s of stone composing it, which, though of
course fastened by iron, look as if they stood balanced on the cornice
like the pillars of Stonehenge; but I have never heard of its having
been disturbed by anything short of an earthquake; and, as we have
seen, even the great earthquake of 1511, though it much injured the
Gorne, or battlements at the Casa d' Oro, and threw down several statues
at St. Mark's,[81] only shook one lily from the brow of the Ducal
Palace.

[Illustration: Fig. XXIV.]

Sec. XV. Although, however, these light and fantastic forms appear to have
been universal in the battlements meant primarily for decoration, there
was another condition of parapet altogether constructed for the
protection of persons walking on the roofs or in the galleries of the
churches, and from these more substantial and simple defences, the
BALCONIES, to which the Gothic palaces owe half of their picturesque
effect, were immediately derived; the balcony being, in fact, nothing
more than a portion of such roof parapets arranged round a projecting
window-sill sustained on brackets, as in the central example of the
annexed figure. We must, therefore, examine these defensive balustrades
and the derivative balconies consecutively.

Sec. XVI. Obviously, a parapet with an unbroken edge, upon which the arm
may rest (a condition above noticed, Vol. I. p. 157., as essential to
the proper performance of its duty), can be constructed only in one of
three ways. It must either be (1) of solid stone, decorated, if at all,
by mere surface sculpture, as in the uppermost example in Fig. XXIV.,
above; or (2) pierced into some kind of tracery, as in the second; or
(3) composed of small pillars carrying a level bar of stone, as in the
third; this last condition being, in a diseased and swollen form,
familiar to us in the balustrades of our bridges.[82]

Sec. XVII. (1.) Of these three kinds, the first, which is employed for the
pulpit at Torcello and in the nave of St. Mark's, whence the uppermost
example is taken, is beautiful when sculpture so rich can be employed
upon it; but it is liable to objection, first, because it is heavy and
unlike a parapet when seen from below; and, secondly, because it is
inconvenient in use. The position of leaning over a balcony becomes
cramped and painful if long continued, unless the foot can be sometimes
advanced _beneath_ the ledge on which the arm leans, i. e. between the
balusters or traceries, which of course