lls, gives access to a great
_sala_, or hall, where Paolo Guinigi entertained the citizens and
magnates of Lucca with sumptuous hospitality.

The vaulted ceiling, divided into compartments by heavy panels, is
profusely gilt, and painted in fresco by Venetian masters; but the
gold is dulled by age, and the frescoes are but dingy patches of what
once was color. The walls, ornamented with Flemish tapestry, represent
the Seven Labors of Hercules--the bright colors all faded out
and blurred like the frescoes. Above, on the surface of polished
walnut-wood, between the tapestry and the ceiling, are hung suits of
mail, helmets, shields, swords, lances, and tattered banners.

Every separate piece has its history. Each lance, in the hand of some
mediaeval hero of the name, has transfixed a foe, every sword has been
dyed in the life-blood of a Ghibelline.

At the four corners of the hall are four doorways corresponding
to each other. Before each doorway hang curtains of Genoa velvet,
embroidered in gold with the Guinigi arms surmounted by a princely
coronet. Time has mellowed these once crimson curtains to dingy red.
From the hall, entered by these four doors, open out endless suites
of rooms, enriched with the spoils of war and the splendor of feudal
times. Not a chair, not a table, has been renewed, or even shifted
from its place, since the fourteenth century, when Paolo Guinigi
reigned absolute in Lucca.

On first entering, it is difficult to distinguish any thing in the
half-light. The narrow Gothic casements of the whole floor are closed,
both those toward the street and those facing inward upon the inner
court. The outer wooden shutters are also closely fastened. The
marchesa would consider it a sacrilege to allow light or even outer
air to penetrate in these rooms, sacred to the memory of her great
ancestors.

First in order after the great hall is a long gallery paneled with
dark marble. It has a painted ceiling, and a mosaic floor. Statues and
antique busts, presented by the emperor to Paolo Guinigi, are ranged
on either side. This gallery leads through various antechambers to
the retiring-room, where, in feudal times, the consort of the reigning
lord presided when the noble dames of Lucca visited her on state
occasions--a victory gained over the Pisans or Florentines--the
conquest of a rebellious city, Pistoia perhaps--the birth of a son;
or--the anniversary of national festivals. Pale-blue satin stuffs and
delica