conditions are found in the common upholstery and decorations
which, over the whole of civilized Europe, have sprung from this
poisonous root; an artistical pottage, composed of nymphs, cupids, and
satyrs, with shreddings of heads and paws of meek wild beasts, and
nondescript vegetables. And the lowest of all are those which have not
even graceful models to recommend them, but arise out of the corruption
of the higher schools, mingled with clownish or bestial satire, as is
the case in the latter Renaissance of Venice, which we were above
examining. It is almost impossible to believe the depth to which the
human mind can be debased in following this species of grotesque. In a
recent Italian garden, the favorite ornaments frequently consist of
stucco images, representing, in dwarfish caricature, the most disgusting
types of manhood and womanhood which can be found amidst the dissipation
of the modern drawingroom; yet without either veracity or humor, and
dependent, for whatever interest they possess, upon simple grossness of
expression and absurdity of costume. Grossness, of one kind or another,
is, indeed, an unfailing characteristic of the style; either latent, as
in the refined sensuality of the more graceful arabesques, or, in the
worst examples, manifested in every species of obscene conception and
abominable detail. In the head, described in the opening of this
chapter, at Santa Maria Formosa, the _teeth_ are represented as
_decayed_.

Sec. XL. 4. The minds of the fourth class of men who do not play at all,
are little likely to find expression in any trivial form of art, except
in bitterness of mockery; and this character at once stamps the work in
which it appears, as belonging to the class of terrible, rather than of
playful, grotesque. We have, therefore, now to examine the state of mind
which gave rise to this second and more interesting branch of
imaginative work.

Sec. XLI. Two great and principal passions are evidently appointed by the
Deity to rule the life of man; namely, the love of God, and the fear of
sin, and of its companion--Death. How many motives we have for Love, how
much there is in the universe to kindle our admiration and to claim our
gratitude, there are, happily, multitudes among us who both feel and
teach. But it has not, I think, been sufficiently considered how
evident, throughout the system of creation, is the purpose of God that
we should often be affected by Fear; not the sudden, selfi