of the door leading from the one to the other, was
a most extraordinary fresco. Seen in the dim light of the candle
passing over the different parts, it had a singularly weird and
grotesque appearance. The colours were as fresh as if they had been
laid on yesterday; and the thought at first flashed across my mind
that I was gazing not upon a painting which had been sealed up for
nearly thirty centuries, but upon the rude attempts at art of some
modern shepherd or rustic belonging to the village of Isola, who
sought thus to amuse his leisure moments. But such a thought was
dismissed at once as absurd. No one after a few moments' inspection
could doubt the genuineness of the painting. It is difficult to
describe it, for it is altogether unlike anything to be seen elsewhere
in Egyptian or Assyrian, in Greek or Roman tombs. On the right side of
the door the upper half of the wall was panelled off by a band of
colour, and represented one scene or picture. In the centre was a
large horse, that reminded me of a child's wooden toy-horse, such as
one sees at a country fair. Its legs were unnaturally long and thin;
and the slenderness of its barrel was utterly disproportioned to the
breadth of its chest. It was coloured in the most curious fashion:
the head, hind-quarters, and near-leg being black; the tail and mane
and off-legs yellow; and the rest of the body red, with round yellow
spots. It was led by a tall groom; a diminutive youth was mounted upon
its back; and a proud, dignified-looking personage, having a
double-headed axe or hammer on his shoulder, strode in front. These
human figures were all naked, and painted of a deep-red colour. In the
same picture I noticed two strange-looking nondescript animals, very
rudely drawn, and party-coloured like the horse. One probably
represented a cat without a tail, like the Manx breed, half-lying upon
the back of the horse, and laying its paw on the shoulder of the youth
mounted before it; and the other looked like a dog, with open mouth,
apparently barking with all his might, running among the feet of the
horse. Interspersed with these figures were most uncouth drawings of
flowers, growing up from the ground, and forming fantastic wreaths
round the picture, all party-coloured in the same way as the animals.

This extraordinary fresco seemed like the scene which presented itself
to the apostle, when one of the seals of the Apocalyptic book was
opened. I wished that I had beside me so