70 THE SEVEN LAMPS OF ARCHITECTURE

Nevertheless, where the design is of such delicacy and slightness as, in some parts of very fair and finished edifices, it is desirable that it should be; and where both its completion and security are in a measure dependent on the use of metal, let not such use be reprehended; so only that as much is done as may be, by good mortar and good masonry; and no slovenly workmanship admitted through confidence in the iron helps; for it is in this license as in that of wine, a man may use it for his infirmities, but not for his nourishment.

§ 12. And, in order to avoid an over use of this liberty, it would be well to consider what application may be conveniently made of the dovetailing and various adjusting of stones; for when any artifice is necessary to help the mortar, certainly this ought to come before the use of metal, for it is both safer and more honest. I cannot see that any objection can be made to the fitting of the stones in any shapes the architect pleases; for although it would not be desirable to see buildings put together like Chinese puzzles, there must always be a check upon such an abuse of the practice in its difficulty; nor is it necessary that it should be always exhibited, so that it be understood by the spectator as an admitted help, and that no principal stones are introduced in positions apparently impossible for them to retain, although a riddle here and there, in unimportant features, may sometimes serve to draw the eye to the masonry, and make it interesting, as well as to give a delightful sense of a kind of necromantic power in the architect. There is a pretty one in the lintel of the lateral door of the cathedral of Prato¹ (Plate IV. fig. 4); where the maintenance of the visibly separate stones, alternate marble and serpentine, cannot be

ws epi kakw anqrwpou sidhros aneurtai (“trouble laid upon troubl by the thought that iron had been discovered for the evil of mankind.”) H.M.S. Vanguard, a double-screw iron-clad, was struck by the ram of the Iron Duke and sunk, during a fog off the coast of Wicklow, Sept. 1, 1875. The London, a steamer on her way to Melbourne, foundered in the Bay of Biscay, with the loss of 220 lives, January 11, 1866; for other references to the sinking of the London, see Crown of Wild Olive, § 107, and Aratra Pentelici, § 208.]

¹ [Ruskin was at Prato sketching architectural details in 1846, as some notes in his diary show.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]