Here the city is all
overwritten with black-letter, and the glad Italian sun makes the effect
so much the stronger.
We took a lodging, and afterwards J----- and I rambled about, and went
into the cathedral for a moment, and strayed also into the Piazza del
Campo, the great public square of Siena. I am not in the mood for
further description of public places now, so shall say a word or two
about the old palace in which we have established ourselves. We have the
second piano, and dwell amid faded grandeur, having for our saloon what
seems to have been a ball-room. It is ornamented with a great fresco in
the centre of the vaulted ceiling, and others covering the sides of the
apartment, and surrounded with arabesque frameworks, where Cupids gambol
and chase one another. The subjects of the frescos I cannot make out,
not that they are faded like Giotto's, for they are as fresh as roses,
and are done in an exceedingly workmanlike style; but they are allegories
of Fame and Plenty and other matters, such as I could never understand.
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