148.]]
127. Now, where the roof was thus a place of frequent resort, there
could be no more useful decoration than a balustrade; nor one more
appropriate or beautiful than occasional statues in attitudes of
watchfulness, expectation, or observation: and even now, wherever the
roof is flat, we have an idea of convenience and facility of access,
which still renders the balustrade agreeable, and the statue beautiful,
if well designed. It must not be a figure of perfect peace or repose;
far less should it be in violent action: but it should be fixed in that
quick, startled stillness, which is the result of intent observation or
expectation, and which seems ready to start into motion every instant.
Its height should be slightly colossal, as it is always to be seen
against the sky; and its draperies should not be too heavy, as the eye
will always expect them to be caught by the wind. We shall enter into
this subject, however, more fully hereafter. We only wish at present to
vindicate from the charge of impropriety one of the chief features of
the Italian villa. Its white figures, always marble, remain entirely
unsullied by the weather, and stand out with great majesty against the
blue air behind them, taking away from the heaviness, without destroying
the simplicity, of the general form.
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