s the white marble band let in, with the dogtooth on the face of it;
_b c_ is 7-3/4 inches across; _c d_ 3-3/4; and at B are given two joints
of the dentil (mentioned above, in the chapter on dentils, as unique in
Venice) of their actual size. At C is given one of the inlaid leaves;
its measure being (in inches) C _f_ 7-3/4; C _h_ 3/4; _f g_ 3/4; _f e_
4-3/4, the base of the smaller leaves being of course _f e_ - _f g_ = 4.
The pattern which occupies the other spandril is similar, except that
the field _b c_, instead of the intersecting arcs, has only triangles of
grey marble, arranged like rays, with their bases towards the centre.
There being twenty round the circle, the reader can of course draw them
for himself; they being isosceles, touching the dentil with their
points, and being in contact at their bases: it has lost its central
boss. The marbles are, in both, covered with a rusty coating, through
which it is excessively difficult to distinguish the colors (another
proof of the age of the ornament). But the white marbles are certainly,
in places (except only the sugary dentil), veined with purple, and the
grey seem warmed with green.

A trace of another of these ornaments may be seen over the 21st capital;
but I doubt if the marbles have ever been inserted in the other
spandrils, and their want of ornament occasions the slight meagreness in
the effect of the lower story, which is almost the only fault of the
building.

This decoration by discs, or shield-like ornaments, is a marked
characteristic of Venetian architecture in its earlier ages, and is
carried into later times by the Byzantine Renaissance, already
distinguished from the more corrupt forms of Renaissance, in Appendix 6.
Of the disc decoration, so borrowed, we have already an example in Plate
I. In Plate VII. we have an earlier condition of it, one of the discs
being there sculptured, the others surrounded by sculptured bands: here
we have, on the Ducal Palace, the most characteristic of all, because
likest to the shield, which was probably the origin of the same ornament
among the Arabs, and assuredly among the Greeks. In Mr. Donaldson's
restoration of the gate of the treasury of Atreus, this ornament is
conjecturally employed, and it occurs constantly on the Arabian
buildings of Cairo.

21. ANCIENT REPRESENTATIONS OF WATER.

I have long been desirous of devoting some time to an enquiry into the
effect of natural scenery upon the pagan, and es