as the most incongruous mass that could be conceived,
embracing the fortress, the convent, the ornate style of Venice, and the
luxurious vastness of an Oriental palace, all within its walls. It may
be imagined that no private fortune, however ample, could have kept in
perfect order a place of such immense size, the gardens alone requiring
above thirty men constantly at work, and the repairs of the sea-wall
being a labor that never ended.

The present occupant, Sir Omerod Butler, lived in one small block
called the "Biolo," which projected into the sea at the very end of the
promontory, and was approachable on the land side by a beautiful avenue
of cedars. They were of great age, and, tradition said, had been brought
from Lebanon. If ruin and neglect and desolation characterized all
around, no sooner had the traveller entered this shady approach than all
changed to the most perfect care and culture,--flowery shrubs of every
kind, beds of gorgeous flowers, _pergolati_ of vines leading down to
the sea, and orange groves dipping their golden balls in the blue
Mediterranean at every step, till the ample gate was reached; passing
into which you entered a spacious court paved with variegated marble,
with a massive fountain in the centre. From this court, under a pillared
archway, led off all the lower rooms,--great spacious chambers, with
richly painted ceilings and tessellated floors. Into these was gathered
the most costly furniture of the whole palace; tables and consoles of
malachite and porphyry, gorgeously inlaid slabs of _lapis lazuli_ and
agate, cabinets of rare beauty, and objects of ancient art. Passing
through these again, you gained the rooms of daily habitation, arranged
with all the taste and luxury of modern refinement, and distinctively
marking that the cold splendor without could not attain to that sense of
comfort and voluptuous ease which an age of greater indulgence requires.

The outer gate of the castle, which opened by a draw-bridge over a deep
moat, on the Reggio road, was little less than a mile off; and it may
give some idea of the vast size of the place to state that, from that
entrance to the Molo, there was a succession of buildings of one kind or
other, only interrupted by areas of courtyard or garden.

When, at the close of a sultry day, Major M'Caskey presented himself at
this gate, summoning the porter with a vigorous pull of the bell, he was
not admitted till a very careful scrutiny showed th