the agreeable monotony produced by a repetition of almost similar
designs, varied slightly in execution.

Another prominent feature of church woodwork, which developed about this
time into magnificent proportions, was the font cover and canopy. Many
of these were, however, more like glorifications of the carpenter's
genius for construction than examples of the carver's art, as they were
composed of a multitude of tiny pinnacles and niches, the carver's work
being confined to a repetition of endless crockets, tracery, and
separate figures or groups. However, in Plate XIII an example is given
of what they could do when working together on a more equal footing;
although much mutilated, enough remains to show how the one craft gains
by being associated with the other in a wholesome spirit of rivalry.

CHAPTER XXV

SURFACE FINISH--TEXTURE

Tool Marks, the Importance of their Direction--The Woody Texture
Dependent upon Clearness of Cutting and Sympathetic Handling.

The term "texture" is sometimes applied to the quality of finish which
is characteristic of good carving; it has a somewhat misleading sound,
which seems to suggest that the final treatment of the surface is the
work of a separate operation. However, it is a right enough word, as the
texture which wood-carvers aim at is that of the wood in which they are
carving. One might naturally think that this texture must necessarily
appear when the work was finished, but that is not the case, as it is
only rescued by the most skilful use of the tools, and easily disappears
under the mismanagement of clumsy or unsympathetic hands.

Texture in carving is in some respects on a parallel with tone in
painting--it depends upon a right relation of many qualities. As in the
painting good tone is the outcome of the combined effects of truth in
color and a right balance of what are called the "values," together with
decision in the handling of the brush, so in carving, texture depends
upon, first, having a clear idea of what is being carved, and making it
clear to others; that if it be round, hollow, or flat, it must be so
indeed; that edges and sharpnesses be really where they were intended to
be, and not lost in woolly confusion. Then again, as with the painter's
brush, the tool must be moved by a hand which adapts itself to every
changing plane, to all manner of curves and contours, with touches
sometimes delicate and deliberate, at others broad and sweep