As the trunks of trees placed upright, so as to support the roof, unquestionably led to the introduction of the stone pillar, there seems to be almost as little doubt that the capital was suggested by the boughs with which such trees might be supposed to be surmounted, or the garlands with which on festive occasions they were probably encircled and crowned. At first, when the power of working in stone was lim ited, imitation of foliage was scarcely attempted; but the original idea being adhered to, it came at ldst to be carried out with great success in the Ionic and Corinthian capitals of classical ture, and in all of the more advanced of the Gothic styles.
The forms of Gothic capitals are so various, that it is altogether impossible to particularize them here. Beginning with the Romanic —which is often nothing more than a modification of the Doric, or a furthek of the Tuscan, the sides being truncated or flattened, and some of the moldings omitted—they advance very rapidly in adornment; and in the style which we call early English, they already frequently consist of a mass of foliage, cut with great boldness and freedom, so that the stalks and more prom inent of the leafage are entirely detached. It is remarkable that. in the decorated style, the capital lost much of the richness which it possessed in the earlier styles, and often consists Only of plain moldings. with or without a ball-flower (q.v.), cut on the bell or
bowl of the capital. Where foliation is introduced in this style, it is usually worked with greater freedom, and is free from the stiffness which character izes earlier work. Animals, figures in armor, „heads of bishops in miters, and the like, are oftener found in the decorated style, though their introduction was not unknown at a much carlitir period. In the perpendicular style, the capitals were stiffer in form, and generally less ornamented than in any of the others; though even hero foliage is often introduced, as in the accompanying example from the cloisters of Christ church, Oxford.
The only invariable characteristics of capitals seem to be something like a molding at the upper part of the shaft, more or less complicated according to circumstances, and some sort of abacus (q.v.) or flat portion on the top, on which the architrave rested in the classical orders. These characters belong even to the Egyptian capitals, which in many other respects resemble those of the other styles. The folation of Egyptian capitals is generally taken from the vegetation peculiar to the banks of the Nile (fig. 2); but the capitals of this, particularly in its later examples, were infinitely varied both in decora tion and in form.