splay them, or richer symmetry
wanted to deserve them; and in such cases even a useless wall may be
built to bear the sculpture, as at San Michele of Lucca, or a useless
portion added to complete the cadences, as at St. Mark's of Venice, or
useless height admitted in order to increase the impressiveness, as in
nearly every noble building in the world. But the right to do this is
dependent upon the actual _purpose_ of the building becoming no longer
one of utility merely; as the purpose of a cathedral is not so much to
shelter the congregation as to awe them. In such cases even some
sacrifice of convenience may occasionally be admitted, as in the case of
certain forms of pillared churches. But for the most part, the great law
is, convenience first, and then the noblest decoration possible; and
this is peculiarly the case in domestic buildings, and such public ones
as are constantly to be used for practical purposes.

67. Proposition 3d.--_Ornamentation should be visible._

The reader may imagine this to be an indisputable position; but,
practically, it is one of the last which modern architects are likely to
admit; for it involves much more than appears at first sight. To render
ornamentation, with all its qualities, clearly and entirely visible in
its appointed place on the building, requires a knowledge of effect and
a power of design which few even of the best artists possess, and which
modern architects, so far from possessing, do not so much as comprehend
the existence of. But, without dwelling on this highest manner of
rendering ornament "visible," I desire only at present to convince the
reader thoroughly of the main fact asserted in the text, that while
modern builders decorate the _tops_ of buildings, mediaeval builders
decorated the _bottom_. So singular is the ignorance yet prevailing of
the first principles of Gothic architecture, that I saw this assertion
marked with notes of interrogation in several of the reports of these
Lectures; although, at Edinburgh, it was only necessary for those who
doubted it to have walked to Holyrood Chapel, in order to convince
themselves of the truth of it, so far as their own city was concerned;
and although, most assuredly, the cathedrals of Europe have now been
drawn often enough to establish the very simple fact that their best
sculpture is in their porches, not in their steeples. However, as this
great Gothic principle seems yet unacknowledged, let me state it here,
once