doors of which, placed opposite to each other, light it. This room,
paved in black and white marble, is especially noticeable for a
ceiling of beams formerly painted and gilt, but which had since
received, probably under the Empire, a coat of plain white paint. The
three doors of the study, salon and dining-room, surmounted by oval
panels, are awaiting a restoration that is more than needed. The
wood-work is heavy, but the ornamentation is not without merit. The
salon, panelled throughout, recalls the great century by its tall
mantelpiece of Languedoc marble, its ceiling decorated at the corners,
and by the style of its windows, which still retain their little panes.
The dining-room, communicating with the salon by a double door, is
floored with stone; the wood-work is oak, unpainted, and an atrocious
modern wall-paper has been substituted for the tapestries of the olden
time. The ceiling is of chestnut; and the study, modernized by
Thuillier, adds its quota to these discordances.

The white and gold mouldings of the salon are so effaced that nothing
remains of the gilding but reddish lines, while the white enamelling
is yellow, cracked, and peeling off. Never did the Latin saying "Otium
cum dignitate" have a greater commentary to the mind of a poet than in
this noble building. The iron-work of the staircase baluster is worthy
of the artist and the magistrate; but to find other traces of their
taste to-day in this majestic relic, the eyes of an artistic observer
are needed.

The Thuilliers and their predecessors have frequently degraded this
jewel of the upper bourgeoisie by the habits and inventions of the
lesser bourgeoisie. Look at those walnut chairs covered with
horse-hair, that mahogany table with its oilcloth cover, that
sideboard, also of mahogany, that carpet, bought at a bargain, beneath