more, until emerging from a little valley it suddenly stood before us, crowning the green hill. Our first impression was disappointment at the small size of our much-talked-of castle.

Castel del Monte.

CHAPTER IV.

CASTEL DEL MONTE.

LEAVING the carriage at the solitary farmhouse, we climbed in the hot sun up the steep bare hill, and now saw that what had seemed a round tower in the distance was an octagon, with low octangular towers at each corner, slightly higher than the castle walls. Built of limestone of a rich creamy yellow colour, which was quarried from the hill on which it stands, Castel del Monte is in a good state of

preservation. The Italian Government bought it a few years ago from the Caraffa family, who, fallen from their high estate, had allowed shepherds to stall their flocks in the rooms which had once re-echoed to the songs of the minstrels the great Emperor delighted in, and bandits to hide in the recesses of the towers, while its walls were stripped of their marbles to ornament churches at Andria. Glass has been put in all the windows, and the two doors, of which an old guard, who lives in a hut close by, has the key, have been repaired. He was delighted to see us, and said his life was very lonely, and that if it were not for Vigilante (his dog) he should not be able to bear it.

Castel del Monte, as I have already said, is octangular, built round a courtyard, with eight octagon towers, one at each angle. Between each alternate pair of towers is a Gothic window, divided by an elegant column of pink marble with a rosace at the top. The window above the chief entrance is wider than any of the others, and is ornamented with columns and tracery. There are eight large rooms on the ground floor and eight above, while five towers contain small, six-sided vaulted rooms, and the other three winding staircases. The principal gateway, all of rosy

THE ENTRANCE TO THE CASTLE. 39

marble, faces the sea to the east, and is situated between two towers; a pair of guardian lions uphold the columns, and the whole is light and harmonious, severe, yet elegant; a happy mixture of Gothic and classic, Renaissance and antique.

Several steps lead up to the entrance, and a doorway on the right hand, of fine proportions, opens into the other seven great halls. The castle being a perfect octagon and

built round a court, every room is much wider on the outside. Half columns of red breccia marble with Corinthian capitals stand in the corners of the rooms, from which spring marble ribs supporting the vaulted ceilings, united in the centre by a large rosace of flowers and heads. The remains of a marble bench which ran all round the walls are still extant in some places, and broad marble steps lead up to the windows. There are a few traces left of the white and rosy marble which clothed the walls, and one hall still has a remnant of its mosaic floor. Three of these halls have doors leading into the courtyard, where there is a large cistern of excellent water; one doorway is quite plain, the others of ogival shape and diversely ornamented.

In

The upper floor which was inhabited by the great Emperor, is more richly decorated. lieu of the one half column of breccia, the vaulted roofs, which were in mosaic, are supported by a group of three columns of white marble in each corner. From four rooms the view is superb, three others have windows looking into the courtyard, and in two of these are immense marble chimney-pieces, which the old guard called "cimminere."

The room over the principal entrance has but