ieu de chaque piece, il y a une histoire du Vieu Testament
qui resent la liberte, comme la delivrance de Suzanne, la sortie du
peuple de la captivite d'Egypte, l'elargissement de Joseph. Et a tous
les coins il y a des chaisnes rompues, des menottes brisees, des
strapades et des gibbets en pieces, et par-dessus en grosses lettres
ce sont ces paroles de la deuxieme aux Corinthiens, ch. iii.: _Ubi
spiritus, ibi libertas._"[460]

Cluny boasts a most curious suite of hangings from the Chateau de
Boussac, of the early part of the fifteenth century, which are
charming, quaint, and gay, and historically and archaeologically
interesting. They tell the story of the "Dame au Lion."

Modern French tapestries, from the manufactories of the Savonnerie,
the Gobelins, and elsewhere, are decorative to the highest degree.
Nothing can be more festive than these works of the time of Louis
XIII., XIV., and XV., framed in white and gold, carved wood, or
stucco, reflected in mirrors, and lighted by crystal or glass
chandeliers and girandoles. Such hangings have nothing in common with
those of early times; they are not temporary coverings of bare spaces,
but panels in decorated walls, where they form an integral part of the
architectural composition and design. They do not merely serve to give
warmth, comfort, and colour to desolate halls, as did those ancient
tapestries belonging to the furniture of the great man who sent them
on before him from palace to palace, carrying them away with his
baggage lest some one else should do so in his absence. These were
probably merely attached by loops and nails, as one sees in country
villas or castles in Italy to this day.

We find that the Italians in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
often hung their walls with upright strips of work, in the guise of
pilasters. The walls were thus divided into panelled spaces, which
separated pictures, statues, and cabinets, of which the style did not
agree in juxtaposition. These pilasters were generally of "opus
consutum," or "applique" in its different forms. Above, next to the
cornice, and below, next to the dado, or even touching the floor, they
were connected by borders of similar work. The spaces between were
mostly filled in with rich brocades or velvets of one colour, so as to
make the best backgrounds for the artistic treasures grouped against
them. Sometimes fine tapestries filled the intervening spaces, and
sometimes splendid embroideries. There i