dying away with a ripple on the surface of the wall,
as in _b_, Fig. LV., from Coutances (observe, here the white part is the
solid stone, the shade is cut away).

Chamfers of this kind are used on a small scale and in delicate work:
the coarse chamfers are found on all scales: _f_ and _g_, Fig. LIII., in
Venice, form the great angles of almost every Gothic palace; the roll
being a foot or a foot and a half round, and treated as a shaft, with a
capital and fresh base at every story, while the stones of which it is
composed form alternate quoins in the brickwork beyond the chamfer
curve. I need hardly say how much nobler this arrangement is than a
common quoined angle; it gives a finish to the aspect of the whole pile
attainable in no other way. And thus much may serve concerning angle
decoration by chamfer.

FOOTNOTES:

[73] Appendix 23: "Varieties of Chamfer."

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE EDGE AND FILLET.

Sec. I. The decoration of the angle by various forms of chamfer and bead,
as above described, is the quietest method we can employ; too quiet,
when great energy is to be given to the moulding, and impossible, when,
instead of a bold angle, we have to deal with a small projecting edge,
like _c_ in Fig. LI. In such cases we may employ a decoration, far ruder
and easier in its simplest conditions than the bead, far more effective
when not used in too great profusion; and of which the complete
developments are the source of mouldings at once the most picturesque
and most serviceable which the Gothic builders invented.

Sec. II. The gunwales of the Venetian heavy barges being liable to
somewhat rough collision with each other, and with the walls of the
streets, are generally protected by a piece of timber, which projects in
the form of the fillet, _a_, Fig. LI.; but which, like all other fillets,
may, if we so choose, be considered as composed of two angles or edges,
which the natural and most wholesome love of the Venetian boatmen for
ornament, otherwise strikingly evidenced by their painted sails and
glittering flag-vanes, will not suffer to remain wholly undecorated. The
rough service of these timbers, however, will not admit of rich ornament,
and the boatbuilder usually contents himself with cutting a series of
notches in each edge, one series alternating with the other, as
represented at 1, Plate IX.

Sec. III. In that simple ornament, not as confined to Venetian boats,
but as representative of a gen