of six braccia, and the
roof had been likewise laid down in a very short space of time,
Cronaca attended to the fixing of the ceiling, which was then made
of plain wood and divided into panels, each of which was four
braccia square and surrounded by an ornamental cornice of few
members; and a flat moulding was made of the same width as the
planks, which enclosed the panels and the whole work, with large
bosses at the intersections and the corners of the whole ceiling.
And although the end walls of this Hall, one on either side, were
eight braccia out of the square, they did not make up their minds,
as they might have done, to thicken the walls so as to make it
square, but carried them up to the roof just as they were, making
three large windows on each of those end walls. But when the whole
was finished, the Hall, on account of its extraordinary size, turned
out to be too dark, and also stunted and wanting in height in
relation to its great length and breadth; in short, almost wholly
out of proportion. They sought, therefore, but with little success,
to improve it by making two windows in the middle of the eastern
side of the Hall, and four on the western side. After this, in order
to give it its final completion, they made on the level of the brick
floor, with great rapidity, being much pressed by the citizens, a
wooden tribune right round the walls of the Hall, three braccia both
in breadth and height, with seats after the manner of a theatre, and
with a balustrade in front; on which tribune all the magistrates of
the city were to sit. In the middle of the eastern side was a more
elevated dais, on which the Signori sat with the Gonfalonier of
Justice; and on either side of this more prominent place was a door,
one of them leading to the Segreto[29] and the other to the
Specchio.[30] Opposite to this, on the west side, was an altar at
which Mass was read, with a panel by the hand of Fra Bartolommeo, as
has been mentioned; and beside the altar was the pulpit for making
speeches. In the middle of the Hall, then, were benches in rows laid
crossways, for the citizens; while in the centre and at the corners
of the tribune were some gangways with six steps, providing a
convenient ascent for the ushers in the collection of votes. In this
Hall, which was much extolled at that day for its many beautiful
features and the rapidity with which it was erected, time has since
served to reveal such errors as that it is low, dark, gloo