akes its
pleasure above, in the form of a moulding merely, a chain of bricks cast
to the required curve. And this condition, translated into stone-work,
becomes a window of the second order (_b_5, Fig. XXVIII., or 2, in Plate
XIV.); a form perfectly strong and serviceable, and of immense
importance in the transitional architecture of Venice.

[Illustration: Fig. XXVIII.]

Sec. XXIX. At _b_, Fig. XXVIII., as above, is given one of the earliest
and simplest occurrences of the second order window (in a double group,
exactly like the brick transitional form _a_), from a most important
fragment of a defaced house in the Salizzada San Lio, close to the
Merceria. It is associated with a fine _pointed_ brick arch,
indisputably of contemporary work, towards the close of the thirteenth
century, and it is shown to be later than the previous example, _a_, by
the greater developement of its mouldings. The archivolt profile,
indeed, is the simpler of the two, not having the sub-arch; as in the
brick example; but the other mouldings are far more developed. Fig.
XXIX. shows at 1 the arch profiles, at 2 the capital profiles, at 3 the
basic-plinth profiles, of each window, _a_ and _b_.

[Illustration: Fig. XXIX.]

Sec. XXX. But the second order window soon attained nobler developement.
At once simple, graceful, and strong, it was received into all the
architecture of the period, and there is hardly a street in Venice which
does not exhibit some important remains of palaces built with this form
of window in many stories, and in numerous groups. The most extensive
and perfect is one upon the Grand Canal in the parish of the Apostoli,
near the Rialto, covered with rich decoration, in the Byzantine manner,
between the windows of its first story; but not completely
characteristic of the transitional period, because still retaining the
dentil in the arch mouldings, while the transitional houses all have the
simple roll. Of the fully established type, one of the most extensive
and perfect examples is in a court in the Calle di Rimedio, close to the
Ponte dell' Angelo, near St. Mark's Place. Another looks out upon a
small square garden, one of the few visible in the centre of Venice,
close by the Corte Salviati (the latter being known to every cicerone as
that from which Bianca Capello fled). But, on the whole, the most
interesting to the traveller is that of which I have given a vignette
opposite.

But for this range of windows, the littl