n outer circular line to represent the outer
swell of the roll against which the spur is set, and I put another such
spur to the opposite corner of the square, and we have the half base,
Fig. LX., which is a general type of the best Gothic bases in existence,
being very nearly that of the upper shafts of the Ducal Palace of
Venice. In those shafts the quadrant _a b_, or the upper edge of the
lower roll, is 2 feet 1-3/8 inches round, and the base of the spur _d
e_, is 10 inches; the line _d e_ being therefore to _a b_ as 10 to
25-3/8. In Fig. LX. it is as 10 to 24, the measurement being easier and
the type somewhat more generally representative of the best, _i.e._
broadest, spurs of Italian Gothic.

[Illustration: Fig. LX.]

Sec. XIII. Now, the reader is to remember, there is nothing magical in
salvia leaves: the line I take from them happened merely to fall
conveniently on the page, and might as well have been taken from
anything else; it is simply its character of gradated curvature which
fits it for our use. On Plate XI., opposite, I have given plans of the
spurs and quadrants of twelve Italian and three Northern bases; these
latter (13), from Bourges, (14) from Lyons, (15) from Rouen, are given
merely to show the Northern disposition to break up bounding lines, and
lose breadth in picturesqueness. These Northern bases look the prettiest
in this plate, because this variation of the outline is nearly all the
ornament they have, being cut very rudely; but the Italian bases above
them are merely prepared by their simple outlines for far richer
decoration at the next step, as we shall see presently. The Northern
bases are to be noted also for another grand error: the projection of
the roll beyond the square plinth, of which the corner is seen, in
various degrees of advancement, in the three examples. 13 is the base
whose profile is No. 26 in Plate X.; 14 is 24 in the same plate; and 15
is 28.

[Illustration: Plate XI.
PLANS OF BASES.]

Sec. XIV. The Italian bases are the following; all, except 7 and 10, being
Venetian: 1 and 2, upper colonnade, St. Mark's; 3, Ca' Falier; 4, lower
colonnade, and 5, transept, St. Mark's; 6, from the Church of St. John
and Paul; 7, from the tomb near St. Anastasia, Verona, described above
(p. 142); 8 and 9, Fon daco de' Turchi, Venice; 10, tomb of Can Mastino
della Scala, Verona; 11, San Stefano, Venice; 12, Ducal Palace, Venice,
upper colonnade. The Nos. 3, 8, 9, 11 are