t of the
rank of royalty are ever invited. To the former of these great families
it was my fortune to be invited last Wednesday, and although my gout
entered a bold protest against dress shoes and buckles, I determined to
go.

'It was not without surprise I found that, although there were scarcely
above a dozen carriages in waiting, the great Abbezi Palace was lighted
throughout its whole extent, the whole _cour_ being illuminated with the
blaze. I was aware that etiquette debarred his Holiness from ever being
present at these occasions. And yet there was an amount of preparation
and splendour now displayed that might well have indicated such an event
The servants' coats were, I am told, white; but they were so
plastered with gold that the original colour was concealed. As for the
magnificence of the Palace itself, I will spare you all description, the
more as I know your heart still yearns after that beautiful Guercino of
the "two angels," and the small Salvator of "St. John," for which the
Duke of Strozzi gave his castle at San Marcello; neither will I torment
your curious soul by any allusion to those great vases of Sevres, with
landscapes painted by both. With more equanimity will you hear of the
beautiful Marquesa d'Arco, in her diamond stomacher, and the Duchessa
de Forti, with a coronet of brilliants that might buy a province, not
to tell of the Colonna herself, whose heavy train, all studded over with
jewels, turned many an eye from her noble countenance to gaze upon the
floor. There were not above forty guests assembled when I arrived, nor
at any time were there more than sixty present, but all apparelled with
a magnificence that shamed the undecorated plainness of my humble court
suit. After paying my homage to his Eminence, I turned to seek out those
of my most intimate acquaintance present; but I soon discovered
that, from some mysterious cause, none were disposed to engage in
conversation--nay, they did but converse in whispers, and with an
abruptness that bespoke expectancy of something to come.

'To while away the time pleasantly, I strolled through the rooms, all
filled as they were with objects to win attention, and having made the
tour of the quadrangle was returning to the great gallery, when, passing
the ante-chamber, I perceived that Cardinal York's servants were all
ranged there, dressed in their fine scarlet liveries, a sight quite new
to see. Nor was this the less remarkable, from the fact that