112 THE STONES OF VENICE CONSTRUCTION

a pedestal, than to introduce a higher shaft; or it may be better to place a shaft of alabaster, if otherwise too short for our purpose, on a pedestal, than to use a larger shaft of coarser material; but the pedestal is in each case a make-shift, not an additional perfection. It may, in the like manner, be sometimes convenient for men to walk on stilts, but not to keep their stilts on as ornamental parts of dress. The bases of the Nelson column,¹ the Monument, and the column of the Place Vendôme, are to the shafts exactly what highly ornamented wooden legs would be to human beings.

§ 19. So far of bases of detached shafts. As we do not yet know in what manner shafts are likely to be grouped, we can say nothing of those of grouped shafts until we know more of what they are to support.

Lastly; we have throughout our reasoning upon the base supposed the pier to be circular. But circumstances may occur to prevent its being reduced to this form, and it may remain square or rectangular; its base will then be simply the wall base following its contour, and we have no spurs at the angles. Thus much may serve respecting pier bases; we have next to examine the concentration of the Wall Veil, or the Shaft.

¹ [Erected in 1843, from the design of W. Railton, in imitation of one of the Corinthian columns of the temple of Mars Ultor at Rome. For the Vendôme Column, see below, pp. 254, 256.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]