Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume I.djvu/266

 compartments. The ground of the wall is a pale green, relieved by light purple mouldings.

From hence we were led into the dining-room, sixty feet by twenty. This disproportioned length is corrected by semicircular recesses formed at each end with fluted Corinthian pillars. In the recess at the upper part are several large transparent alabaster vases standing upon pedestals, intended to receive candles, that may cast "a dim religious "light" over this apartment, and assist the magic effect with which the mind is impressed when we look through the door in the recess at the opposite extremity of the room. Here we throw a glance into the penetralia of the temple—the museum, or gallery of statues; a series of the most precious antique marbles which taste could select, and money procure. This repository consists of a suite of three small apartments; the first is square, the second a rotunda with a domed ceiling, and the third another square; a vista that is terminated by an antique sarcophagus, filling a recess at the end of the farthest apartment. All the rooms are finished with stuccoed ceilings, and basso relief walls; and the brightness of the Parian and Pentilican marbles is softened down by a pale strawberry ground. The statues are as follow. In the first apartment: