| 46 | B U C | |
" a green house. On the left hand of
" the hall are three stone arches sup-
" ported by three Courinthian pillars,
" under one of which we go up eight
" and forty steps, ten feet broad, each
" step of one entire Portland stone.
" These stairs by the help of two rest-
" ing places, are so very easy, there is no
" need of leaning on the iron baluster.
" The walls are painted with the story
" of Dido; whom though the poet
" was obliged to dispatch away mourn-
" fully in order to make room for Lavi-
" nia, the better natur'd painter has
" brought no farther than to that fatal
" cave, where the lovers appear just en-
" terring, and languishing with desire.
" The roof of this stair-case, which is
" fifty-five feet from the ground, is
" forty feet by thirty-six, filled with
" the figures of Gods and Goddesses.
" In the midst is Juno, condescending
" to bed assistance from Venus, to bring
" about a marriage which the Fates in-
" tended should be the ruin of her
" own darling queen and people. By
" which that sublime poet intimates,
" that we should never be over eager for
" any thing, either in our pursuits, or
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| B U C | 47 |
" our prayers; lest what we endeavour
" or ask too violently for our interest,
" should be granted us by Providence
" only in order to our ruin.
" The bas reliefs and all the little
" squares above are all episodical paint-
" ings of the same story: and the large-
" ness of the whole had admitted of a
" sure remedy against any decay of the
" colours from salt petre in the wall, by
" making another of oak laths four
" inches within it, and so primed over
" like a picture.
" From a wide landing place on the
" stairs head, a great double door opens
" into an apartment of the same dimen-
" sions with that below, only three feet
" higher; notwithstanding which it
" would appear too low, if the higher
" saloon had not been divided from it.
" The first room of this floor has with-
" in it a closet of original pictures,
" which yet are not so entertaining as
" the delightful prospect from the win-
" dows. Out of the second room a
" pair of great doors give entrance into
" the saloon, which is thirty-five feet
" high, thirty-six broad, and forty-five
" long. In the midst of its roof a round
" picture of Gentileschi, eighteen feet
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HomeVolume IIPage Group 40 - 59
