s, two curious instances of radiation
in brick ornament above arches, but I think these also without any very
luminous intention. The imitations of fire in the torches of Cupids and
genii, and burning in tops of urns, which attest and represent the
mephitic inspirations of the seventeenth century in most London
churches, and in monuments all over civilised Europe, together with the
gilded rays of Romanist altars, may be left to such mercy as the reader
is inclined to show them.

Sec. XXVII. 5. Forms of Air (Clouds). Hardly more manageable than flames,
and of no ornamental use, their majesty being in scale and color, and
inimitable in marble. They are lightly traced in much of the cinque
cento sculpture; very boldly and grandly in the strange Last Judgment in
the porch of St. Maclou at Rouen, described in the "Seven Lamps." But
the most elaborate imitations are altogether of recent date, arranged in
concretions like flattened sacks, forty or fifty feet above the altars
of continental churches, mixed with the gilded truncheons intended for
sunbeams above alluded to.

Sec. XXVIII. 6. Shells. I place these lowest in the scale (after inorganic
forms) as being moulds or coats of organism; not themselves organic. The
sense of this, and of their being mere emptiness and deserted houses,
must always prevent them, however beautiful in their lines, from being
largely used in ornamentation. It is better to take the line and leave
the shell. One form, indeed, that of the cockle, has been in all ages
used as the decoration of half domes, which were named conchas from
their shell form: and I believe the wrinkled lip of the cockle, so used,
to have been the origin, in some parts of Europe at least, of the
exuberant foliation of the round arch. The scallop also is a pretty
radiant form, and mingles well with other symbols when it is needed. The
crab is always as delightful as a grotesque, for here we suppose the
beast inside the shell; and he sustains his part in a lively manner
among the other signs of the zodiac, with the scorpion; or scattered
upon sculptured shores, as beside the Bronze Boar of Florence. We shall
find him in a basket at Venice, at the base of one of the Piazzetta
shafts.

Sec. XXIX. 7. Fish. These, as beautiful in their forms as they are
familiar to our sight, while their interest is increased by their
symbolic meaning, are of great value as material of ornament. Love of
the picturesque has generally induced a ch