as carefully explained in the chapter which it
illustrates, as well as in the passages of "Modern Painters" therein
referred to (vol. ii. pp. 43, 79), so little are we now in the habit of
considering the character of abstract lines, that it was thought by many
persons that this plate only illustrated Hogarth's reversed line of
beauty, even although the curve of the salvia leaf, which was the one
taken from that plate for future use, in architecture, was not a
reversed or serpentine curve at all. I shall now, however, I hope, be
able to show my meaning better.

Sec. IX. Fig. 1 in Plate I., opposite, is a piece of ornamentation from
a Norman-French manuscript of the thirteenth century, and fig. 2 from an
Italian one of the fifteenth. Observe in the first its stern moderation
in curvature; the gradually united lines _nearly straight_, though none
quite straight, used for its main limb, and contrasted with the bold but
simple offshoots of its leaves, and the noble spiral from which it
shoots, these in their turn opposed by the sharp trefoils and thorny
cusps. And see what a reserve of resource there is in the whole; how
easy it would have been to make the curves more palpable and the foliage
more rich, and how the noble hand has stayed itself, and refused to
grant one wave of motion more.

[Illustration: Plate I.
TEMPERANCE AND INTEMPERANCE.
IN CURVATURE.]

Sec. X. Then observe the other example, in which, while the same idea is
continually repeated, excitement and interest are sought for by means of
violent and continual curvatures wholly unrestrained, and rolling hither
and thither in confused wantonness. Compare the character of the
separate lines in these two examples carefully, and be assured that
wherever this redundant and luxurious curvature shows itself in
ornamentation, it is a sign of jaded energy and failing invention. Do
not confuse it with fulness or richness. Wealth is not necessarily
wantonness: a Gothic moulding may be buried half a foot deep in thorns
and leaves, and yet will be chaste in every line; and a late Renaissance
moulding may be utterly barren and poverty-stricken, and yet will show
the disposition to luxury in every line.

Sec. XI. Plate XX., in the second volume, though prepared for the special
illustration of the notices of capitals, becomes peculiarly interesting
when considered in relation to the points at present under
consideration. The four leaves in the