ians, being probably the most ancient specimens
of art in goldsmith's work now extant; and as they have remained in the
several monasteries ever since the piety of their donors first sent them
there, their authenticity cannot be questioned, besides which many of
them are extremely magnificent and beautiful.

The most valuable reliquary of St. Laura is a kind of triptic, about
eighteen inches high, of pure gold, a present from the Emperor
Nicephorus, the founder of the abbey. The front represents a pair of
folding-doors, each set with a double row of diamonds (the most ancient
specimens of this stone that I have seen), emeralds, pearls, and rubies
as large as sixpences. When the doors are opened a large piece of the
holy cross, splendidly set with jewels, is displayed in the centre, and
the inside of the two doors and the whole surface of the reliquary are
covered with engraved figures of the saints stuck full of precious
stones. This beautiful shrine is of Byzantine workmanship, and, in its
way, is a superb work of art.

[Illustration]

The refectory of the monastery is a large square building, but the
dining-room which it contains is in the form of a cross, about one
hundred feet in length each way; the walls are decorated with fresco
pictures of the saints, who vie with each other in the hard-favoured
aspect of their bearded faces; they are tall and meagre full-length
figures as large as life, each having his same inscribed on the picture.
Their chief interest is in their accurate representation of the clerical
costume. The dining-tables, twenty-four in number, are so many solid
blocks of masonry, with heavy slabs of marble on the top; they are
nearly semicircular in shape, with the flat side away from the wall; a
wide marble bench runs round the circular part of them in this form. A
row of these tables extend down each side of the hall, and at the upper
end in a semicircular recess is a high table for the superior, who only
dines here on great occasions. The refectory being square on the
outside, the intermediate spaces between the arms of the cross are
occupied by the bakehouse, and the wine, oil, and spirit cellars; for
although the monks eat no meat, they drink famously; and the good St.
Basil having flourished long before the age of Paracelsus, inserted
nothing in his rules against the use of ardent spirits, whereof the
monks imbibe a considerable quantity, chiefly bad arrack; but it does
not seem to do them a