ally have
walked, or stood, or looked, but how they may most gracefully and
harmoniously walk or stand. In the hands of a great man, posture, like
everything else, becomes noble, even when over-studied, as with Michael
Angelo, who was, perhaps, more than any other, the cause of the
mischief; but, with inferior men, this habit of composing attitudes ends
necessarily in utter lifelessness and abortion. Giotto was, perhaps, of
all painters, the most free from the infection of the poison, always
conceiving an incident naturally, and drawing it unaffectedly; and the
absence of posture-making in the works of the Pre-Raphaelites, as
opposed to the Attitudinarianism of the modern school, has been both one
of their principal virtues, and of the principal causes of outcry
against them.

Sec. LXXIX. But the most significant change in the treatment of these
tombs, with respect to our immediate object, is in the form of the
sarcophagus. It was above noted, that, exactly in proportion to the
degree of the pride of life expressed in any monument, would be also the
fear of death; and therefore, as these tombs increase in splendor, in
size, and beauty of workmanship, we perceive a gradual desire to _take
away from the definite character of the sarcophagus_. In the earliest
times, as we have seen, it was a gloomy mass of stone; gradually it
became charged with religious sculpture; but never with the slightest
desire to disguise its form, until towards the middle of the fifteenth
century. It then becomes enriched with flower-work and hidden by the
Virtues; and, finally, losing its foursquare form, it is modelled on
graceful types of ancient vases, made as little like a coffin as
possible, and refined away in various elegancies, till it becomes, at
last, a mere pedestal or stage for the portrait statue. This statue, in
the meantime, has been gradually coming back to life, through a curious
series of transitions. The Vendramin monument is one of the last which
shows, or pretends to show, the recumbent figure laid in death. A few
years later, this idea became disagreeable to polite minds; and, lo! the
figures which before had been laid at rest upon the tomb pillow, raised
themselves on their elbows, and began to look round them. The soul of
the sixteenth century dared not contemplate its body in death.

Sec. LXXX. The reader cannot but remember many instances of this form of
monument, England being peculiarly rich in examples of them; altho