The Argosy — page 396: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Under Northern Skies. 375 and curiosities, many of them collected during the Thirty Years’ War. The custodian met us at the pier, and it was amusing to find him far too consequential to carry our hand-bag, though quite ready to accept a fee later on for showing us over the chateau—certainly well earned by his civility during the inspection. The way from the pier led uphill, under the grateful shade of trees ; for, coming off the water, air and sun suddenly seemed seven times heated. A hundred yards or so of gradual ascent and we stood be- fore the massive, imposing building, quadrangular in form, with four octogan towers surmounted by black cupolas and small turrets. Four long straight rows of stiff windows, one above another, stared at us like countless eyes in the white walls, gloomy and sombre. A cracked bell chimed the hours with a melancholy tongue of iron, that seemed to say to the listener, in the words of the monks of La Trappe, and in the midst of a profound solitude and silence: ‘* Memento Mori.” The inspection commenced with the courtyard, large, silent and depressing, in which surely the sun never penetrated. We were alone, not one of a crowd, as at Gripsholm. And here there was no portrait of a fine old English king to dazzle a worthy skipper with admiration, and, as it seemed, spur him on to go and do likewise. But perhaps we wronged him. Large, white-washed corridors ran round the quadrangle, and pro- verbs of wit and wisdom, all of a thoughtful and elevating tendency, were written upon the walls in many languages and singular fashion. The rooms, large and well-proportioned, contained many rare curiosi- ties. Collections of jewels and plate, objects of priceless and histori- cal value, cabinets wonderfully inlaid, antique furniture, ancient chimney pieces large and splendidly carved, pictures and portraits ; and, not least of all, a collection of some of the most wonderful and beautiful tapestry in existence. Some of the ceilings, that of the principal drawing-room especially, were splendidly painted. Above, was a magnificent library of over twenty thousand volumes, many of them in white vellum bindings, dry, ancient, and apparently unused. It was a feast of reason and a flow of soul only to walk from case to case, classified and progressive, and read the titles where titles were. Equally splendid was the adjoining armoury, but sug- gestive of very different times and scenes: the knight of the sword contrasted with the knight of the pen; the two reposing side by side here in such harmony as surely never existed between them in life. The object of chief interest in the armoury was a wonderfully wrought shield by Benvenuto Cellini which belonged to the Emperor Charles V., and was taken at Prague. ‘The custodian declared that 420,000 had been lately offered for it, and refused. In one of the turrets we came upon an unexpected prisoner. ‘The room contained old relics, swords and guns, and clothes worn by a great man in battle. A little bird, with possibly a taste for antiquities, COMmMicoooks (SO) im