s in contrast to
the very plain setting of the endless rows of other windows all along
the front of the castle buildings. This palatial part of the castle--it
is that nearest to the cathedral--was begun by Vladislav as soon as he
had settled down to his kingship, and was finished in 1502. The chief
feature of this building was a vast hall, which you may see still. It
has suffered, of course, has been damaged by fire and also by restorers;
just at present some archaeologist is at work upon it, and he is, I
believe, discovering all sorts of beauties in the decorative Gothic
style peculiar to this King of Polish descent and exquisite taste. It
seems to me that Gothic in Prague is of finer spiritual quality than the
German variant, is of that noble sincerity of which you find many
instances in France, in several examples in Portugal, and when it
became decorated, never went into the excesses of the Manuelesque style
such as you may see it in old Lusitania. Successive Habsburgs who
followed on these Polish rulers of Bohemia, Vladislav and his son Louis,
benefited by the magnificent work which these two scions of the Royal
House of Jagoilla left to posterity. Louis, we know, was drowned just
after the battle of Moha[vc], and the short-lived Polish dynasty made
way definitely for Kings of the House of Habsburg. Ferdinand, Archduke
of Austria, having married Anna, daughter of Vladislav II, laid claim to
the throne of Bohemia. He was not alone in this ambition; in fact, there
was a greater number of aspirants to the vacant seat than there had ever
been before--thirteen in all, among them Francis I of France. However,
Ferdinand secured the throne, and reigned as King of Bohemia right
royally it would seem. His coronation took place in the great hall built
by Vladislav, and the solemn ceremony was followed by a tournament, also
held in the same hall--a tournament on horseback, mind you, and ending
up with a melee in which thirteen knights a-side took part. There was a
banquet too, and the waiting was done by squires on horseback. A great
ball brought the festivities to an end. The great fire in Prague in
1541, which destroyed all the State documents, may have been the one
which also did much damage to Vladislav's great hall, and Ferdinand's
restoration of the same probably did something towards impairing its
original beauty. We have reason, however, to be grateful to this
Ferdinand, first of the name, for another building which grac