upper row are Byzantine; the two
middle rows are transitional, all but fig. 11, which is of the formed
Gothic; fig. 12 is perfect Gothic of the finest time (Ducal Palace,
oldest part), fig. 13 is Gothic beginning to decline, fig. 14 is
Renaissance Gothic in complete corruption.

Now observe, first, the Gothic naturalism advancing gradually from the
Byzantine severity; how from the sharp, hard, formalized conventionality
of the upper series the leaves gradually expand into more free and
flexible animation, until in fig. 12 we have the perfect living leaf as
if fresh gathered out of the dew. And then, in the last two examples and
partly in fig. 11, observe how the forms which can advance no longer in
animation, advance, or rather decline, into luxury and effeminacy as the
strength of the school expires.

Sec. XII. In the second place, note that the Byzantine and Gothic schools,
however differing in degree of life, are both alike in _temperance_,
though the temperance of the Gothic is the nobler, because it consists
with entire animation. Observe how severe and subtle the curvatures are
in all the leaves from fig. 1 to fig. 12, except only in fig. 11; and
observe especially the firmness and strength obtained by the close
approximation to the straight line in the lateral ribs of the leaf, fig.
12. The longer the eye rests on these temperate curvatures the more it
will enjoy them, but it will assuredly in the end be wearied by the
morbid exaggeration of the last example.

[Illustration: Plate II.
GOTHIC CAPITALS.]

Sec. XIII. Finally, observe--and this is very important--how one and the
same character in the work may be a sign of totally different states of
mind, and therefore in one case bad, and in the other good. The
examples, fig. 3. and fig. 12., are both equally pure in line; but one
is subdivided in the extreme, the other broad in the extreme, and both
are beautiful. The Byzantine mind delighted in the delicacy of
subdivision which nature shows in the fern-leaf or parsley-leaf; and so,
also, often the Gothic mind, much enjoying the oak, thorn, and thistle.
But the builder of the Ducal Palace used great breadth in his foliage,
in order to harmonize with the broad surface of his mighty wall, and
delighted in this breadth as nature delights in the sweeping freshness
of the dock-leaf or water-lily. Both breadth and subdivision are thus
noble, when they are contemplated or conceived by a mind in health;