d the eye was directed to the extremities of the delicate
branches. _The Renaissance frosts came, and all perished!_"

Sec. XXIV. And the hues of this autumn of the early Renaissance are
the last which appear in architecture. The winter which succeeded was
colorless as it was cold; and although the Venetian painters struggled
long against its influence, the numbness of the architecture prevailed
over them at last, and the exteriors of all the latter palaces were
built only in barren stone. As at this point of our inquiry, therefore,
we must bid farewell to color, I have reserved for this place the
continuation of the history of chromatic decoration, from the Byzantine
period, when we left it in the fifth chapter of the second volume, down
to its final close.

Sec. XXV. It was above stated, that the principal difference in general
form and treatment between the Byzantine and Gothic palaces was the
contraction of the marble facing into the narrow spaces between the
windows, leaving large fields of brick wall perfectly bare. The reason
for this appears to have been, that the Gothic builders were no longer
satisfied with the faint and delicate hues of the veined marble; they
wished for some more forcible and piquant mode of decoration,
corresponding more completely with the gradually advancing splendor of
chivalric costume and heraldic device. What I have said above of the
simple habits of life of the thirteenth century, in no wise refers
either to costumes of state, or of military service; and any
illumination of the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries (the great
period being, it seems to me, from 1250 to 1350), while it shows a
peculiar majesty and simplicity in the fall of the robes (often worn
over the chain armor), indicates, at the same time, an exquisite
brilliancy of color and power of design in the hems and borders, as well
as in the armorial bearings with which they are charged; and while, as
we have seen, a peculiar simplicity is found also in the _forms_ of the
architecture, corresponding to that of the folds of the robes, its
_colors_ were constantly increasing in brilliancy and decision,
corresponding to those of the quartering of the shield, and of the
embroidery of the mantle.

Sec. XXVI. Whether, indeed, derived from the quarterings of the knights'
shields, or from what other source, I know not; but there is one
magnificent attribute of the coloring of the late twelfth, the whole
thirteenth, and th