7C PROSERPINA. 



the springing of the Acanthus round the basket of the cane- 

 phora, strictly the basket for bread, the idea of bread includ- 

 ing 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 already illustrated at length in the 

 'Stones of Venice,') becomes the germ of all capitals whatso- 

 ever, in the great schools of Gothic, to the end of Gothic 

 time, and also of all the capitals of the pure and noble Re- 

 naissance 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, indicates 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 ? ' 



CHAPTER YL 



THE PARABLE OF JOASH. 



1. SOME ten or twelve years ago, I bought three times 

 twelve are thirty-six of a delightful little book by Mrs. 

 Gatty, called ' Aunt Judy's Tales ' whereof to make presents 

 to my little lady friends. I had, at that happy time, perhaps 

 from four-and-twenty to six-and- thirty I forget exactly how 

 many very particular little lady friends ; and greatly wished 

 Aunt Judy to be the thirty-seventh, the kindest, wittiest, 

 prettiest girl one had ever read of, at least in so entirely 

 proper and orthodox literature. 



2. Not but that it is a suspicious sign of infirmity of faith 

 in our modern moralists to make their exemplary young peo- 



