house must
have had a charming character. As far as the relics of the old designs
allow us to judge, it was done by an artist of the great Venetian school
of the thirteenth century. Here is a mixture, still visible, of the
Byzantine and the Saracenic. It is crowned with a circular pediment,
now wreathed with vegetation,--a bouquet, rose, brown, yellow, or blue,
according to the season. The door, of oak, nail-studded, gives entrance
to a noble hall, at the end of which is another door, opening upon
another portico which leads to the garden.

This hall is marvellously well preserved. The panelled wainscot, about
three feet high, is of chestnut. A magnificent Spanish leather with
figures in relief, the gilding now peeled off or reddened, covers the
walls. The ceiling is of wooden boards artistically joined and painted
and gilded. The gold is scarcely noticeable; it is in the same condition
as that of the Cordova leather, but a few red flowers and the green
foliage can be distinguished. Perhaps a thorough cleaning might bring
out paintings like those discovered on the plank ceilings of Tristan's
house at Tours. If so, it would prove that those planks were placed or
restored in the reign of Louis XI. The chimney-piece is enormous, of
carved stone, and within it are gigantic andirons in wrought-iron of
precious workmanship. It could hold a cart-load of wood. The furniture
of this hall is wholly of oak, each article bearing upon it the arms of
the family. Three English guns equally suitable for chase or war, three
sabres, two game-bags, the utensils of a huntsman and a fisherman hang
from nails upon the wall.

On one side is a dining-room, which connects with the kitchen by a door
cut through a corner tower. This tower corresponds in the design of the
facade toward the court-yard with another tower at the opposite corner,
in which is a spiral staircase leading to the two upper stories.

The dining-room is hung with tapestries of the fourteenth century; the
style and the orthography of the inscription on the banderols beneath
each figure prove their age, but being, as they are, in the naive
language of the _fabliaux_, it is impossible to transcribe them here.
These tapestries, well preserved in those parts where light has scarcely
penetrated, are framed in bands of oak now black as ebony. The ceiling
has projecting rafters enriched with foliage which is varied for each
rafter; the space between them is filled with planks pain