prisons of the body, but
graves of the soul; for the very men who could do sculpture like this of
Lyons for you are here! still here, in your despised workmen: the race
has not degenerated, it is you who have bound them down, and buried them
beneath your Greek stones. There would be a resurrection of them, as of
renewed souls, if you would only lift the weight of these weary walls
from off their hearts.[17]

[Footnote 17: This subject is farther pursued in the Addenda at the end
of this Lecture.]

39. But I am leaving the point immediately in question, which, you will
remember, was the proper adaptation of ornament to its distance from the
eye. I have given you one example of Gothic ornament, meant to be seen
close; now let me give you one of Gothic ornament intended to be seen
far off. Here (_fig._ 16) is a sketch of a niche at Amiens Cathedral,
some fifty or sixty feet high on the facade, and seven or eight feet
wide. Now observe, in the ornament close to the eye, you had _six
figures_ and a whole wreath of roses in the space of _a foot and a half_
square; but in the ornament sixty feet from the eye, you have now only
ten or twelve large _leaves_ in a space of _eight feet square_! and note
also that now there is no attempt whatsoever at the refinement of line
and finish of edge which there was in the other example. The sculptor
knew that, at the height of this niche, people would not attend to the
delicate lines, and that the broad shadows would catch the eye instead.
He has therefore left, as you see, rude square edges to his niche, and
carved his leaves as massively and broadly as possible: and yet, observe
how dexterously he has given you a sense of delicacy and minuteness in
the work, by mingling these small leaves among the large ones. I made
this sketch from a photograph, and the spot in which these leaves
occurred was obscure; I have, therefore, used those of the Oxalis
acetosella, of which the quaint form is always interesting.

40. And you see by this example also what I meant just now by saying,
that our own ornament was not only wrongly placed, but wrongly FINISHED.
The very qualities which _fit_ this leaf-decoration for due effect upon
the eye, are those which would _conduce to economy_ in its execution. A
more expensive ornament would be less effective; and it is the very
price we pay for finishing our decorations which spoils our
architecture. And the curious thing is, that while you all appreciate,