for the chase.

This picture furnishes the subject of the children's games in the
lattice bower. The little sprites are attendants of the goddess,
playing in a mimic hunt. Two or three may be seen through every
window, busy and happy in their innocent sport. One is the delighted
possessor of a quiver of arrows, from which he draws a shaft. Others
play with the hounds, pulling them hither and thither at their will. A
group of five find the hunting-horn an amusing plaything, and
good-humoredly strive together over the treasure.

[Illustration: CEILING DECORATION IN THE SALA DEL PERGOLATO
_Convent of S. Paolo, Parma_]

Our illustration shows a quarter section of the ceiling, from which we
can in imagination reconstruct the whole diagram.[7] Let us see
what the children are doing in this corner of the lattice. At the
window directly in front of us a little fellow proudly exhibits a
stag's head as a trophy of the chase. Just behind his shoulder a merry
companion, peeps out, and lower down, on the other side, appears the
head of an animal like a doe. In the next window is a boy with a
wreath of flowers with which he and a companion apparently mean to
crown the head of the stag. The third boy of the group has for the
moment lost interest in the play, his attention being attracted by
something going on outside. Now comes a boy passing by the next
window, who hastens to join the party we have just seen. His
playfellow wants to go the other way, and tries to detain him. "Come,"
he says, seizing him by the arm, "there's no fun over there. See what
I have found."

[Footnote 7: A quarter section, mathematically exact, is of course,
square in shape. In our illustration the lower part of two lunettes is
cut off.]

We are somewhat at a loss to know just what mischief the baby in the
next window has been plotting. He grasps with both hands a tall staff,
which may be a hunting-spear, or perhaps a pole with which he hopes to
reach the fruit. In some way he has managed to get both feet through
the window, and is now in a precarious position, half in and half out.
His companion tries to draw him in; but whether he is alarmed at the
danger, or is himself eager to get the pole, we cannot tell.

The lunettes of the ceiling are painted in gray, framed in borders of
sea-shells. They are made to simulate niches containing sculptured
figures with some allegorical or mythological meaning. In our
illustration we see first the figure of Chas