[86] I give this story for what it is worth. So far as I know, however,
the font was placed in its present position in 1658, more than a hundred
years after the church was roofed in. It may, however, have occupied
another position before that.
[87] See p. 82.
[88] To compare an Italian church with a French cathedral would be to
compare two altogether different things, a fault in logic, and in
criticism the unforgivable sin; for a work of art must be judged in its
own category, and praised only for its own qualities, and blamed only
for its own defects.
[89] Cf. _Donatello_, by Lord Balcarres: Duckworth, 1903, p. 12.
[90] Not the ball we see now, which was struck by lightning and hurled
into the street in 1492. Verrocchio's was rather smaller than the
present ball.
[91] See Crowe and Cavalcaselle, _History of Painting in Italy_: London,
1903, p. 116, note 4.
[92] See pp. 283-289.