tally absent; it occurs in most cornices of the
time.)

But in both these cornices the reader will notice that while the
naturalism of the sculpture is steadily on the increase, the classical
formalism is still retained. The leaves are accurately numbered, and
sternly set in their places; they are leaves in office, and dare not
stir nor wave. They have the shapes of leaves, but not the functions,
"having the form of knowledge, but denying the power thereof." What is
the meaning of this?

Sec. XXII. Look back to the XXXIIIrd paragraph of the first chapter,
and you will see the meaning of it. These cornices are the Venetian
Ecclesiastical Gothic; the Christian element struggling with the
Formalism of the Papacy,--the Papacy being entirely heathen in all its
principles. That officialism of the leaves and their ribs means
Apostolic succession, and I don't know how much more, and is already
preparing for the transition to old Heathenism again, and the
Renaissance.[86]

Sec. XXIII. Now look to the last cornice (_g_). That is Protestantism,--a
slight touch of Dissent, hardly amounting to schism, in those falling
leaves, but true life in the whole of it. The forms all broken through,
and sent heaven knows where, but the root held fast; and the strong sap
in the branches; and, best of all, good fruit ripening and opening
straight towards heaven, and in the face of it, even though some of the
leaves lie in the dust.

Now, observe. The cornice _f_ represents Heathenism and Papistry,
animated by the mingling of Christianity and nature. The good in it, the
life of it, the veracity and liberty of it, such as it has, are
Protestantism in its heart; the rigidity and saplessness are the
Romanism of it. It is the mind of Fra Angelico in the monk's
dress,--Christianity before the Reformation. The cornice _g_ has the
Lombardic life element in its fulness, with only some color and shape of
Classicalism mingled with it--the good of classicalism; as much method
and Formalism as are consistent with life, and fitting for it: The
continence within certain border lines, the unity at the root, the
simplicity of the great profile,--all these are the healthy classical
elements retained: the rest is reformation, new strength, and recovered
liberty.

Sec. XXIV. There is one more point about it especially noticeable. The
leaves are thoroughly natural in their general character, but they are
of no particular species: and after being something lik