ys; the
difficulty of arranging the composition so as to be agreeable from
points of view on all sides of it, being, itself, arduous enough.

173. Thus far, I have been speaking only of the laws of structure
relating to the projection of the mass which becomes itself the
sculpture. Another most interesting group of constructive laws governs
its relation to the line that contains or defines it.

In your Standard Series I have placed a photograph of the south transept
of Rouen Cathedral. Strictly speaking, all standards of Gothic are of
the thirteenth century; but, in the fourteenth, certain qualities of
richness are obtained by the diminution of restraint; out of which we
must choose what is best in their kinds. The pedestals of the statues
which once occupied the lateral recesses are, as you see, covered with
groups of figures, inclosed each in a quatrefoil panel; the spaces
between this panel and the inclosing square being filled with sculptures
of animals.

You cannot anywhere find a more lovely piece of fancy, or more
illustrative of the quantity of result, than may be obtained with low
and simple chiseling. The figures are all perfectly simple in drapery,
the story told by lines of action only in the main group, no accessories
being admitted. There is no undercutting anywhere, nor exhibition of
technical skill, but the fondest and tenderest appliance of it; and one
of the principal charms of the whole is the adaptation of every subject
to its quaint limit. The tale must be told within the four petals of the
quatrefoil, and the wildest and playfulest beasts must never come out of
their narrow corners. The attention with which spaces of this kind are
filled by the Gothic designers is not merely a beautiful compliance with
architectural requirements, but a definite assertion of their delight in
the restraint of law; for, in illuminating books, although, if they
chose it, they might have designed floral ornaments, as we now usually
do, rambling loosely over the leaves, and although, in later works, such
license is often taken by them, in all books of the fine time the
wandering tendrils are inclosed by limits approximately rectilinear, and
in gracefulest branching often detach themselves from the right line
only by curvature of extreme severity.

174. Since the darkness and extent of shadow by which the sculpture is
relieved necessarily vary with the depth of the recess, there arise a
series of problems, in deciding