334 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. . Paet II. 



above it, has an appearance of poverty and weakness {figs. 1, 

 2); which is still worse if the arch supports nothing, and 

 passes above, or breaks through, the horizontal line of the 



(53.) 



Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 



entablature (fig. 3). Nor will such a fault find any palliation 

 from its occurrence in the facade of St. Mark's, at Venice ; 

 where the centre arch is thrust through the horizontal line 

 which crowns the basement story. 



100. I am far from finding fault with St. Mark's, which I 

 unite with the most enthusiastic in admiring ; but I admire it 

 for its effect, and I am no more disposed to subject it to 

 ordinary rules than any other object beautiful for its pic- 

 turesqueness. An illuminated MS. (to which it may be 

 compared) is not to be criticised like a painting. There is a 

 charm in St. Mark's which is irrespective of architectural 

 merits. It has a solemn mysterious character within, greatly 

 increased by its half-darkened recesses, its chapels, and its 

 columnar screens, and by so much being veiled from the sight, 

 or imperfectly seen, that we only distinguish part of what we 

 even look at. Wherever we stand, whatever we admire, we 

 feel there is so much more unseen, which must be searched 

 out, so that — as in a catacomb, with its succession of hidden 

 chambers — our expectation is raised at every moment, and 

 every object promises to be succeeded by another of equal 

 interest. Wherever we look we are struck by a succession of 

 gorgeous golden mosaics, and by the brilliant colours profusely 

 displayed over the whole building; from the elaborately 

 varied mosaics of the pavement to the summit of the cupolas. 

 Its bizarre and novel character, and its many peculiarities, 



