n their
ornaments, and lay on their flower-work so carelessly, that a good
substantial captain's biscuit, with the small holes left by the
penetration of the baker's four fingers, encircling the large one which
testifies of the forcible passage of his thumb, would form quite as
elegant a rosette as hundreds now perpetuated in stone.

[Footnote 33: [A contributor to the "Architectural Magazine."]]

179. Now, there is nothing which requires study so close, or experiment
so frequent, as the proper designing of ornament. For its use and
position some definite rules may be given; but, when the space and
position have been determined, the lines of curvature, the breadth,
depth, and sharpness of the shadows to be obtained, the junction of the
parts of a group, and the general expression, will present questions for
the solution of which the study of years will sometimes scarcely be
sufficient;[34] for they depend upon the feeling of the eye and hand,
and there is nothing like perfection in decoration, nothing which, in
all probability, might not, by farther consideration, be improved. Now,
in cases in which the outline and larger masses are determined by
situation, the architect will frequently find it necessary to fall
back upon his decorations, as the only means of obtaining character; and
that which before was an unmeaning lump of jagged freestone, will become
a part of expression, an accessory of beautiful design, varied in its
form, and delicate in its effect. Then, instead of shrinking from his
bits of ornament, as from things which will give him trouble to invent,
and will answer no other purpose than that of occupying what would
otherwise have looked blank, the designer will view them as an efficient
_corps de reserve_, to be brought up when the eye comes to close
quarters with the edifice, to maintain and deepen the impression it has
previously received. Much more time will be spent in the conception,
much more labor in the execution, of such meaning ornaments, but both
will be well spent and well rewarded.

[Footnote 34: For example, we would allow one of the modern builders of
Gothic chapels a month of invention, and a botanic garden to work from,
with perfect certainty that he would not, at the expiration of the time,
be able to present us with one design of leafage equal in beauty to
hundreds we could point out in the capitals and niches of Melrose and
Roslin.]

180. Perhaps our meaning may be made more clear b