122 THE STONES OF VENICE CONSTRUCTION

be observed that the arrangement of the shafts in the series of B and C is always exactly the same in their relations to each other; only the group of B is set evenly, and the group of C is set obliquely,-the one carrying a square, the other a cross.

You have in these two series the primal representations of shaft arrangement in the Southern and Northern schools; while the group b, of which b₂ is the double, set evenly, and b₃ the double, set obliquely, is common to both. The reader will be surprised to find how all the complex and varied forms of shaft arrangement will range themselves into one or other of these groups; and still more surprised to find the oblique or cross set system on the one hand, and the square set system on the other, severally distinctive of Southern and Northern work. The dome of St. Mark’s, and the crossing of the nave and transepts of Beauvais, are both carried by square piers; but the piers of St. Mark’s are set square to the walls of the church, and those of Beauvais obliquely to them: and this difference is even a more essential one than that between the smooth surface of the one and the reedy complication of the other. The two squares here in the margin (Fig. 15) are exactly of the same size, but their expression is altogether different, and in that difference lies one of the most subtle distinctions between the Gothic and Greek spirit,-from the shaft, which bears the building, to the smallest decoration. The Greek square is by preference set evenly, the Gothic square obliquely; and that so constantly, that wherever we find the level or even square occurring as a prevailing form, either in plan or decoration, in early Northern work, there we may at least suspect the presence of a Southern or Greek influence; and on the other hand, wherever the oblique square is prominent in the South, we may confidently look for further evidence of the influence of the Gothic architects. The rule must not of course be pressed

[Version 0.04: March 2008]