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THE ORIGIN OF THE VASE OF THE CORINTHIAN 

 CAPITAL. 



The herb Acanthus is said to have given 

 rise to this beautiful vase of the Corinthian 

 order. The leaves are much celebrated for 

 their beauty, and artists have introduced 

 them into various kinds ,of carved work. Its 

 greatest fame is the capital just named, 

 which, we are told, Callimachus formed upon 

 the model of a basket, covered with a tile, 

 and surrounded with the leaves of an Acanthus 

 plant, upon whose root it had accidentally been 

 set. This basket continues the vase of the ca- 

 pital : the leaves and stalks are the ornaments 

 with which it is covered, and the tile form its 

 abacus. Such was the original capital ; but 

 sculptors, even in those ages of chaster taste, 

 had the error, so common at this time, of sup- 

 posing every thing that is laboured must be 

 beautiful. Instead of the great and noble sim- 

 plicity of this natural leaf, they soon began to 

 decorate it with more carving ; they split the 

 edges of its several segments, variously into 

 three, or into five distinct and separate leaves : 

 these they left plain, and even at the edges; 



