ts, gives tokens
of increasing splendor in the richer decorations of the walls and the
more elaborate mosaic of the floor. We next entered the receiving
saloon, in which the Court Marshal receives the guests. The ceiling is
of arabesque sculpture, profusely painted and gilded. Passing through a
little cabinet, we entered the great dancing saloon. Its floor is the
richest mosaic of wood of different colors, the sides are of polished
scagliola marble, and the ceiling a dazzling mixture of sculpture,
painting and gold. At one end is a gallery for the orchestra, supported
by six columns of variegated marble, above which are six dancing nymphs,
painted so beautifully that they appear like living creatures. Every
decoration which could be devised has been used to heighten its
splendor, and the artists appear to have made free use of the Arabian
Nights in forming the plan.

We entered next two smaller rooms containing the portraits of beautiful
women, principally from the German nobility. I gave the preference to
the daughter of Marco Bozzaris, now maid of honor to the Queen of
Greece. She had a wild dark eye, a beautiful proud lip, and her rich
black hair rolled in glossy waves down her neck from under the red
Grecian cap stuck jauntily on the side of her head. She wore a scarf and
close-fitting vest embroidered with gold, and there was a free, lofty
spirit in her countenance worthy the name she bore. These pictures form
a gallery of beauty, whose equal cannot easily be found.

Returning to the dancing hall, we entered the dining saloon, also called
the Hall of Charlemagne. Each wall has two magnificent fresco paintings
of very large size, representing some event in the life of the great
emperor, beginning with his anointing at St. Deny's as a boy of twelve
years, and ending with his coronation by Leo III. A second dining
saloon, the Hall of Barbarossa, adjoins the first. It has also eight
frescoes as the former, representing the principal events in the life of
Frederic Barbarossa. Then comes a _third_, called the Hapsburg Hall,
with four grand paintings from the life of Rudolph of Hapsburg, and a
triumphal procession along the frieze, showing the improvement in the
arts and sciences which was accomplished under his reign. The drawing,
composition and rich tone of coloring of these glorious frescoes, are
scarcely excelled by any in existence.

Finally we entered the Hall of the Throne. Here the encaustic
decoration, so ple