§ XII. There is, however, evidently another variety of the chamfers, _f_ and _g_, Fig. LIII., formed by an unbroken curve instead of two curves, as _c_, Fig. LIV.; and when this, or the chamfer _d_, Fig. LIII., is large, it is impossible to say whether they have been devised from the incised angle, or from small shafts set in a nook, as at _e_, Fig. LIV., or in the hollow of the curved chamfer, as _d_, Fig. LIV. In general, however, the shallow chamfers, _a_, _b_, _e_, and _f_, Fig. LIII., are peculiar to southern work; and may be assumed to have been derived from the incised angle, while the deep chamfers, _c_, _d_, _g_, _h_, are characteristic of northern work, and may be partly derived or imitated from the angle shaft; while, with the usual extravagance of the northern architects, they are cut deeper and deeper until we arrive at the condition _f_, Fig. LIV., which is the favorite chamfer at Bourges and Bayeux, and in other good French work. I have placed in the Appendix[73] a figure belonging to this subject, but which cannot interest the general reader, showing the number of possible chamfers with a roll moulding of given size. § XIII. If we take the plain chamfer, _b_, of Fig. LII., on a large scale, as at _a_, Fig. LV., and bead both its edges, cutting away the parts there shaded, we shall have a form much used in richly decorated Gothic, both in England and Italy. It might be more simply described as the chamfer _a_ of Fig. LII., with an incision on each edge; but the part here shaded is often worked into ornamental forms, not being entirely cut away. [Illustration: Fig. LV.] § XIV. Many other mouldings, which at first sight appear very elaborate, are nothing more than a chamfer, with a series of small echoes of it on each side, dying away with a ripple on the surface of the wall, as in _b_, Fig. LV., from Coutances (observe, here the white part is the solid stone, the shade is cut away). Chamfers of this kind are used on a small scale and in delicate work: the coarse chamfers are found on all scales: _f_ and _g_, Fig. LIII., in Venice, form the great angles of almost every Gothic palace; the roll being a foot or a foot and a half round, and treated as a shaft, with a capital and fresh base at every story, while the stones of which it is composed form alternate quoins in the brickwork beyond the chamfer curve. I need hardly say how much nobler this arrangement is than a common quoined angle; it gives a finish to the aspect of the whole pile attainable in no other way. And thus much may serve concerning angle decoration by chamfer. FOOTNOTES: [73] Appendix 23: "Varieties of Chamfer." CHAPTER XXIII. THE EDGE AND FILLET.