III. MURANO.

41

have only six each, while the other five sides have seven. Of
these groups of seven triangles each, that used for the third and fifth
sides of the apse is the uppermost in Plate III.; and that used for
the centre of the apse, and of the whole series, is the lowermost in
the same plate; *the piece of black and white marble being used to
emphasize the centre of the chain*, exactly as a painter would use a
dark touch for a similar purpose.

§ XXII. And now, with a little trouble, we can set before the
reader, at a glance, the arrangement of the groups along the entire
extremity of the church.

There are thirteen recesses, indicative of thirteen arches, seen
in the ground plan, fig. 2. Plate I. Of these, the second and
twelfth arches rise higher than the rest; so high as to break the
decorated band; and the groups of triangles we have to enumerate
are, therefore, only eleven in number; one above each of the eleven
low arches. And of these eleven, the first and second, tenth and
eleventh, are at the ends of the aisles; while the third to the
ninth, inclusive, go round the apse. Thus, in the following table,
the numerals indicate the place of each entire group (counting
from the south to the north side of the church, or from left to
right), and the letters indicate the species of triangle of which it is
composed, as described in the list given above.

6. h. i. h. g. h. i. h.
5. b. c. a. d. a. c. b.
7. b. c. a. d. a. c. b.
4. b. a. b. c. a. c. a.
8. a. e. a. c. b. a. b.
3. b. a. b. e. b. a.
9. a. b. e. b. a. b.
2. a. b. c.
10. a. b. c. b.
1. a. b. c. b. a.
11. b. a. c. a. f. a. a.

The central group is put first, that it may be seen how the
series on the two sides of the apse answer each other. It was a
very curious freak to insert the triangle e, in the outermost place
*but one* of both the fourth and eighth sides of the apse, and in
the outermost *but two* in the third and ninth; in neither case
having any balance to it in its own group, and the real balance
being only effected on the other side of the apse, which it is
impossible that any one should see at the same time. This is