135. We must not, therefore, without qualification blame, though we may
profoundly regret, the destructive passions of the thirteenth century.
The architecture of the palaces thus destroyed in Florence contained
examples of the most beautiful round-arched work that had been
developed by the Norman schools; and was in some cases adorned with a
barbaric splendour, and fitted into a majesty of strength which, so far
as I can conjecture the effect of it from the few now existing traces,
must have presented some of the most impressive aspects of street
edifice ever existent among civil societies.
136. It may be a temporary relief for you from the confusion of
following the giddy successions of Florentine temper, if I interrupt,
in this place, my history of the city by some inquiry into technical
points relating to the architecture of these destroyed palaces. Their
style is familiar to us, indeed, in a building of which it is difficult
to believe the early date,--the leaning tower of Pisa. The lower
stories of it are of the twelfth century, and the open arcades of the
cathedrals of Pisa and Lucca, as well as the lighter construction of
the spire of St.
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