V. PAPAVER RHOEAS. I 1 7 



corn ; and in the traditions of the art of Europe 

 by the springing of the acanthus round the basket 

 of the canephora, strictly the basket for bread, the 

 idea of bread including all sacred things carried at 

 the feasts of Demeter, Bacchus, and the Queen 

 of the Air. And this springing of the thorny 

 weeds round the basket of reed, distinctly taken 

 up by the Byzantine Italians in the basket-work 

 capital of the twelfth century, (which I have al- 

 ready illustrated at length in the ' Stones of 

 Venice,') becomes the germ of all capitals what- 

 soever, in the great schools of Gothic, to the 

 end of Gothic time, and also of all the capitals 

 of the pure and noble Renaissance architecture of 

 Angelico and Perugino, and all that was learned 

 from them in the north, while the introduction of 

 the rose, as a primal element of decoration, only 

 takes place when the luxury of English decorated 

 Gothic, the result of that licentious spirit in the 

 lords which brought on the Wars of the Roses, in- 

 dicates the approach of destruction to the feudal, 

 artistic, and moral power of the northern nations. 



For which reason, and many others, I must yet 

 delay the following out of our main subject, till 

 I have answered the other question, which brought 

 me to pause in the middle of this chapter, namely, 

 ' What is a weed ? ' 



