degrees of twelve-faced steps; the second is upon some columns which
put it upon a level with the first one;" (that is, in the middle of
it,) "and the third, which is of bronze, rests upon three figures which
have in the middle of them some griffins, of bronze too, which pour
water out on every side."

41. Many things we have to note in this passage, but first I will show
you the best picture I can of the thing itself.

The best I can; the thing itself being half destroyed, and what remains
so beautiful that no one can now quite rightly draw it; but Mr. Arthur
Severn, (the son of Keats's Mr. Severn,) was with me, looking
reverently at those remains, last summer, and has made, with help from
the sun, this sketch for you (Plate III.); entirely true and effective
as far as his time allowed.

Half destroyed, or more, I said it was,--Time doing grievous work on
it, and men worse. You heard Vasari saying of it, that it stood on
twelve degrees of twelve-faced steps. These--worn, doubtless, into
little more than a rugged slope--have been replaced by the moderns with
four circular steps, and an iron railing; [1] the bas-reliefs have been
carried off from the panels of the second vase, and its fair marble
lips choked with asphalt:--of what remains, you have here a rough but
true image.

[Footnote 1: In Mr. Severn's sketch, the form of the original
foundation is approximately restored.]

In which you see there is not a trace of Gothic feeling or design of
any sort. No crockets, no pinnacles, no foils, no vaultings, no