tive achievements,
but it is an example which I frankly find unattractive. It is sombrely
gorgeous but in an unrestful fashion, with its sprawling gods,
goddesses, and heroes in all manner of impossible positions, its
pillars overhung with clouds or clouds swooping down, as though
weighted with the figures, about the pillars. Beneath in a brownish
tone are painted various "trophies". The art of decoration, one cannot
help feeling, was at the time that William the Third had this
staircase painted, at a very low ebb indeed.

Curiosity may make some visitors pause to single out from the medley
the figures of the Fates, the Caesars, or particular gods and
goddesses, but most will pass on into the noble King's Guard Room with
its wonderful mural decoration of muskets, pikes, and pistols. Though
there are some pictures here--notably, opposite the fireplace, a large
portrait by Zucchero of Queen Elizabeth's porter--it is chiefly the
old arms marvellously arrayed in diverse patterns that take the eye.
Upwards of a thousand pieces are said to have been utilized in
decorating this room--their arrangement being made by a gunsmith who
had earlier done similar work at Windsor Castle and the Tower of
London. It may be added that he utilized his materials more
successfully than did Verrio in painting the staircase, and it is
pleasant to learn that Gunsmith Harris's work was so well appreciated
that he was granted a pension by way of reward. From the tall windows
at the farther end of the Guard Room we look out over the Privy Garden
to the river, with the terraced Queen Mary's Bower on the right.

It is not necessary to describe in detail the things to be seen in the
long succession of State Rooms, from the entrance to them by the
King's Great Staircase to the exit by the Queen's Great Staircase.
Varying in size in accordance to the purpose for which they were
designed, audience rooms, bedrooms, writing closets, or galleries, all
are lofty rooms, and some of the smallest are the most crowded with
pictures--as, for example, the Queen Mary's closet--leaving which we
pass from the rooms that occupy the first floor of the south front to
those of the rather longer east front. Details as to the paintings,
tapestries, or furnishings would alone occupy more than the space of
this little book, and the visitor in search of such details will find
them in the official handbooks. The tall windows, rising from the
window seat level, and affording