his technical4 ,secondly1 ,mr4 ,fergusson tries to make the same divisions fit the subjects of art1 and art itself2 and therefore talks of technic1 sthetic1 and phonetic1 arts1 7or1 translating the ,greek17 of artful arts1 sensitive arts1 and talkative arts2 but ,i have nothing to do with any division of the arts1 ,i have to deal only with the merits of buildings4 ,as1 however1 ,i have been led into reference to ,mr4 ,fergusson's system1 ,i would fain say a word or two to effect ,mr4 ,fergusson's extrication from it4 ,i hope to find in him a noble ally1 ready to join with me in war upon affectation1 falsehood1 and prejudice1 of every kind3 ,i have derived much instruction from his most interesting work1 and ,i hope for much more from its continuation2 but he must disentangle himself from his system1 or he will be strangled by it2 never was anything so ingeniously and hopelessly wrong throughout2 the whole of it is founded on a confusion of the instruments of man with his capacities4 ,mr4 ,fergusson would have us take-- ,first1 man's muscular action or power4 7,technics47 ,secondly1 those developments of sense by which he does66 as much as by his muscles4 7sthetics47 ,lastly1 his intellect1 or to confine this more correctly to its external action1 his power of speech666 7,phonetics47 ,granting this division of humanity correct1 or sufficient1 the writer then most curiously supposes that he may arrange the arts as if there were some belonging to each division of man1--never observing that every art must be governed by1 and addressed to1 one division1 and executed by another2 executed by the muscular1 addressed to the sensitive or intellectual2 and that1 to be an art at all1 it must have in it work of the one1 and guidance from the other4 ,if1 by any lucky accident1 he had been led to arrange the arts1 either by their objects1 and the things to which they are addressed1 or by their means1 and the things by which they are executed1 he would have discovered his mistake in an instant4 ,as thus3-- ,these arts are addressed to the1--,muscles66 ,senses1 ,intellect2 or executed by1--,muscles1 ,senses66 ,intellect4 ,indeed it is true that some of the arts are in a sort addressed to the muscles1 surgery for instance2 but this is not among ,mr4 ,fergusson's technic1 but his politic1 arts6 and all the arts may1 in a sort1 be said to be performed by the senses1 as the senses guide both muscles and intellect in their work3 but they guide them as they receive information1 or are standards of accuracy1 but not as in themselves capable of action4 ,mr4 ,fergusson is1 ,i believe1 the first person who has told us of senses that act or do1 they having been hitherto supposed only to sustain or perceive4 ,the weight of error1 however1 rests just as much in the original division of man1 as in the endeavor to fit the arts to it4 ,the slight omission of the soul makes a considerable difference when it begins to influence the final results of the arrangement4 ,mr4 ,fergusson calls morals and religion ,politick arts 7as if religion were an art at all6 or as if both were not as necessary to individuals as to societies72 and therefore1 forming these into a body of arts by themselves1 leaves the best of the arts to do without the soul and the moral feeling as rest they may4 ,hence expression1 or phonetics1 is of intellect only 7as if men never expressed their feelings672 and then1 strangest and worst of all1 intellect is entirely resolved into talking6 ,there can be no intellect but it must talk1 and all talking must be intellectual4 ,i believe people do sometimes talk without understanding2 and ,i think the world would fare ill if they never understood without talking4 ,the intellect is an entirely silent faculty1 and has nothing to do with parts of speech any more than the moral part has4 ,a man may feel and know things without expressing either the feeling or knowledge2 and the talking is a muscular mode of communicating the workings of the intellect or heart--muscular1 whether it be by tongue or by sign1 or by carving or writing1 or by expression of feature2 so that to divide a man into muscular and talking parts1 is to divide him into body in general1 and tongue in particular1 the endless confusion resulting from which arrangement is only less marvellous in itself1 than the resolution with which ,mr4 ,fergusson has worked through it1 and in spite of it1 up to some very interesting and suggestive truths2 although starting with a division of humanity which does not in the least raise it above the brute1 for a rattlesnake has his muscular1 sthetic1 and talking part as much as man1 only he talks with his tail1 and says1 ,i am angry with you1 and should like to bite you1 more laconically and effectively than any phonetic biped could1 were he so minded4 ,and1 in fact1 the real difference between the brute and man is not so much that the one has fewer means of expression than the other1 as that it has fewer thoughts to express1 and that we do not understand its expressions4 ,animals can talk to one another intelligibly enough when they have anything to say1 and their captains have words of command just as clear as ours1 and better obeyed4 ,we have indeed1 in watching the efforts of an intelligent animal to talk to a human being1 a melancholy sense of its dumbness2 but the fault is still in its intelligence1 more than in its tongue4 ,it has not wit enough to systematise its cries or signs1 and form them into language4 ,but there is no end to the fallacies and confusions of ,mr4 ,fergusson's arrangement4 ,it is a perfect entanglement of gun-cotton1 and explodes into vacuity wherever one holds a light to it4 ,i shall leave him to do so with the rest of it for himself1 and should perhaps have left it to his own handling altogether1 but for the intemperateness of the spirit with which he has spoken on a subject perhaps of all others demanding gentleness and caution4 ,no man could more earnestly have desired the changes lately introduced into the system of the ,university of ,oxford than ,i did myself3 no man can be more deeply sensible than ,i of grievous failures in the practical working even of the present system3 but ,i believe that these failures may be almost without exception traced to one source1 the want of evangelical1 and the excess of rubrical religion among the tutors2 together with such rustinesses and stiffnesses as necessarily attend the continual operation of any intellectual machine4 ,the fault is1 at any rate1 far less in the system than in the imperfection of its administration2 and had it been otherwise1 the terms in which ,mr4 ,fergusson speaks of it are hardly decorous in one who can but be imperfectly acquainted with its working4 ,they are sufficiently answered by the structure of the essay in which they occur2 for if the high powers of mind which its author possesses had been subjected to the discipline of the schools1 he could not have wasted his time on the development of a system which their simplest formul of logic would have shown him to be untenable4 ,mr4 ,fergusson will1 however1 find it easier to overthrow his system than to replace it4 ,every man of science knows the difficulty of arranging a reasonable system of classification1 in any subject1 by any one group of characters2 and that the best classifications are1 in many of their branches1 convenient rather than reasonable3 so that1 to any person who is really master of his subject1 many different modes of classification will occur at different times2 one of which he will use rather than another1 according to the point which he has to investigate4 ,i need only instance the three arrangements of minerals1 by their external characters1 and their positive or negative bases1 of which the first is the most useful1 the second the most natural1 the third the most simple2 and all in several ways unsatisfactory4 ,but when the subject becomes one which no single mind can grasp1 and which embraces the whole range of human occupation and enquiry1 the difficulties become as great1 and the methods as various1 as the uses to which the classification might be put2 and ,mr4 ,fergusson has entirely forgotten to inform us what is the object to which his arrangements are addressed4 ,for observe3 there is one kind of arrangement which is based on the rational connection of the sciences or arts with one another2 an arrangement which maps them out like the rivers of some great country1 and marks the points of their junction1 and the direction and force of their united currents2 and this without assigning to any one of them a superiority above another1 but considering them all as necessary members of the noble unity of human science and effort4 ,there is another kind of classification which contemplates the order of succession in which they might most usefully be presented to a single mind1 so that the given mind should obtain the most effective and available knowledge of them all3 and1 finally1 the most usual classification contemplates the powers of mind which they each require for their pursuit1 the objects to which they are addressed1 or with which they are concerned2 and assigns to each of them a rank superior or inferior1 according to the nobility of the powers they require1 or the grandeur of the subjects they contemplate4 ,now1 not only would it be necessary to adopt a different classification with respect to each of these great intentions1 but it might be found so even to vary the order of the succession of sciences in the case of every several mind to which they were addressed2 and that their rank would also vary with the power and specific character of the mind engaged upon them4 ,i once heard a very profound mathematician remonstrate against the impropriety of ,wordsworth's receiving a pension from government1 on the ground that he was only a poet4 ,if the study of mathematics had always this narrowing effect upon the sympathies1 the science itself would need to be deprived of the rank usually assigned to it2 and there could be no doubt that1 in the effect it had on the mind of this man1 and of such others1 it was a very contemptible science indeed4 ,hence1 in estimating the real rank of any art or science1 it is necessary for us to conceive it as it would be grasped by minds of every order4 ,there are some arts and sciences which we underrate1 because no one has risen to show us with what majesty they may be invested2 and others which we overrate1 because we are blinded to their general meanness by the magnificence which some one man has thrown around them3 thus1 philology1 evidently the most contemptible of all the sciences1 has been raised to unjust dignity by ,johnson4#ajj ,and the subject is farther complicated by the question of usefulness2 for many of the arts and sciences require considerable intellectual power for their pursuit1 and yet become contemptible by the slightness of what they accomplish3 metaphysics1 for instance1 exercising intelligence of a high order1 yet useless to the mass of mankind1 and1 to its own masters1 dangerous4 ,yet1 as it has become so by the want of the true intelligence which its inquiries need1 and by substitution of vain subtleties in its stead1 it may in future vindicate for itself a higher rank than a man of common sense usually concedes to it4 ,nevertheless1 the mere attempt at arrangement must be useful1 even where it does nothing more than develop difficulties4 ,perhaps the greatest fault of men of learning is their so often supposing all other branches of science dependent upon or inferior to their own best beloved branch2 and the greatest deficiency of men comparatively unlearned1 their want of perception of the connection of the branches with each other4 ,he who holds the tree only by the extremities1 can perceive nothing but the separation of its sprays4 ,it must always be desirable to prove to those the equality of rank1 to these the closeness of sequence1 of what they had falsely supposed subordinate or separate4 ,and1 after such candid admission of the co-equal dignity of the truly noble arts and sciences1 we may be enabled more justly to estimate the inferiority of those which indeed seem intended for the occupation of inferior powers and narrower capacities4 ,in ,appendix #ad1 following1 some suggestions will be found as to the principles on which classification might be based2 but the arrangement of all the arts is certainly not a work which could with discretion be attempted in the ,appendix to an essay on a branch of one of them4 #ad4 ,,divisions ,,of ,,humanity4 ,the reader will probably understand this part of the subject better if he will take the trouble briefly to consider the actions of the mind and body of man in the sciences and arts1 which give these latter the relations of rank usually attributed to them4 ,it was above observed 7,appendix #ac7 that the arts were generally ranked according to the nobility of the powers they require1 that is to say1 the quantity of the being of man which they engaged or addressed4 ,now their rank is not a very important matter as regards each other1 for there are few disputes more futile than that concerning the respective dignity of arts1 all of which are necessary and honorable4 ,but it is a very important matter as regards themselves2 very important whether they are practised with the devotion and regarded with the respect which are necessary or due to their perfection4 ,it does not at all matter whether architecture or sculpture be the nobler art2 but it matters much whether the thought is bestowed upon buildings1 or the feeling is expressed in statues1 which make either deserving of our admiration4 ,it is foolish and insolent to imagine that the art which we ourselves practise is greater than any other2 but it is wise to take care that in our own hands it is as noble as we can make it4 ,let us take some notice1 therefore1 in what degrees the faculties of man may be engaged in his several arts3 we may consider the entire man as made up of body1 soul1 and intellect 7,lord ,lindsay1 meaning the same thing1 says inaccurately--sense1 intellect1 and spirit--forgetting that there is a moral sense as well as a bodily sense1 and a spiritual body as well as a natural body1 and so gets into some awkward confusion1 though right in the main points74 ,then1 taking the word soul as a short expression of the moral and responsible part of being1 each of these three parts has a passive and active power4 ,the body has senses and muscles2 the soul1 feeling and resolution2 the intellect1 understanding and imagination4 ,the scheme may be put into tabular form1 thus3-- ,passive or ,receptive ,part4 ,active or ,motive ,part4 ,body ,senses4 ,muscles4 ,soul ,feeling4 ,resolution4 ,intellect ,understanding4 ,imagination4 ,in this scheme ,i consider memory a part of understanding1 and conscience ,i leave out1 as being the voice of ,god in the heart1 inseparable from the system1 yet not an essential part of it4 ,the sense of beauty ,i consider a mixture of the ,senses of the body and soul4 ,now all these parts of the human system have a reciprocal action on one another1 so that the true perfection of any of them is not possible without some relative perfection of the others1 and yet any one of the parts of the system may be brought into a morbid development1 inconsistent with the perfection of the others4 ,thus1 in a healthy state1 the acuteness of the senses quickens that of the feelings1 and these latter quicken the understanding1 and then all the three quicken the imagination1 and then all the four strengthen the resolution2 while yet there is a danger1 on the other hand1 that the encouraged and morbid feeling may weaken or bias the understanding1 or that the over shrewd and keen understanding may shorten the imagination1 or that the understanding and imagination together may take place of1 or undermine1 the resolution1 as in ,hamlet4 ,so in the mere bodily frame there is a delightful perfection of the senses1 consistent with the utmost health of the muscular system1 as in the quick sight and hearing of an active savage3 another false delicacy of the senses1 in the ,sybarite1 consequent on their over indulgence1 until the doubled rose-leaf is painful2 and this inconsistent with muscular perfection4 ,again2 there is a perfection of muscular action consistent with exquisite sense1 as in that of the fingers of a musician or of a painter1 in which the muscles are guided by the slightest feeling of the strings1 or of the pencil3 another perfection of muscular action inconsistent with acuteness of sense1 as in the effort of battle1 in which a soldier does not perceive his wounds4 ,so that it is never so much the question1 what is the solitary perfection of a given part of the man1 as what is its balanced perfection in relation to the whole of him3 and again1 the perfection of any single power is not merely to be valued by the mere rank of the power itself1 but by the harmony which it indicates among the other powers4 ,thus1 for instance1 in an archer's glance along his arrow1 or a hunter's raising of his rifle1 there is a certain perfection of sense and finger which is the result of mere practice1 of a simple bodily perfection2 but there is a farther value in the habit which results from the resolution and intellect necessary to the forming of it3 in the hunter's raising of his rifle there is a quietness implying far more than mere practice1--implying courage1 and habitual meeting of danger1 and presence of mind1 and many other such noble characters4 ,so also in a musician's way of laying finger on his instrument1 or a painter's handling of his pencil1 there are many qualities expressive of the special sensibilities of each1 operating on the production of the habit1 besides the sensibility operating at the moment of action4 ,so that there are three distinct stages of merit in what is commonly called mere bodily dexterity3 the first1 the dexterity given by practice1 called command of tools or of weapons2 the second stage1 the dexterity or grace given by character1 as the gentleness of hand proceeding from modesty or tenderness of spirit1 and the steadiness of it resulting from habitual patience coupled with decision1 and the thousand other characters partially discernible1 even in a man's writing1 much more in his general handiwork2 and1 thirdly1 there is the perfection of action produced by the operation of present strength1 feeling1 or intelligence on instruments thus previously perfected1 as the handling of a great painter is rendered more beautiful by his immediate care and feeling and love of his subject1 or knowledge of it1 and as physical strength is increased by strength of will and greatness of heart4 ,imagine1 for instance1 the difference in manner of fighting1 and in actual muscular strength and endurance1 between a common soldier1 and a man in the circumstances of the ,horatii1 or of the temper of ,leonidas4 ,mere physical skill1 therefore1 the mere perfection and power of the body as an instrument1 is manifested in three stages3 ,first1 ,bodily power by practice2 ,secondly1 ,bodily power by moral habit2 ,thirdly1 ,bodily power by immediate energy2 and the arts will be greater or less1 cteris paribus1 according to the degrees of these dexterities which they admit4 ,a smith's work at his anvil admits little but the first2 fencing1 shooting1 and riding1 admit something of the second2 while the fine arts admit 7merely through the channel of the bodily dexterities7 an expression almost of the whole man4 ,nevertheless1 though the higher arts admit this higher bodily perfection1 they do not all require it in equal degrees1 but can dispense with it more and more in proportion to their dignity4 ,the arts whose chief element is bodily dexterity1 may be classed together as arts of the third order1 of which the highest will be those which admit most of the power of moral habit and energy1 such as riding and the management of weapons2 and the rest may be thrown together under the general title of handicrafts1 of which it does not much matter which are the most honorable1 but rather1 which are the most necessary and least injurious to health1 which it is not our present business to examine4 ,men engaged in the practice of these are called artizans1 as opposed to artists1 who are concerned with the fine arts4 ,the next step in elevation of art is the addition of the intelligences which have no connection with bodily dexterity2 as1 for instance1 in hunting1 the knowledge of the habits of animals and their places of abode2 in architecture1 of mathematics2 in painting1 of harmonies of color2 in music1 of those of sound2 all this pure science being joined with readiness of expedient in applying it1 and with shrewdness in apprehension of difficulties1 either present or probable4 ,it will often happen that intelligence of this kind is possessed without bodily dexterity1 or the need of it2 one man directing and another executing1 as for the most part in architecture1 war1 and seamanship4 ,and it is to be observed1 also1 that in proportion to the dignity of the art1 the bodily dexterities needed even in its subordinate agents become less important1 and are more and more replaced by intelligence2 as in the steering of a ship1 the bodily dexterity required is less than in shooting or fencing1 but the intelligence far greater3 and so in war1 the mere swordsmanship and marksmanship of the troops are of small importance in comparison with their disposition1 and right choice of the moment of action4 ,so that arts of this second order must be estimated1 not by the quantity of bodily dexterity they require1 but by the quantity and dignity of the knowledge needed in their practice1 and by the degree of subtlety needed in bringing such knowledge into play4 ,war certainly stands first in the general mind1 not only as the greatest of the arts which ,i have called of the second order1 but as the greatest of all arts4 ,it is not1 however1 easy to distinguish the respect paid to the ,power1 from that rendered to the ,art of the soldier2 the honor of victory being more dependent1 in the vulgar mind1 on its results1 than its difficulties4 ,i believe1 however1 that taking into consideration the greatness of the anxieties under which this art must be practised1 the multitude of circumstances to be known and regarded in it1 and the subtleties both of apprehension and stratagem constantly demanded by it1 as well as the multiplicity of disturbing accidents and doubtful contingencies against which it must make provision on the instant1 it must indeed rank as far the first of the arts of the second order2 and next to this great art of killing1 medicine being much like war in its stratagems and watchings against its dark and subtle death-enemy4 ,then the arts of the first order will be those in which the ,imaginative part of the intellect and the ,sensitive part of the soul are joined3 as poetry1 architecture1 and painting2 these forming a kind of cross1 in their part of the scheme of the human being1 with those of the second order1 which wed the ,intelligent part of the intellect and ,resolute part of the soul4 ,but the reader must feel more and more1 at every step1 the impossibility of classing the arts themselves1 independently of the men by whom they are practised2 and how an art1 low in itself1 may be made noble by the quantity of human strength and being which a great man will pour into it2 and an art1 great in itself1 be made mean by the meanness of the mind occupied in it4 ,i do not intend1 when ,i call painting an art of the first1 and war an art of the second1 order1 to class ,dutch landscape painters with good soldiers2 but ,i mean1 that if from such a man as ,napoleon we were to take away the honor of all that he had done in law and civil government1 and to give him the reputation of his soldiership only1 his name would be less1 if justly weighed1 than that of ,buonarroti1 himself a good soldier also1 when need was4 ,but ,i will not endeavor to pursue the inquiry1 for ,i believe that of all the arts of the first order it would be found that all that a man has1 or is1 or can be1 he can fully express in them1 and give to any of them1 and find it not enough4 #ae4 ,,instinctive ,,judgments4 ,the same rapid judgment which ,i wish to enable the reader to form of architecture1 may in some sort also be formed of painting1 owing to the close connection between execution and expression in the latter2 as between structure and expression in the former4 ,we ought to be able to tell good painting by a side glance as we pass along a gallery2 and1 until we can do so1 we are not fit to pronounce judgment at all3 not that ,i class this easily visible excellence of painting with the great expressional qualities which time and watchfulness only unfold4 ,i have again and again insisted on the supremacy of these last and shall always continue to do so4 ,but ,i perceive a tendency among some of the more thoughtful critics of the day to forget that the business of a painter is to paint1 and so altogether to despise those men1 ,veronese and ,rubens for instance1 who were painters1 par excellence1 and in whom the expressional qualities are subordinate4 ,now it is well1 when we have strong moral or poetical feeling manifested in painting1 to mark this as the best part of the work2 but it is not well to consider as a thing of small account1 the painter's language in which that feeling is conveyed1 for if that language be not good and lovely1 the man may indeed be a just moralist or a great poet1 but he is not a painter1 and it was wrong of him to paint4 ,he had much better put his morality into sermons1 and his poetry into verse1 than into a language of which he was not master4 ,and this mastery of the language is that of which we should be cognizant by a glance of the eye2 and if that be not found1 it is wasted time to look farther3 the man has mistaken his vocation1 and his expression of himself will be cramped by his awkward efforts to do what he was not fit to do4 ,on the other hand1 if the man be a painter indeed1 and have the gift of colors and lines1 what is in him will come from his hand freely and faithfully2 and the language itself is so difficult and so vast1 that the mere possession of it argues the man is great1 and that his works are worth reading4 ,so that ,i have never yet seen the case in which this true artistical excellence1 visible by the eye-glance1 was not the index of some true expressional worth in the work4 ,neither have ,i ever seen a good expressional work without high artistical merit3 and that this is ever denied is only owing to the narrow view which men are apt to take both of expression and of art2 a narrowness consequent on their own especial practice and habits of thought4 ,a man long trained to love the monk's visions of ,fra ,angelico1 turns in proud and ineffable disgust from the first work of ,rubens which he encounters on his return across the ,alps4 ,but is he right in his indignation8 ,he has forgotten1 that while ,angelico prayed and wept in his olive shade1 there was different work doing in the dank fields of ,flanders2--wild seas to be banked out2 endless canals to be dug1 and boundless marshes to be drained2 hard ploughing and harrowing of the frosty clay2 careful breeding of stout horses and fat cattle2 close setting of brick walls against cold winds and snow2 much hardening of hands and gross stoutening of bodies in all this2 gross jovialities of harvest homes and ,christmas feasts1 which were to be the reward of it2 rough affections1 and sluggish imagination2 fleshy1 substantial1 ironshod humanities1 but humanities still2 humanities which ,god had his eye upon1 and which won1 perhaps1 here and there1 as much favor in his sight as the wasted aspects of the whispering monks of ,florence 7,heaven forbid it should not be so1 since the most of us cannot be monks1 but must be ploughmen and reapers still74 ,and are we to suppose there is no nobility in ,rubens' masculine and universal sympathy with all this1 and with his large human rendering of it1 ,gentleman though he was1 by birth1 and feeling1 and education1 and place2 and1 when he chose1 lordly in conception also8 ,he had his faults1 perhaps great and lamentable faults1 though more those of his time and his country than his own2 he has neither cloister breeding nor boudoir breeding1 and is very unfit to paint either in missals or annuals2 but he has an open sky and wide-world breeding in him1 that we may not be offended with1 fit alike for king's court1 knight's camp1 or peasant's cottage4 ,on the other hand1 a man trained here in ,england1 in our ,sir ,joshua school1 will not and cannot allow that there is any art at all in the technical work of ,angelico4 ,but he is just as wrong as the other4 ,fra ,angelico is as true a master of the art necessary to his purposes1 as ,rubens was of that necessary for his4 ,we have been taught in ,england to think there can be no virtue but in a loaded brush and rapid hand2 but if we can shake our common sense free of such teaching1 we shall understand that there is art also in the delicate point and in the hand which trembles as it moves2 not because it is more liable to err1 but because there is more danger in its error1 and more at stake upon its precision4 ,the art of ,angelico1 both as a colorist and a draughtsman1 is consummate2 so perfect and beautiful1 that his work may be recognised at any distance by the rainbow-play and brilliancy of it3 ,however closely it may be surrounded by other works of the same school1 glowing with enamel and gold1 ,angelico's may be told from them at a glance1 like so many huge pieces of opal lying among common marbles4 ,so again with ,giotto2 the ,arena chapel is not only the most perfect expressional work1 it is the prettiest piece of wall decoration and fair color1 in ,north ,italy4 ,now there is a correspondence of the same kind between the technical and expressional parts of architecture2--not a true or entire correspondence1 so that when the expression is best1 the building must be also best2 but so much of correspondence as that good building is necessary to good expression1 comes before it1 and is to be primarily looked for3 and the more1 because the manner of building is capable of being determinately estimated and classed2 but the expressional character not so3 we can at once determine the true value of technical qualities1 we can only approximate to the value of expressional qualities3 and besides this1 the looking for the technical qualities first will enable us to cast a large quantity of rubbish aside at once1 and so to narrow the difficult field of inquiry into expression3 we shall get rid of ,chinese pagodas and ,indian temples1 and ,renaissance ,palladianisms1 and ,alhambra stucco and filigree1 in one great rubbish heap2 and shall not need to trouble ourselves about their expression1 or anything else concerning them4 ,then taking the buildings which have been rightly put together1 and which show common sense in their structure1 we may look for their farther and higher excellences2 but on those which are absurd in their first steps we need waste no time4 #af4 ,,strength ,,of ,,shafts4 ,i could have wished1 before writing this chapter1 to have given more study to the difficult subject of the strength of shafts of different materials and structure2 but ,i cannot enter into every inquiry which general criticism might suggest1 and this ,i believe to be one which would have occupied the reader with less profit than many others3 all that is necessary for him to note is1 that the great increase of strength gained by a tubular form in iron shafts1 of given solid contents1 is no contradiction to the general principle stated in the text1 that the strength of materials is most available when they are most concentrated4 ,the strength of the tube is owing to certain properties of the arch formed by its sides1 not to the dispersion of its materials3 and the principle is altogether inapplicable to stone shafts4 ,no one would think of building a pillar of a succession of sandstone rings2 however strong it might be1 it would be still stronger filled up1 and the substitution of such a pillar for a solid one of the same contents would lose too much space2 for a stone pillar1 even when solid1 must be quite as thick as is either graceful or convenient1 and in modern churches is often too thick as it is1 hindering sight of the preacher1 and checking the sound of his voice4 #ag4 ,,answer ,,to ,,mr4 ,,garbett4 ,some three months ago1 and long after the writing of this passage1 ,i met accidentally with ,mr4 ,garbett's elementary ,treatise on ,design4 7,weale1 #ahej47 ,if ,i had cared about the reputation of originality1 ,i should have been annoyed--and was so1 at first1 on finding ,mr4 ,garbett's illustrations of the subject exactly the same as mine1 even to the choice of the elephant's foot for the parallel of the ,doric pillar3 ,i even thought of omitting1 or rewriting1 great part of the chapter1 but determined at last to let it stand4 ,i am striving to speak plain truths on many simple and trite subjects1 and ,i hope1 therefore1 that much of what ,i say has been said before1 and am quite willing to give up all claim to originality in any reasoning or assertion whatsoever1 if any one cares to dispute it4 ,i desire the reader to accept what ,i say1 not as mine1 but as the truth1 which may be all the world's1 if they look for it4 ,if ,i remember rightly1 ,mr4 ,frank ,howard promised at some discussion respecting the ,seven ,lamps1 reported in the ,builder1 to pluck all my borrowed feathers off me2 but ,i did not see the end of the discussion1 and do not know to this day how many feathers ,i have left3 at all events the elephant's foot must belong to ,mr4 ,garbett1 though1 strictly speaking1 neither he nor ,i can be quite justified in using it1 for an elephant in reality stands on tiptoe2 and this is by no means the expression of a ,doric shaft4 ,as1 however1 ,i have been obliged to speak of this treatise of ,mr4 ,garbett's1 and desire also to recommend it as of much interest and utility in its statements of fact1 it is impossible for me to pass altogether without notice1 as if unanswerable1 several passages in which the writer has objected to views stated in the ,seven ,lamps4 ,i should at any rate have noticed the passage quoted above1 7,chap4 #cjth17 which runs counter to the spirit of all ,i have ever written1 though without referring to me2 but the references to the ,seven ,lamps ,i should not have answered1 unless ,i had desired1 generally1 to recommend the book1 and partly also1 because they may serve as examples of the kind of animadversion which the ,seven ,lamps had to sustain from architects1 very generally2 which examples being once answered1 there will be little occasion for my referring in future to other criticisms of the kind4 ,the first reference to the ,seven ,lamps is in the second page1 where ,mr4 ,garbett asks a question1 ,why are not convenience and stability enough to constitute a fine building8--which ,i should have answered shortly by asking another1 ,why we have been made men1 and not bees nor termites3 but ,mr4 ,garbett has given a very pretty1 though partial1 answer to it himself1 in his #dth to #ith pages1--an answer which ,i heartily beg the reader to consider4 ,but1 in page #ab1 it is made a grave charge against me1 that ,i use the words beauty and ornament interchangeably4 ,i do so1 and ever shall2 and so1 ,i believe1 one day1 will ,mr4 ,garbett himself2 but not while he continues to head his pages thus3--,beauty not dependent on ornament1 or superfluous features4 ,what right has he to assume that ornament1 rightly so called1 ever was1 or can be1 superfluous8 ,i have said before1 and repeatedly in other places1 that the most beautiful things are the most useless2 ,i never said superfluous4 ,i said useless in the well-understood and usual sense1 as meaning1 inapplicable to the service of the body4 ,thus ,i called peacocks and lilies useless2 meaning1 that roast peacock was unwholesome 7taking ,juvenal's word for it71 and that dried lilies made bad hay3 but ,i do not think peacocks superfluous birds1 nor that the world could get on well without its lilies4 ,or1 to look closer1 ,i suppose the peacock's blue eyes to be very useless to him2 not dangerous indeed1 as to their first master1 but of small service1 yet ,i do not think there is a superfluous eye in all his tail2 and for lilies1 though the great ,king of ,israel was not arrayed like one of them1 can ,mr4 ,garbett tell us which are their superfluous leaves8 ,is there no ,diogenes among lilies8 none to be found content to drink dew1 but out of silver8 ,the fact is1 ,i never met with the architect yet who did not think ornament meant a thing to be bought in a shop and pinned on1 or left off1 at architectural toilets1 as the fancy seized them1 thinking little more than many women do of the other kind of ornament--the only true kind1--,st4 ,peter's kind1--,not that outward adorning1 but the inner--of the heart4 ,i do not mean that architects cannot conceive this better ornament1 but they do not understand that it is the only ornament2 that all architectural ornament is this1 and nothing but this2 that a noble building never has any extraneous or superfluous ornament2 that all its parts are necessary to its loveliness1 and that no single atom of them could be removed without harm to its life4 ,you do not build a temple and then dress it4#aja ,you create it in its loveliness1 and leave it1 as her ,maker left ,eve4 ,not unadorned1 ,i believe1 but so well adorned as to need no feather crowns4 ,and ,i use the words ornament and beauty interchangeably1 in order that architects may understand this3 ,i assume that their building is to be a perfect creature capable of nothing less than it has1 and needing nothing more4 ,it may1 indeed1 receive additional decoration afterwards1 exactly as a woman may gracefully put a bracelet on her arm1 or set a flower in her hair3 but that additional decoration is not the architecture4 ,it is of curtains1 pictures1 statues1 things that may be taken away from the building1 and not hurt it4 ,what has the architect to do with these8 ,he has only to do with what is part of the building itself1 that is to say1 its own inherent beauty4 ,and because ,mr4 ,garbett does not understand or acknowledge this1 he is led on from error to error2 for we next find him endeavoring to define beauty as distinct from ornament1 and saying that ,positive beauty may be produced by a studious collation of whatever will display design1 order1 and congruity4 7p4 #ad47 ,is that so8 ,there is a highly studious collation of whatever will display design1 order1 and congruity1 in a skull1 is there not8--yet small beauty4 ,the nose is a decorative feature1--yet slightly necessary to beauty1 it seems to me2 now1 at least1 for ,i once thought ,i must be wrong in considering a skull disagreeable4 ,i gave it fair trial3 put one on my bed-room chimney-piece1 and looked at it by sunrise every morning1 and by moonlight every night1 and by all the best lights ,i could think of1 for a month1 in vain4 ,i found it as ugly at last as ,i did at first4 ,so1 also1 the hair is a decoration1 and its natural curl is of little use2 but can ,mr4 ,garbett conceive a bald beauty2 or does he prefer a wig1 because that is a studious collation of whatever will produce design1 order1 and congruity8 ,so the flush of the cheek is a decoration1--,god's painting of the temple of his spirit1--and the redness of the lip2 and yet poor ,viola thought it beauty truly blent2 and ,i hold with her4 ,i have answered enough to this count4 ,the second point questioned is my assertion1 ,ornament cannot be overcharged if it is good1 and is always overcharged when it is bad4 ,to which ,mr4 ,garbett objects in these terms3 ,i must contend1 on the contrary1 that the very best ornament may be overcharged by being misplaced4 ,a short sentence with two mistakes in it4 ,first4 ,mr4 ,garbett cannot get rid of his unfortunate notion that ornament is a thing to be manufactured separately1 and fastened on4 ,he supposes that an ornament may be called good in itself1 in the stonemason's yard or in the ironmonger's shop3 ,once for all1 let him put this idea out of his head4 ,we may say of a thing1 considered separately1 that it is a pretty thing2 but before we can say it is a good ornament1 we must know what it is to adorn1 and how4 ,as1 for instance1 a ring of gold is a pretty thing2 it is a good ornament on a woman's finger2 not a good ornament hung through her under lip4 ,a hollyhock1 seven feet high1 would be a good ornament for a cottage-garden2 not a good ornament for a lady's head-dress4 ,might not ,mr4 ,garbett have seen this without my showing8 and that1 therefore1 when ,i said good ornament1 ,i said well-placed ornament1 in one word1 and that1 also1 when ,mr4 ,garbett says it may be overcharged by being misplaced1 he merely says it may be overcharged by being bad4 ,secondly4 ,but1 granted that ornament were independent of its position1 and might be pronounced good in a separate form1 as books are good1 or men are good4--,suppose ,i had written to a student in ,oxford1 ,you cannot have too many books1 if they be good books2 and he had answered me1 ,yes1 for if ,i have many1 ,i have no place to put them in but the coal-cellar4 ,would that in anywise affect the general principle that he could not have too many books8 ,or suppose he had written1 ,i must not have too many1 they confuse my head4 ,i should have written back to him3 ,don't buy books to put in the coal-hole1 nor read them if they confuse your head2 you cannot have too many1 if they be good3 but if you are too lazy to take care of them1 or too dull to profit by them1 you are better without them4 ,exactly in the same tone1 ,i repeat to ,mr4 ,garbett1 ,you cannot have too much ornament1 if it be good3 but if you are too indolent to arrange it1 or too dull to take advantage of it1 assuredly you are better without it4 ,the other points bearing on this question have already been stated in the close of the #bast chapter4 ,the third reference ,i have to answer1 is to my repeated assertion1 that the evidence of manual labor is one of the chief sources of value in ornament1 7,seven ,lamps1 p4 #di1 ,modern ,painters1 #a1 ,chap4 ,,iii417 to which objection is made in these terms3 ,we must here warn the reader against a remarkable error of ,ruskin4 ,the value of ornaments in architecture depends not in the slightest degree on the manual labor they contain4 ,if it did1 the finest ornaments ever executed would be the stone chains that hang before certain ,indian rock-temples4 ,is that so8 ,hear a parallel argument4 ,the value of the ,cornish mines depends not in the slightest degree on the quantity of copper they contain4 ,if it did1 the most valuable things ever produced would be copper saucepans4 ,it is hardly worth my while to answer this2 but1 lest any of my readers should be confused by the objection1 and as ,i hold the fact to be of great importance1 ,i may re-state it for them with some explanation4 ,observe1 then1 the appearance of labor1 that is to say1 the evidence of the past industry of man1 is always1 in the abstract1 intensely delightful3 man being meant to labor1 it is delightful to see that he has labored1 and to read the record of his active and worthy existence4 ,the evidence of labor becomes painful only when it is a sign of ,evil greater1 as ,evil1 than the labor is great1 as ,good4 ,as1 for instance1 if a man has labored for an hour at what might have been done by another man in a moment1 this evidence of his labor is also evidence of his weakness2 and this weakness is greater in rank of evil1 than his industry is great in rank of good4 ,again1 if a man have labored at what was not worth accomplishing1 the signs of his labor are the signs of his folly1 and his folly dishonors his industry2 we had rather he had been a wise man in rest than a fool in labor4 ,again1 if a man have labored without accomplishing anything1 the signs of his labor are the signs of his disappointment2 and we have more sorrow in sympathy with his failure1 than pleasure in sympathy with his work4 ,now1 therefore1 in ornament1 whenever labor replaces what was better than labor1 that is to say1 skill and thought2 wherever it substitutes itself for these1 or negatives these by its existence1 then it is positive evil4 ,copper is an evil when it alloys gold1 or poisons food3 not an evil1 as copper2 good in the form of pence1 seriously objectionable when it occupies the room of guineas4 ,let ,dana cast it out of her lap1 when the gold comes from heaven2 but let the poor man gather it up carefully from the earth4 ,farther1 the evidence of labor is not only a good when added to other good1 but the utter absence of it destroys good in human work4 ,it is only good for ,god to create without toil2 that which man can create without toil is worthless3 machine ornaments are no ornaments at all4 ,consider this carefully1 reader3 ,i could illustrate it for you endlessly2 but you feel it yourself every hour of your existence4 ,and if you do not know that you feel it1 take up1 for a little time1 the trade which of all manual trades has been most honored3 be for once a carpenter4 ,make for yourself a table or a chair1 and see if you ever thought any table or chair so delightful1 and what strange beauty there will be in their crooked limbs4 ,i have not noticed any other animadversions on the ,seven ,lamps in ,mr4 ,garbett's volume2 but if there be more1 ,i must now leave it to his own consideration1 whether he may not1 as in the above instances1 have made them incautiously3 ,i may1 perhaps1 also be permitted to request other architects1 who may happen to glance at the preceding pages1 not immediately to condemn what may appear to them false in general principle4 ,i must often be found deficient in technical knowledge2 ,i may often err in my statements respecting matters of practice or of special law4 ,but ,i do not write thoughtlessly respecting principles2 and my statements of these will generally be found worth reconnoitring before attacking4 ,architects1 no doubt1 fancy they have strong grounds for supposing me wrong when they seek to invalidate my assertions4 ,let me assure them1 at least1 that ,i mean to be their friend1 although they may not immediately recognise me as such4 ,if ,i could obtain the public ear1 and the principles ,i have advocated were carried into general practice1 porphyry and serpentine would be given to them instead of limestone and brick2 instead of tavern and shop-fronts they would have to build goodly churches and noble dwelling-houses2 and for every stunted ,grecism and stucco ,romanism1 into which they are now forced to shape their palsied thoughts1 and to whose crumbling plagiarisms they must trust their doubtful fame1 they would be asked to raise whole streets of bold1 and rich1 and living architecture1 with the certainty in their hearts of doing what was honorable to themselves1 and good for all men4 ,before ,i altogether leave the question of the influence of labor on architectural effect1 the reader may expect from me a word or two respecting the subject which this year must be interesting to all--the applicability1 namely1 of glass and iron to architecture in general1 as in some sort exemplified by the ,crystal ,palace4 ,it is thought by many that we shall forthwith have great part of our architecture in glass and iron1 and that new forms of beauty will result from the studied employment of these materials4 ,it may be told in a few words how far this is possible2 how far eternally impossible4 ,there are two means of delight in all productions of art--color and form4 ,the most vivid conditions of color attainable by human art are those of works in glass and enamel1 but not the most perfect4 ,the best and noblest coloring possible to art is that attained by the touch of the human hand on an opaque surface1 upon which it can command any tint required1 without subjection to alteration by fire or other mechanical means4 ,no color is so noble as the color of a good painting on canvas or gesso4 ,this kind of color being1 however1 impossible1 for the most part1 in architecture1 the next best is the scientific disposition of the natural colors of stones1 which are far nobler than any abstract hues producible by human art4 ,the delight which we receive from glass painting is one altogether inferior1 and in which we should degrade ourselves by over indulgence4 ,nevertheless1 it is possible that we may raise some palaces like ,aladdin's with colored glass for jewels1 which shall be new in the annals of human splendor1 and good in their place2 but not if they superseded nobler edifices4 ,now1 color is producible either on opaque or in transparent bodies3 but form is only expressible1 in its perfection1 on opaque bodies1 without lustre4 ,this law is imperative1 universal1 irrevocable4 ,no perfect or refined form can be expressed except in opaque and lustreless matter4 ,you cannot see the form of a jewel1 nor1 in any perfection1 even of a cameo or bronze4 ,you cannot perfectly see the form of a humming-bird1 on account of its burnishing2 but you can see the form of a swan perfectly4 ,no noble work in form can ever1 therefore1 be produced in transparent or lustrous glass or enamel4 ,all noble architecture depends for its majesty on its form3 therefore you can never have any noble architecture in transparent or lustrous glass or enamel4 ,iron is1 however1 opaque2 and both it and opaque enamel may1 perhaps1 be rendered quite lustreless2 and1 therefore1 fit to receive noble form4 ,let this be thoroughly done1 and both the iron and enamel made fine in paste or grain1 and you may have an architecture as noble as cast or struck architecture even can be3 as noble1 therefore1 as coins can be1 or common cast bronzes1 and such other multiplicable things2#ajb--;eternally separated from all good and great things by a gulph which not all the tubular bridges nor engineering of ten thousand nineteenth centuries cast into one great bronze-foreheaded century1 will ever overpass one inch of4 ,all art which is worth its room in this world1 all art which is not a piece of blundering refuse1 occupying the foot or two of earth which1 if unencumbered by it1 would have grown corn or violets1 or some better thing1 is art which proceeds from an individual mind1 working through instruments which assist1 but do not supersede1 the muscular action of the human hand1 upon the materials which most tenderly receive1 and most securely retain1 the impressions of such human labor4 ,and the value of every work of art is exactly in the ratio of the quantity of humanity which has been put into it1 and legibly expressed upon it for ever3-- ,first1 of thought and moral purpose2 ,secondly1 of technical skill2 ,thirdly1 of bodily industry4 ,the quantity of bodily industry which that ,crystal ,palace expresses is very great4 ,so far it is good4 ,the quantity of thought it expresses is1 ,i suppose1 a single and very admirable thought of ,mr4 ,paxton's1 probably not a bit brighter than thousands of thoughts which pass through his active and intelligent brain every hour1--that it might be possible to build a greenhouse larger than ever greenhouse was built before4 ,this thought1 and some very ordinary algebra1 are as much as all that glass can represent of human intellect4 ,but one poor half-pennyworth of bread to all this intolerable deal of sack4 ,alas6 ,the earth hath bubbles as the water hath3 ,and this is of them4 #ah4 ,,early ,,english ,,capitals4 ,the depth of the cutting in some of the early ,english capitals is1 indeed1 part of a general system of attempts at exaggerated force of effect1 like the black touches of second-rate draughtsmen1 which ,i have noticed as characteristic of nearly all northern work1 associated with the love of the grotesque3 but the main section of the capital is indeed a dripstone rolled round1 as above described2 and dripstone sections are continually found in northern work1 where not only they cannot increase force of effect1 but are entirely invisible except on close examination2 as1 for instance1 under the uppermost range of stones of the foundation of ,whitehall1 or under the slope of the restored base of ,all ,souls ,college1 ,oxford1 under the level of the eye4 ,i much doubt if any of the ,fellows be aware of its existence4 ,many readers will be surprised and displeased by the disparagement of the early ,english capital4 ,that capital has1 indeed1 one character of considerable value2 namely1 the boldness with which it stops the mouldings which fall upon it1 and severs them from the shaft1 contrasting itself with the multiplicity of their vertical lines4 ,sparingly used1 or seldom seen1 it is thus1 in its place1 not unpleasing2 and we ,english love it from association1 it being always found in connection with our purest and loveliest ,gothic arches1 and never in multitudes large enough to satiate the eye with its form4 ,the reader who sits in the ,temple church every ,sunday1 and sees no architecture during the week but that of ,chancery ,lane1 may most justifiably quarrel with me for what ,i have said of it4 ,but if every house in ,fleet ,street or ,chancery ,lane were ,gothic1 and all had early ,english capitals1 ,i would answer for his making peace with me in a fortnight4 #ai4 ,,tombs ,,near ,,st4 ,,anastasia4 ,whose they are1 is of little consequence to the reader or to me1 and ,i have taken no pains to discover2 their value being not in any evidence they bear respecting dates1 but in their intrinsic merit as examples of composition4 ,two of them are within the gate1 one on the top of it1 and this latter is on the whole the best1 though all are beautiful2 uniting the intense northern energy in their figure sculpture with the most serene classical restraint in their outlines1 and unaffected1 but masculine simplicity of construction4 ,i have not put letters to the diagram of the lateral arch at page #aed1 in order not to interfere with the clearness of the curves1 but ,i shall always express the same points by the same letters1 whenever ,i have to give measures of arches of this simple kind1 so that the reader need never have the diagrams lettered at all4 ,the base or span of the centre arch will always be a b2 its vertex will always be ,v2 the points of the cusps will be c c2 p p will be the bases of perpendiculars let fall from ,v and c on a b2 and d the base of a perpendicular from the point of the cusp to the arch line4 ,then a b will always be a span of the arch1 ,v p its perpendicular height1 ,v a the chord of its side arcs1 d c the depth of its cusps1 c c the horizontal interval between the cusps1 a c the length of the chord of the lower arc of the cusp1 ,v c the length of the chord of the upper arc of the cusp1 7whether continuous or not17 and c p the length of a perpendicular from the point of the cusp on a b4 ,of course we do not want all these measures for a single arch1 but it often happens that some of them are attainable more easily than others2 some are often unattainable altogether1 and it is necessary therefore to have expressions for whichever we may be able to determine4 ,v p or ,v a1 a b1 and d c are always essential2 then either a c and ,v c or c c and c p3 when ,i have my choice1 ,i always take a b1 ,v p1 d c1 c c1 and c p1 but c p is not to be generally obtained so accurately as the cusp arcs4 ,the measures of the present arch are3 ,ft4 ,in4 a b1 #c 11 #h ,v p1 #d 11 #j ,v c1 #b 11 #d-a_/b a c1 #b 11 #j-a_/d d c1 #j 11 #c-a_/b #bj4 ,,shafts ,,of ,,ducal ,,palace4 ,the shortness of the thicker ones at the angles is induced by the greater depth of the enlarged capitals3 thus the #cfth shaft is #aj ft4 #d-a_/c in4 in circumference at its base1 and #aj 11 #j-a_/bajc in circumference under the fillet of its capital2 but it is only #f 11 #a-c_/d high1 while the minor intermediate shafts1 of which the thickest is #g 11 #h round at the base1 and #g 11 #d under capital1 are yet on the average #g 11 #g high4 ,the angle shaft towards the sea 7the #ahth7 is nearly of the proportions of the #cfth1 and there are three others1 the #aeth1 #bdth1 and #bfth1 which are thicker than the rest1 though not so thick as the angle ones4 ,the #bdth and #bfth have both party walls to bear1 and ,i imagine the #aeth must in old time have carried another1 reaching across what is now the ,sala del ,gran ,consiglio4 ,they measure respectively round at the base1 ,the #aeth1 #h 11 #b #bdth1 #i 11 #f-a_/b #bfth1 #h 11 #j-a_/b ,the other pillars towards the sea1 and those to the #bgth inclusive of the ,piazzetta1 are all seven feet round at the base1 and then there is a most curious and delicate crescendo of circumference to the #cfth1 thus3 ,the #bhth1 #g 11 #c ,the #ccrd1 #g 11 #f #bith1 #g 11 #d #cdth1 #g 11 #h #cjth1 #g 11 #f #ceth1 #g 11 #h #cast1 #g 11 #g #cfth1 #aj 11 #d-a_/c #cbnd1 #g 11 #e ,the shafts of the upper arcade1 which are above these thicker columns1 are also thicker than their companions1 measuring on the average1 #d 11 #h-a_/b in circumference1 while those of the sea faade1 except the #bith1 average #d 11 #g-a_/b in circumference4 ,the #bith1 which is of course above the #aeth of the lower story1 is #e 11 #e in circumference1 which little piece of evidence will be of no small value to us by-and-by4 ,the #ceth carries the angle of the palace1 and is #f 11 #j round4 ,the #dgth1 which comes above the #bdth and carries the party wall of the ,sala del ,gran ,consiglio1 is strengthened by a pilaster2 and the #east1 which comes over the #bfth1 is #e 11 #d-a_/b round1 or nearly the same as the #bith2 it carries the party wall of the ,sala del ,scrutinio2 a small room containing part of ,st4 ,mark's library1 coming between the two saloons2 a room which1 in remembrances of the help ,i have received in all my inquiries from the kindness and intelligence of its usual occupant1 ,i shall never easily distinguish otherwise than as ,mr4 ,lorenzi's4#ajd ,i may as well connect with these notes respecting the arcades of the ,ducal ,palace1 those which refer to ,plate ,,xiv41 which represents one of its spandrils4 ,every spandril of the lower arcade was intended to have been occupied by an ornament resembling the one given in that plate4 ,the mass of the building being of ,istrian stone1 a depth of about two inches is left within the mouldings of the arches1 rough hewn1 to receive the slabs of fine marble composing the patterns4 ,i cannot say whether the design was ever completed1 or the marbles have been since removed1 but there are now only two spandrils retaining their fillings1 and vestiges of them in a third4 ,the two complete spandrils are on the sea faade1 above the #crd and #ajth capitals 7vide method of numbering1 ,chap4 ,i41 page #cj72 that is to say1 connecting the #bnd arch with the #crd1 and the #ith with the #ajth4 ,the latter is the one given in ,plate ,,xiv4 ,the white portions of it are all white marble1 the dental band surrounding the circle is in coarse sugary marble1 which ,i believe to be ,greek1 and never found in ,venice to my recollection1 except in work at least anterior to the fifteenth century4 ,the shaded fields charged with the three white triangles are of red ,verona marble2 the inner disc is green serpentine1 and the dark pieces of the radiating leaves are grey marble4 ,the three triangles are equilateral4 ,the two uppermost are #a 11 #e each side1 and the lower #a 11 #b4 ,the extreme diameter of the circle is #c 11 #aj-a_/b2 its field is slightly raised above the red marbles1 as shown in the section at ,a1 on the left4 ,a a is part of the red marble field2 a b the section of the dentil moulding let into it2 b c the entire breadth of the rayed zone1 represented on the other side of the spandril by the line ,c f2 c d is the white marble band let in1 with the dogtooth on the face of it2 b c is #g-c_/d inches across2 c d #c-c_/d2 and at ,b are given two joints of the dentil 7mentioned above1 in the chapter on dentils1 as unique in ,venice7 of their actual size4 ,at ,c is given one of the inlaid leaves2 its measure being 7in inches7 ,c f #g-c_/d2 ,c h #c_/d2 f g #c_/d2 f e #d-c_/d1 the base of the smaller leaves being of course f e - f g #d4 ,the pattern which occupies the other spandril is similar1 except that the field b c1 instead of the intersecting arcs1 has only triangles of grey marble1 arranged like rays1 with their bases towards the centre4 ,there being twenty round the circle1 the reader can of course draw them for himself2 they being isosceles1 touching the dentil with their points1 and being in contact at their bases3 it has lost its central boss4 ,the marbles are1 in both1 covered with a rusty coating1 through which it is excessively difficult to distinguish the colors 7another proof of the age of the ornament74 ,but the white marbles are certainly1 in places 7except only the sugary dentil71 veined with purple1 and the grey seem warmed with green4 ,a trace of another of these ornaments may be seen over the #bast capital2 but ,i doubt if the marbles have ever been inserted in the other spandrils1 and their want of ornament occasions the slight meagreness in the effect of the lower story1 which is almost the only fault of the building4 ,this decoration by discs1 or shield-like ornaments1 is a marked characteristic of ,venetian architecture in its earlier ages1 and is carried into later times by the ,byzantine ,renaissance1 already distinguished from the more corrupt forms of ,renaissance1 in ,appendix #f4 ,of the disc decoration1 so borrowed1 we have already an example in ,plate ,i4 ,in ,plate ,,vii4 we have an earlier condition of it1 one of the discs being there sculptured1 the others surrounded by sculptured bands3 here we have1 on the ,ducal ,palace1 the most characteristic of all1 because likest to the shield1 which was probably the origin of the same ornament among the ,arabs1 and assuredly among the ,greeks4 ,in ,mr4 ,donaldson's restoration of the gate of the treasury of ,atreus1 this ornament is conjecturally employed1 and it occurs constantly on the ,arabian buildings of ,cairo4 #ba4 ,,ancient ,,representations ,,of ,,water4 ,i have long been desirous of devoting some time to an enquiry into the effect of natural scenery upon the pagan1 and especially the ,greek1 mind1 and knowing that my friend1 ,mr4 ,c4 ,newton1 had devoted much thought to the elucidation of the figurative and symbolic language of ancient art1 ,i asked him to draw up for me a few notes of the facts which he considered most interesting1 as illustrative of its methods of representing nature4 ,i suggested to him1 for an initiative subject1 the representation of water2 because this is one of the natural objects whose portraiture may most easily be made a test of treatment1 for it is one of universal interest1 and of more closely similar aspect in all parts of the world than any other4 ,waves1 currents1 and eddies are much liker each other1 everywhere1 than either land or vegetation4 ,rivers and lakes1 indeed1 differ widely from the sea1 and the clear ,pacific from the angry ,northern ocean2 but the ,nile is liker the ,danube than a knot of ,nubian palms is to a glade of the ,black ,forest2 and the ,mediterranean is liker the ,atlantic than the ,campo ,felice is like ,solway moss4 ,mr4 ,newton has accordingly most kindly furnished me with the following data4 ,one or two of the types which he describes have been already noticed in the main text2 but it is well that the reader should again contemplate them in the position which they here occupy in a general system4 ,i recommend his special attention to ,mr4 ,newton's definitions of the terms figurative and symbolic1 as applied to art1 in the beginning of the paper4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in ancient art1 that is to say1 in the art of the ,egyptian1 ,assyrian1 ,greek1 and ,roman races1 water is1 for the most part1 represented conventionally rather than naturally4 ,by natural representation is here meant as just and perfect an imitation of nature as the technical means of art will allow3 on the other hand1 representation is said to be conventional1 either when a confessedly inadequate imitation is accepted in default of a better1 or when imitation is not attempted at all1 and it is agreed that other modes of representation1 those by figures or by symbols1 shall be its substitute and equivalent4 ,in figurative representation there is always impersonation2 the sensible form1 borrowed by the artist from organic life1 is conceived to be actuated by a will1 and invested with such mental attributes as constitute personality4 ,the sensible symbol1 whether borrowed from organic or from inorganic nature1 is not a personification at all1 but the conventional sign or equivalent of some object or notion1 to which it may perhaps bear no visible resemblance1 but with which the intellect or the imagination has in some way associated it4 ,for instance1 a city may be figuratively represented as a woman crowned with towers2 here the artist has selected for the expression of his idea a human form animated with a will and motives of action analogous to those of humanity generally4 ,or1 again1 as in ,greek art1 a bull may be a figurative representation of a river1 and1 in the conception of the artist1 this animal form may contain1 and be ennobled by1 a human mind4 ,this is still impersonation2 the form only in which personality is embodied is changed4 ,again1 a dolphin may be used as a symbol of the sea2 a man ploughing with two oxen is a well-known symbol of a ,roman colony4 ,in neither of these instances is there impersonation4 ,the dolphin is not invested1 like the figure of ,neptune1 with any of the attributes of the human mind2 it has animal instincts1 but no will2 it represents to us its native element1 only as a part may be taken for a whole4 ,again1 the man ploughing does not1 like the turreted female figure1 personify1 but rather typifies the town1 standing as the visible representation of a real event1 its first foundation4 ,to our mental perceptions1 as to our bodily senses1 this figure seems no more than man2 there is no blending of his personal nature with the impersonal nature of the colony1 no transfer of attributes from the one to the other4 ,though the conventionally imitative1 the figurative1 and the symbolic1 are three distinct kinds of representation1 they are constantly combined in one composition1 as we shall see in the following examples1 cited from the art of successive races in chronological order4 ,in ,egyptian art the general representation of water is the conventionally imitative4 ,in the ,british ,museum are two frescoes from tombs at ,thebes1 ,nos4 #agg and #agj3 the subject of the first of these is an oblong pond1 ground-plan and elevation being strangely confused in the design4 ,in this pond water is represented by parallel zigzag lines1 in which fish are swimming about4 ,on the surface are birds and lotos flowers2 the herbage at the edge of the pond is represented by a border of symmetrical fan-shaped flowers2 the field beyond by rows of trees1 arranged round the sides of the pond at right angles to each other1 and in defiance of all laws of perspective4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lxxi4 ,in the fresco1 ,no4 #agj1 we have the representation of a river with papyrus on its bank4 ,here the water is rendered by zigzag lines arranged vertically and in parallel lines1 so as to resemble herring-bone masonry1 thus4 ,there are fish in this fresco as in the preceding1 and in both each fish is drawn very distinctly1 not as it would appear to the eye viewed through water4 ,the mode of representing this element in ,egyptian painting is further abbreviated in their hieroglyphic writing1 where the sign of water is a zigzag line2 this line is1 so to speak1 a picture of water written in short hand4 ,in the ,egyptian ,pantheon there was but one aquatic deity1 the god of the ,nile2 his type is1 therefore1 the only figurative representation of water in ,egyptian art4 7,birch1 ,gallery of ,british ,museum ,antiquities1 ,pl4 #ac47 ,in ,assyrian sculpture we have very curious conventionally imitative representations of water4 ,on several of the friezes from ,nimroud and ,khorsabad1 men are seen crossing a river in boats1 or in skins1 accompanied by horses swimming 7see ,layard1 ii4 p4 #cha74 ,in these scenes water is represented by masses of wavy lines somewhat resembling tresses of hair1 and terminating in curls or volutes2 these wavy lines express the general character of a deep and rapid current1 like that of the ,tigris4 ,fish are but sparingly introduced1 the idea of surface being sufficiently expressed by the floating figures and boats4 ,in the representation of these there is the same want of perspective as in the ,egyptian fresco which we have just cited4 ,in the ,assyrian ,pantheon one aquatic deity has been discovered1 the god ,dagon1 whose human form terminates in a fish's tail4 ,of the character and attributes of this deity we know but little4 ,the more abbreviated mode of representing water1 the zigzag line1 occurs on the large silver coins with the type of a city or a war galley 7see ,layard1 ii4 p4 #chf74 ,these coins were probably struck in ,assyria1 not long after the conquest of it by the ,persians4 ,in ,greek art the modes of representing water are far more varied4 ,two conventional imitations1 the wave moulding and the ,mander1 are well known4 ,both are probably of the most remote antiquity2 both have been largely employed as an architectural ornament1 and subordinately as a decoration of vases1 costume1 furniture and implements4 ,in the wave moulding we have a conventional representation of the small crisping waves which break upon the shore of the ,mediterranean1 the sea of the ,greeks4 ,their regular succession1 and equality of force and volume1 are generalised in this moulding1 while the minuter varieties which distinguish one wave from another are merged in the general type4 ,the character of ocean waves is to be for ever changing1 yet the same for ever2 it is this eternity of recurrence which the early artist has expressed in this hieroglyphic4 ,with this profile representation of water may be compared the sculptured waves out of which the head and arms of ,hyperion are rising in the pediment of the ,parthenon 7,elgin ,room1 ,no4 7#fe7 #ia1 ,museum ,marbles1 vi4 pl4 #a74 ,phidias has represented these waves like a mass of overlapping tiles1 thus generalising their rippling movement4 ,in the ,mander pattern the graceful curves of nature are represented by angles1 as in the ,egyptian hieroglyphic of water3 so again the earliest representation of the labyrinth on the coins of the ,cnossus is rectangular2 on later coins we find the curvilinear form introduced4 ,in the language of ,greek mythography1 the wave pattern and the ,mander are sometimes used singly for the idea of water1 but more frequently combined with figurative representation4 ,the number of aquatic deities in the ,greek ,pantheon led to the invention of a great variety of beautiful types4 ,some of these are very well known4 ,everybody is familiar with the general form of ,poseidon 7,neptune71 the ,nereids1 the ,nymphs and ,river ,gods2 but the modes in which these types were combined with conventional imitation and with accessory symbols deserve careful study1 if we would appreciate the surpassing richness and beauty of the language of art formed out of these elements4 ,this class of representations may be divided into two principal groups1 those relating to the sea1 and those relating to fresh water4 ,the power of the ocean and the great features of marine scenery are embodied in such types as ,poseidon1 ,nereus and the ,nereids1 that is to say1 in human forms moving through the liquid element in chariots1 or on the back of dolphins1 or who combine the human form with that of the fish-like ,tritons4 ,the sea-monsters who draw these chariots are called ,hippocamps1 being composed of the tail of a fish and the fore-part of a horse1 the legs terminating in web-feet3 this union seems to express speed and power under perfect control1 such as would characterise the movements of sea deities4 ,a few examples have been here selected to show how these types were combined with symbols and conventional imitation4 ,in the ,british ,museum is a vase1 ,no4 #abeg1 engraved 7,lenormant et ,de ,witte1 ,mon4 ,cram41 i4 pl4 #bg71 of which the subject is1 ,europa crossing the sea on the back of the bull4 ,in this design the sea is represented by a variety of expedients4 ,first1 the swimming action of the bull suggests the idea of the liquid medium through which he moves4 ,behind him stands ,nereus1 his staff held perpendicularly in his hand2 the top of his staff comes nearly to the level of the bull's back1 and is probably meant as the measure of the whole depth of the sea4 ,towards the surface line thus indicated a dolphin is rising2 in the middle depth is another dolphin2 below a shrimp and a cuttle-fish1 and the bottom is indicated by a jagged line of rocks1 on which are two echini4 ,on a mosaic found at ,oudnah in ,algeria 7,revue ,archol41 iii4 pl4 #ej71 we have a representation of the sea1 remarkable for the fulness of details with which it is made out4 ,this1 though of the ,roman period1 is so thoroughly ,greek in feeling1 that it may be cited as an example of the class of mythography now under consideration4 ,the mosaic lines the floor and sides of a bath1 and1 as was commonly the case in the baths of the ancients1 serves as a figurative representation of the water it contained4 ,on the sides are hippocamps1 figures riding on dolphins1 and islands on which fishermen stand2 on the floor are fish1 crabs1 and shrimps4 ,these1 as in the vase with ,europa1 indicate the bottom of the sea3 the same symbols of the submarine world appear on many other ancient designs4 ,thus in vase pictures1 when ,poseidon upheaves the island of ,cos to overwhelm the ,giant ,polydotes1 the island is represented as an immense mass of rock2 the parts which have been under water are indicated by a dolphin1 a shrimp1 and a sepia1 the parts above the water by a goat and a serpent 7,lenormant et ,de ,witte1 i41 tav4 #e74 ,sometimes these symbols occur singly in ,greek art1 as the types1 for instance1 of coins4 ,in such cases they cannot be interpreted without being viewed in relation to the whole context of mythography to which they belong4 ,if we find1 for example1 on one coin of ,tarentum a shell1 on another a dolphin1 on a third a figure of ,tarus1 the mythic founder of the town1 riding on a dolphin in the midst of the waves1 and this latter group expresses the idea of the town itself and its position on the coast1 then we know the two former types to be but portions of the greater design1 having been detached from it1 as we may detach words from sentences4 ,the study of the fuller and clearer examples1 such as we have cited above1 enables us to explain many more compendious forms of expression4 ,we have1 for instance1 on coins several representations of ancient harbors4 ,of these1 the earliest occurs on the coins of ,zancle1 the modern ,messina in ,sicily4 ,the ancients likened the form of this harbor to a sickle1 and on the coins of the town we find a curved object1 within the area of which is a dolphin4 ,on this curve are four square elevations placed at equal distances4 ,it has been conjectured that these projections are either towers or the large stones to which galleys were moored still to be seen in ancient harbors 7see ,burgon1 ,numismatic ,chronicle1 iii4 p4 #dj74 ,with this archaic representation of a harbor may be compared some examples of the ,roman period4 ,on a coin of ,sept4 ,severus struck at ,corinth 7,millingen1 ,sylloge of ,uned4 ,coins1 #ahcg1 p4 #eg1 ,pl4 ,,ii41 ,no4 #cj7 we have a female figure standing on a rock between two recumbent male figures holding rudders4 ,from an arch at the foot of the rock a stream is flowing3 this is a representation of the rock of the ,acropolis of ,corinth3 the female figure is a statue of ,aphrodite1 whose temple surmounted the rock4 ,the stream is the fountain ,pirene4 ,the two recumbent figures are impersonations of the two harbors1 ,lechreum and ,cenchreia1 between which ,corinth was situated4 ,philostratus 7,icon4 ii41 c4 #af7 describes a similar picture of the ,isthmus between the two harbors1 one of which was in the form of a youth1 the other of a nymph4 ,on another coin of ,corinth we have one of the harbors in a semicircular form1 the whole arc being marked with small equal divisions1 to denote the archways under which the ancient galleys were drawn1 subduct2 at the either horn or extremity of the harbor is a temple2 in the centre of the mouth1 a statue of ,neptune4 7,millingen1 ,mdailles ,ind41 ,pl4 ,,ii41 ,no4 #ai4 ,compare also ,millingen1 ,ancient ,coins of ,cities and ,kings1 #ahca1 pp4 #ej-fa1 ,pl4 ,,iv41 ,no4 #ae2 ,mionnet1 ,suppl4 vii4 p4 #gi1 ,no4 #bdf2 and the harbor of ,ostium1 on the large brass coins of ,nero1 in which there is a representation of the ,roman fleet and a reclining figure of ,neptune47 ,in vase pictures we have occasionally an attempt to represent water naturally4 ,on a vase in the ,british ,museum 7,no4 #ghe71 of which the subject is ,ulysses and the ,sirens1 the ,sea is rendered by wavy lines drawn in black on a red ground1 and something like the effect of light playing on the surface of the water is given4 ,on each side of the ship are shapeless masses of rock on which the ,sirens stand4 ,one of the most beautiful of the figurative representations of the sea is the well-known type of ,scylla4 ,she has a beautiful body1 terminating in two barking dogs and two serpent tails4 ,sometimes drowning men1 the rari nantes in gurgite vasto1 appear caught up in the coils of these tails4 ,below are dolphins4 ,scylla generally brandishes a rudder to show the manner in which she twists the course of ships4 ,for varieties of her type see ,monum4 dell',inst4 ,archeol4 ,rom41 iii4 ,tavv4 #eb-c4 ,the representations of fresh water may be arranged under the following heads--rivers1 lakes1 fountains4 ,there are several figurative modes of representing rivers very frequently employed in ancient mythography4 ,in the type which occurs earliest we have the human form combined with that of the bull in several ways4 ,on an archaic coin of ,metapontum in ,lucania1 7see frontispiece to ,millingen1 ,ancient ,coins of ,greek ,cities and ,kings17 the river ,achelous is represented with the figure of a man with a shaggy beard and bull's horns and ears4 ,on a vase of the best period of ,greek art 7,brit4 ,mus4 ,no4 #ghi2 ,birch1 ,trans4 ,roy4 ,soc4 of ,lit41 ,new ,series1 ,lond4 #ahdc1 i4 p4 #ajj7 the same river is represented with a satyr's head and long bull's horns on the forehead2 his form1 human to the waist1 terminates in a fish's tail2 his hair falls down his back2 his beard is long and shaggy4 ,in this type we see a combination of the three forms separately enumerated by ,sophocles1 in the commencement of the ,trachini4 ,greek3 ,achelon leg1 os m' en trisin morphaisin extei patros1 phoitn enargs auros allot' aiolos1 drakn heliktos1 allot' andrei kytei bouprros1 ek de daskiou geneiados krounoi dierrhainonto krnaiou potou4 ,in a third variety of this type the human-headed body is united at the waist with the shoulders of a bull's body1 in which it terminates4 ,this occurs on an early vase4 7,brit4 ,mus41 ,no4 #deb47 ,on the coins of ,oeniad in ,acarnia1 and on those of ,ambracia1 all of the period after ,alexander the ,great1 the ,achelous has a bull's body1 and head with a human face4 ,in this variety of the type the human element is almost absorbed1 as in the first variety cited above1 the coin of ,metapontum1 the bull portion of the type is only indicated by the addition of the horns and ears to the human head4 ,on the analogy between these1 varieties in the type of the ,achelous and those under which the metamorphoses of the marine goddess ,thetis are represented1 see ,gerhard1 ,auserl4 ,vasenb4 ii4 pp4 #ajf-aac4 ,it is probable that1 in the type of ,thetis1 of ,proteus1 and also of the ,achelous1 the singular combinations and transformations are intended to express the changeful nature of the element water4 ,numerous other examples may be cited1 where rivers are represented by this combination of the bull and human form1 which maybe called1 for convenience1 the ,androtauric type4 ,on the coins of ,sicily1 of the archaic and also of the finest period of art1 rivers are most usually represented by a youthful male figure1 with small budding horns2 the hair has the lank and matted form which characterises aquatic deities in ,greek mythography4 ,the name of the river is often inscribed round the head4 ,when the whole figure occurs on the coin1 it is always represented standing1 never reclining4 ,the type of the bull on the coins of ,sybaris and ,thurium1 in ,magna ,grcia1 has been considered1 with great probability1 a representation of this kind4 ,on the coins of ,sybaris1 which are of a very early period1 the head of the bull is turned round2 on those of ,thurium1 he stoops his head1 butting3 the first of these actions has been thought to symbolise the winding course of the river1 the second1 its headlong current4 ,on the coins of ,thurium1 the idea of water is further suggested by the adjunct of dolphins and other fish in the exergue of the coin4 ,the ground on which the bull stands is indicated by herbage or pebbles4 ,this probably represents the river bank4 ,two bulls' head occur on the coins of ,sardis1 and it has been ingeniously conjectured by ,mr4 ,burgon that the two rivers of the place are expressed under this type4 ,the representation of river-gods as human figures in a reclining position1 though probably not so much employed in earlier ,greek art as the ,androtauric type1 is very much more familiar to us1 from its subsequent adoption in ,roman mythography4 ,the earliest example we have of a reclining river-god is in the figure in the ,elgin ,room commonly called the ,ilissus1 but more probably the ,cephissus4 ,this occupied one angle in the western pediment of the ,parthenon2 the other ,athenian river1 the ,ilissus1 and the fountain ,callirrhoe being represented by a male and female figure in the opposite angle2 this group1 now destroyed1 is visible in the drawing made by ,carrey in #afgh4 ,it is probable that the necessities of pedimental composition first led the artist to place the river-god in a reclining position4 ,the head of the ,ilissus being broken off1 we are not sure whether he had bull's horns1 like the ,sicilian figures already described4 ,his form is youthful1 in the folds of the drapery behind him there is a flow like that of waves1 but the idea of water is not suggested by any other symbol4 ,when we compare this figure with that of the ,nile 7,visconti1 ,mus4 ,pio ,clem41 i41 ,pl4 #ch71 and the figure of the ,tiber in the ,louvre1 both of which are of the ,roman period1 we see how in these later types the artist multiplied symbols and accessories1 ingrafting them on the original simple type of the river-god1 as it was conceived by ,phidias in the figure of the ,ilissus4 ,the ,nile is represented as a colossal bearded figure reclining4 ,at his side is a cornucopia1 full of the vegetable produce of the ,egyptian soil4 ,round his body are sixteen naked boys1 who represent the sixteen cubits1 the height to which the river rose in a favorable year4 ,the statue is placed on a basement divided into three compartments1 one above another4 ,in the uppermost of these1 waves are flowing over in one great sheet from the side of the river-god4 ,in the other two compartments are the animals and plants of the river2 the bas-reliefs on this basement are1 in fact1 a kind of abbreviated symbolic panorama of the ,nile4 ,the ,tiber is represented in a very similar manner4 ,on the base are1 in two compartments1 scenes taken from the early ,roman myths2 flocks1 herds1 and other objects on the banks of the river4 7,visconti1 ,mus4 ,p4 ,cl4 i41 ,pl4 #ci2 ,millin1 ,galerie ,mythol41 i4 p4 #gg1 ,pl4 #gd1 ,nos4 #cjd1 #cjh47 ,in the types of the ,greek coins of ,camarina1 we find two interesting representations of ,lakes4 ,on the obverse of one of these we have1 within a circle of the wave pattern1 a male head1 full face1 with dishevelled hair1 and with a dolphin on either side2 on the reverse a female figure sailing on a swan1 below which a wave moulding1 and above1 a dolphin4 ,on another coin the swan type of the reverse is associated with the youthful head of a river-god1 inscribed ,hipparis on the obverse4 ,on some smaller coins we have the swan flying over the rippling waves1 which are represented by the wave moulding4 ,when we examine the chart of ,sicily1 made by the ,admiralty survey1 we find marked down at ,camarina1 a lake through which the river ,hipparis flows4 ,we can hardly doubt that the inhabitants of ,camarina represented both their river and their lakes on their coins4 ,the swan flying over the waves would represent a lake2 the figure associated with it being no doubt the ,aphrodite worshipped at that place3 the head1 in a circle of wave pattern1 may express that part of the river which flows through the lake4 ,fountains are usually represented by a stream of water issuing from a lion's head in the rock3 see a vase 7,gerhard1 ,auserl4 ,vasenb41 taf4 ,,cxxxiv471 where ,hercules stands1 receiving a shower-bath from a hot spring at ,therm in ,sicily4 ,on the coins of ,syracuse the fountain ,arethusa is represented by a female head seen to the front2 the flowing lines of her dishevelled hair suggest1 though they do not directly imitate1 the bubbling action of the fresh-water spring2 the sea in which it rises is symbolized by the dolphins round the head4 ,this type presents a striking analogy with that of the ,camarina head in the circle of wave pattern described above4 ,these are the principal modes of representing water in ,greek mythography4 ,in the art of the ,roman period1 the same kind of figurative and symbolic language is employed1 but there is a constant tendency to multiply accessories and details1 as we have shown in the later representations of harbors and river-gods cited above4 ,in these crowded compositions the eye is fatigued and distracted by the quantity it has to examine2 the language of art becomes more copious but less terse and emphatic1 and addresses itself to minds far less intelligent than the refined critics who were the contemporaries of ,phidias4 ,rivers in ,roman art are usually represented by reclining male figures1 generally bearded1 holding reeds or other plants in their hands1 and leaning on urns from which water is flowing4 ,on the coins of many ,syrian cities1 struck in imperial times1 the city is represented by a turreted female figure seated on rocks1 and resting her feet on the shoulder of a youthful male figure1 who looks up in her face1 stretching out his arms1 and who is sunk in the ground as high as the waist4 ,see ,mller 7,denkmler d4 ,a4 ,kunst1 i41 taf4 #di1 ,no4 #bbj7 for a group of this kind in the ,vatican1 and several similar designs on coins4 ,on the column of ,trajan there occur many rude representations of the ,danube1 and other rivers crossed by the ,romans in their military expeditions4 ,the water is imitated by sculptured wavy lines1 in which boats are placed4 ,in one scene 7,bartoli1 ,colonna ,trajana1 ,tav4 #d7 this rude conventional imitation is combined with a figure4 ,in a recess in the river bank is a reclining river-god1 terminating at the waist4 ,this is either meant for a statue which was really placed on the bank of the river1 and which therefore marks some particular locality1 or we have here figurative representation blended with conventional imitation4 ,on the column of ,antoninus 7,bartoli1 ,colon4 ,anton41 ,tav4 #ae7 a storm of rain is represented by the head of ,jupiter ,pluvius1 who has a vast outspread beard flowing in long tresses4 ,in the ,townley collection1 in the ,british ,museum1 is a ,roman helmet found at ,ribchester in ,lancashire1 with a mask or vizor attached4 ,the helmet is richly embossed with figures in a battle scene2 round the brow is a row of turrets2 the hair in the forehead is so treated as to give the idea of waves washing the base of the turrets4 ,this head is perhaps a figurative representation of a town girt with fortifications and a moat1 near which some great battle was fought4 ,it is engraved 7,vetusta ,monum4 of ,soc4 ,ant4 ,london1 iv41 ,pl4 #a-d74 ,in the ,galeria at ,florence is a group in alto relievo 7,gori1 ,inscript4 ,ant4 ,flor4 #agbg1 p4 #gf1 ,tab4 #ad7 of three female figures1 one of whom is certainly ,demeter ,kourotrophos1 or the earth2 another1 ,thetis1 or the sea2 the centre of the three seems to represent ,aphrodite associated1 as on the coins of ,camarina1 with the element of fresh water4 ,this figure is seated on a swan1 and holds over her head an arched veil4 ,her hair is bound with reeds2 above her veil grows a tall water plant1 and below the swan other water plants1 and a stork seated on a hydria1 or pitcher1 from which water is flowing4 ,the swan1 the stork1 the water plants1 and the hydria must all be regarded as symbols of fresh water1 the latter emblem being introduced to show that the element is fit for the use of man4 ,fountains in ,roman art are generally personified as figures of nymphs reclining with urns1 or standing holding before them a large shell4 ,one of the latest representations of water in ancient art is the mosaic of ,palestrina 7,barthlemy1 in ,bartoli1 ,peint4 ,antiques7 which may be described as a kind of rude panorama of some district of ,upper ,egypt1 a bird's-eye view1 half man1 half picture1 in which the details are neither adjusted to a scale1 nor drawn according to perspective1 but crowded together1 as they would be in an ancient bas-relief4 #bb4 ,,arabian ,,ornamentation4 ,i do not mean what ,i have here said of the ,inventive power of the ,arab to be understood as in the least applying to the detestable ornamentation of the ,alhambra4#aje ,the ,alhambra is no more characteristic of ,arab work1 than ,milan ,cathedral is of ,gothic3 it is a late building1 a work of the ,spanish dynasty in its last decline1 and its ornamentation is fit for nothing but to be transferred to patterns of carpets or bindings of books1 together with their marbling1 and mottling1 and other mechanical recommendations4 ,the ,alhambra ornament has of late been largely used in shop-fronts1 to the no small detriment of ,regent ,street and ,oxford ,street4 #bc4 ,,varieties ,,of ,,chamfer4 ,let ,b ,a ,c1 ,fig4 ,,lxxii41 be the original angle of the wall4 ,inscribe within it a circle1 p ,q ,n p1 of the size of the bead required1 touching ,a ,b1 ,a ,c1 in p1 p2 join p1 p1 and draw ,b ,c parallel to it1 touching the circle4 ,then the lines ,b ,c1 p p are the limits of the possible chamfers constructed with curves struck either from centre ,a1 as the line ,q q1 ,n d1 r u1 g c1 c41 or from any other point chosen as a centre in the direction ,q ,a produced3 and also of all chamfers in straight lines1 as a b1 e f4 ,there are1 of course1 an infinite number of chamfers to be struck between ,b ,c and p p1 from every point in ,q ,a produced to infinity2 thus we have infinity multiplied into infinity to express the number of possible chamfers of this species1 which are peculiarly ,italian chamfers2 together with another singly infinite group of the straight chamfers1 a b1 e f1 c41 of which the one formed by the line a b1 passing through the centre of the circle1 is the universal early ,gothic chamfer of ,venice4 ,again4 ,either on the line ,a ,c1 or on any other lines ,a l or ,a m1 radiating from ,a1 any number of centres may be taken1 from which1 with any radii not greater than the distance between such points and ,q1 an infinite number of curves may be struck1 such as t u1 r s1 ,n n 7all which are here struck from centres on the line ,a ,c74 ,these lines represent the great class of the northern chamfers1 of which the number is infinity raised to its fourth power1 but of which the curve ,n n 7for northern7 represents the average condition2 the shallower chamfers of the same group1 r s1 t u1 c41 occurring often in ,italy4 ,the lines r u1 t u1 and a b may be taken approximating to the most frequent conditions of the southern chamfer4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 ,,lxxii4 ,it is evident that the chords of any of these curves will give a relative group of rectilinear chamfers1 occurring both in the ,north and ,south2 but the rectilinear chamfers1 ,i think1 invariably fall within the line ,q ,c1 and are either parallel with it1 or inclined to ,a ,c at an angle greater than ,a ,c ,q1 and often perpendicular to it2 but never inclined to it at an angle less than ,a ,c ,q4 #bd4 ,,renaissance ,,bases4 ,the following extract from my note-book refers also to some features of late decoration of shafts4 ,the ,scuola di ,san ,rocco is one of the most interesting examples of ,renaissance work in ,venice4 ,its fluted pillars are surrounded each by a wreath1 one of vine1 another of laurel1 another of oak1 not indeed arranged with the fantasticism of early ,gothic2 but1 especially the laurel1 reminding one strongly of the laurel sprays1 powerful as well as beautiful1 of ,veronese and ,tintoret4 ,their stems are curiously and richly interlaced--the last vestige of the ,byzantine wreathed work--and the vine-leaves are ribbed on the surfaces1 ,i think1 nearly as finely as those of the ,noah1#ajf though more injured by time4 ,the capitals are far the richest ,renaissance in ,venice1 less corrupt and more masculine in plan1 than any other1 and truly suggestive of support1 though of course showing the tendency to error in this respect2 and finally1 at the angles of the pure ,attic bases1 on the square plinth1 are set couchant animals2 one1 an elephant four inches high1 very curiously and cleverly cut1 and all these details worked with a spirit1 finish1 fancy1 and affection quite worthy of the middle ages4 ,but they have all the marked fault of being utterly detached from the architecture4 ,the wreaths round the columns look as if they would drop off the next moment1 and the animals at the bases produce exactly the effect of mice who had got there by accident3 one feels them ridiculously diminutive1 and utterly useless4 ,the effect of diminutiveness is1 ,i think1 chiefly owing to there being no other groups of figures near them1 to accustom the eye to the proportion1 and to the needless choice of the largest animals1 elephants1 bears1 and lions1 to occupy a position so completely insignificant1 and to be expressed on so contemptible a scale1--not in a bas-relief or pictorial piece of sculpture1 but as independent figures4 ,the whole building is a most curious illustration of the appointed fate of the ,renaissance architects1--to caricature whatever they imitated1 and misapply whatever they learned4 #be4 ,,romanist ,,decoration ,,of ,,bases4 ,i have spoken above 7,appendix #ab7 of the way in which the ,roman ,catholic priests everywhere suffer their churches to be desecrated4 ,but the worst instances ,i ever saw of sacrilege and brutality1 daily permitted in the face of all men1 were the uses to which the noble base of ,st4 ,mark's was put1 when ,i was last in ,venice4 ,portions of nearly all cathedrals may be found abandoned to neglect2 but this base of ,st4 ,mark's is in no obscure position4 ,full fronting the western sun--crossing the whole breadth of ,st4 ,mark's ,place--the termination of the most noble square in the world--the centre of the most noble city--its purple marbles were1 in the winter of #ahdi1 the customary gambling tables of the idle children of ,venice2 and the parts which flank the ,great ,entrance1 that very entrance where ,barbarossa flung his mantle off1 were the counters of a common bazaar for children's toys1 carts1 dolls1 and small pewter spoons and dishes1 ,german caricatures and books of the ,opera1 mixed with those of the offices of religion2 the caricatures being fastened with twine round the porphyry shafts of the church4 ,one ,sunday1 the #bdth of ,february1 #ahej1 the book-stall being somewhat more richly laid out than usual1 ,i noted down the titles of a few of the books in the order in which they lay1 and ,i give them below4 ,the irony conveyed by the juxtaposition of the three in ,italics appears too shrewd to be accidental2 but the fact was actually so4 ,along the edge of the white plinth were a row of two kinds of books1 ,officium ,beat ,virg4 ,m42 and ,officium ,hebdomad sanct1 juxta ,formam ,missalis et ,breviarii ,romani sub ,urbano ,,viii4 correcti4 ,behind these lay1 side by side1 the following3 ,don ,desiderio4 ,dramma ,giocoso per ,musica4 ,breve ,esposizione della ,carattere di vera ,religione4 ,on the top of this latter1 keeping its leaves open1 ,la ,figlia del ,reggimento4 ,melodramma comica4 ,carteggio di ,madama la ,marchesa di ,pompadour1 ossia raccolta di ,lettere scritte della ,medesima4 ,istruzioni di morale ,condotta per le ,figlie4 ,francesca di ,rimini4 ,dramma per ,musica4 ,then1 a little farther on1 after a mass of plays3-- ,orazioni a ,gesu ,nazareno e a ,maria addolorata4 ,semiramide2 ,melodramma tragico da rappresentarsi nel ,gran ,teatro il ,fenice4 ,modo di orare per l',acquisto del ,s4 ,giubileo1 conceduto a tutto il ,mondo ,cattolico da ,s4 ,s4 ,gregorio ,,xvi4 ,le due illustre ,rivali1 ,melodramma in ,tre ,atti1 da rappresentarsi nel nuovo ,gran ,teatro il ,fenice4 ,il ,cristiano secondo il ,cuore di ,gesu1 per la ,pratica delle sue ,virtu4 ,traduzione dell',idioma ,italiana4 ,la chiava ,chinese2 ,commedia del ,sig4 ,abate ,pietro ,chiari4 ,la ,pelarina2 ,intermezzo de ,tre ,parti per ,musica4 ,il ,cavaliero e la ,dama2 ,commedia in ,tre ,atti in ,prosa4 ,i leave these facts without comment4 ,but this being the last piece of ,appendix ,i have to add to the present volume1 ,i would desire to close its pages with a question to my readers--a statistical question1 which1 ,i doubt not1 is being accurately determined for us all elsewhere1 and which1 therefore1 it seems to me1 our time would not be wasted in determining for ourselves4 ,there has now been peace between ,england and the continental powers about thirty-five years1 and during that period the ,english have visited the continent at the rate of many thousands a year1 staying there1 ,i suppose1 on the average1 each two or three months2 nor these an inferior kind of ,english1 but the kind which ought to be the best--the noblest born1 the best taught1 the richest in time and money1 having more leisure1 knowledge1 and power than any other portion of the nation4 ,these1 we might suppose1 beholding1 as they travelled1 the condition of the states in which the ,papal religion is professed1 and being1 at the same time1 the most enlightened section of a great ,protestant nation1 would have been animated with some desire to dissipate the ,romanist errors1 and to communicate to others the better knowledge which they possessed themselves4 ,i doubt not but that ,he who gave peace upon the earth1 and gave it by the hand of ,england1 expected this much of her1 and has watched every one of the millions of her travellers as they crossed the sea1 and kept count for him of his travelling expenses1 and of their distribution1 in a manner of which neither the traveller nor his courier were at all informed4 ,i doubt not1 ,i say1 but that such accounts have been literally kept for all of us1 and that a day will come when they will be made clearly legible to us1 and when we shall see added together1 on one side of the account book1 a great sum1 the certain portion1 whatever it may be1 of this thirty-five years' spendings of the rich ,english1 accounted for in this manner3-- ,to wooden spoons1 nut-crackers1 and jewellery1 bought at ,geneva1 and elsewhere among the ,alps1 so much2 to shell cameos and bits of mosaic bought at ,rome1 so much2 to coral horns and lava brooches bought at ,naples1 so much2 to glass beads at ,venice1 and gold filigree at ,genoa1 so much2 to pictures1 and statues1 and ornaments1 everywhere1 so much2 to avant-couriers and extra post-horses1 for show and magnificence1 so much2 to great entertainments and good places for seeing sights1 so much2 to ball-dresses and general vanities1 so much4 ,this1 ,i say1 will be the sum on one side of the book2 and on the other will be written3 ,to the struggling ,protestant ,churches of ,france1 ,switzerland1 and ,piedmont1 so much4 ,had we not better do this piece of statistics for ourselves1 in time8 ,,footnotes3 #ic ,ed4 ,venetis1 #ageh1 ,lib4 ,i4 #id ,compare ,appendix #ab4 #ie ,l',artiste en ,btiments1 par ,louis ,berteaux3 ,dijon1 #ahdh4 ,my printer writes at the side of the page a note1 which ,i insert with thanks3--,this is not the first attempt at a ,french order4 ,the writer has a ,treatise by ,sebastian ,le ,clerc1 a great man in his generation1 which contains a ,roman order1 a ,spanish order1 which the inventor appears to think very grand1 and a new ,french order nationalised by the ,gallic cock crowing and clapping its wings in the capital4 #if ,the lower group in ,plate ,,xvii4 #ig ,one of the upper stories is also in ,gally ,knight's plate represented as merely banded1 and otherwise plain3 it is1 in reality1 covered with as delicate inlaying as the rest4 ,the whole front is besides out of proportion1 and out of perspective1 at once2 and yet this work is referred to as of authority1 by our architects4 ,well may our architecture fall from its place among the fine arts1 as it is doing rapidly2 nearly all our works of value being devoted to the ,greek architecture1 which is utterly useless to us--or worse4 ,one most noble book1 however1 has been dedicated to our ,english abbeys1--,mr4 ,e4 ,sharpe's ,architectural ,parallels--almost a model of what ,i should like to see done for the ,gothic of all ,europe4 #ih ,except in the single passage tell it unto the ,church1 which is simply the extension of what had been commanded before1 i4e41 tell the fault first between thee and him1 then taking with thee one or two more1 then1 to all ,christian men capable of hearing the cause3 if he refuse to hear their common voice1 let him be unto thee as a heathen man and publican3 7,but consider how ,christ treated both47 #ii ,one or two remarks on this subject1 some of which ,i had intended to have inserted here1 and others in ,appendix #e1 ,i have arranged in more consistent order1 and published in a separate pamphlet1 ,notes on the ,construction of ,sheep-folds1 for the convenience of readers interested in other architecture than that of ,venetian palaces4 #ajj ,not1 however1 by ,johnson's testimony3 ,vide ,adventurer1 ,no4 #ci4 ,such operations as required neither celerity nor strength1--the low drudgery of collating copies1 comparing authorities1 digesting dictionaries1 or accumulating compilations4 #aja ,we have done so--theoretically2 just as one would reason on the human form from the bones outwards3 but the ,architect of human form frames all at once--bone and flesh4 #ajb ,of course mere multiplicability1 as of an engraving1 does not diminish the intrinsic value of the work2 and if the casts of sculpture could be as sharp as the sculpture itself1 they would hold to it the relation of value which engravings hold to paintings4 ,and1 if we choose to have our churches all alike1 we might cast them all in bronze--we might actually coin churches1 and have mints of ,cathedrals4 ,it would be worthy of the spirit of the century to put milled edges for mouldings1 and have a popular currency of religious subjects3 a new cast of nativities every ,christmas4 ,i have not heard this contemplated1 however1 and ,i speak1 therefore1 only of the results which ,i believe are contemplated1 as attainable by mere mechanical applications of glass and iron4 #ajc ,i shall often have occasion to write measures in the current text1 therefore the reader will kindly understand that whenever they are thus written1 #b 11 #b1 with double commas between1 the first figures stand for ,english feet1 the second for ,english inches4 #ajd ,i cannot suffer this volume to close without also thanking my kind friend1 ,mr4 ,rawdon ,brown1 for help given me in a thousand ways during my stay in ,venice3 but chiefly for his direction to passages elucidatory of my subject in the ,,mss4 of ,st4 ,mark's library4 #aje ,i have not seen the building itself1 but ,mr4 ,owen ,jones's work may1 ,i suppose1 be considered as sufficiently representing it for all purposes of criticism4 #ajf ,the sculpture of the ,drunkenness of ,noah on the ,ducal ,palace1 of which we shall have much to say hereafter4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,corrections ,,made ,,to ,,the ,,original ,,text4 ,footnote #ca ',greek porticos' changed to ',greek porticoes'4 ,page #db3 ' ,,xl4 ,it is not' corrected to ' ,,xi4 ,it is not'4 ,page #afa3 ,added 'r' to 'timbe' in 'long stone or piece of timbe'4 ,page #ahj3 ',,xii4 #b4 ,inlet' corrected to ' ,,xii4 #b4 ,inlet'4 ,page #bcg3 'rererence' changed to 'reference' in ',how is ornament to be treated with rererence'4 ,page #bdg3 ' ,,xiv4 ,now this is' corrected to ' ,,xix4 ,now this is'4 ,page #bgc3 'no' changed to 'not' in 'a peculiar look1 which ,i can no otherwise describe'4 ,page #ccc3 comma changed to period at the paragraph ending with 'separates its ornament into distinct families1 broadly definable'4 ,page #cgj3 'two-thsrds' corrected to 'two-thirds'4 ,page #cig3 'bodly' corrected to 'bodily' in 'merely through the channel of the bodly dexterities'4 ,page #cih3 'calld' corrected to 'called' in ',men engaged in the practice of these are calld artizans'4 ,page #dja3 'necesary' corrected to 'necessary' in 'as ,rubens was of that necesary for his'4 ,page #djf3 ,space placement corrected in ',i found it a sugly at last' to ',i found it as ugly at last'4 ,page #dbc3 ',milligen' corrected to ',millingen' in ',compare also ,milligen1 ,ancient ,coins of ,cities and ,kings'4 ,page #dcc3 space between 'rappresent' and 'arsi' removed in ',tre ,atti1 da rappresent arsi'4 ,page #dcc3 'del' corrected to 'dell' in ',traduzione del' ,idioma ,italiana'4