The group represents the above-named young knight, with his youthful wife, taking a ride. She wears a blue silken dress, with a boddice of gold brocade, trimmed with fur, and a rose-coloured silk scarf; the head-dress is quite plain, the hair being fastened with a golden dagger set in jewels. The knight's dress consists of a light green doublet, with dark green stripes; slashed hose, edged with white; yellowish leather surcoat without sleeves, riding boots of untanned leather, and grey felt hat with red and white plume, dagger, and sword. The accoutrements of the horse are simply black, with some metal ornaments. The young lady is the beautiful Leonora Caimingen, who was at that time a great favourite of the Court at Wurtemberg. In travelling thus (which was at that time the only mode), females of the higher rank only were accustomed to make use of masks, or veils, for the preservation of their complexions, that custom being generally unusual. The ancestral castle of the knights of Kaltenthal was situated between Stuttgardt and Boeblingen, on the summit of a rock overhanging the valley of Hesslach. It exists no longer.
ANCIENT TRIPOD.
Tripods are, next to vases, the most ancient furniture in the world; the imagination of the ancients invested them with fanciful forms, and we meet with designs which, although very simple, show already the power exercised by the re-productive faculties of the mind upon the objects surrounding these ancient nations. Representations of the kind were, however, exceedingly rare till the last forty years, and it must be considered an especial piece of good fortune that the excavations made in several parts of Etruria, have afforded more than one example of this description. The specimen engraved was found in the Gailassi Regulini tomb of Cervetri, in Etruria, and in it we see a large vessel placed on the tripod, from the edge of which five lions' heads start forth with hideous expression. These monsters lend to the whole that fanciful aspect distinguishing objects of the archaic period. When we imagine to ourselves this kettle boiling, and these cruel animals wreathed and enveloped in smoke, we can understand how the fancy of superstitious worshippers, who were wont to make use of these implements in their religious ceremonies, may have found in them an allusion to the spirits of the victims whose remains were exposed to the destructive fire glowing underneath. To us, at least, this representation may illustrate the terrific but grand passage of Homer, where the bodies of the slaughtered sun bulls become once more instinct with life, demanding vengeance with fearful cries: Odyssey, Book xii, verse 395.
"The skins began to creep, and the flesh around the spits bellowed,
The roasted as well as the raw. And thus grew the voice of the oxen."
The careful construction of the three-legged mechanism which lends a firm support to this fire-stand, has been restored according to the indication of some fragments found on the spot. It presents a graceful aspect, and forms, in some respects, a remarkable contrast to the heavy character of the vessel occupying so lofty a position, as the proportions of the legs are exceedingly slender, and the feet themselves, instead of being broad and shapeless, are all composed of a great many fine articulations.
FONDNESS OF THE ROMANS FOR PEARLS.
Of all the articles of luxury and ostentation known to the Romans, pearls seem to have been the most esteemed. They were worn on all parts of the dress, and such was the diversity of their size, purity, and value, that they were found to suit all classes, from those of moderate to those of the most colossal fortune. The famous pearl ear-rings of Cleopatra are said to have been worth about £160,000, and Julius Cæsar is said to have presented Servilia, the mother of Brutus, with a pearl for which he had paid above £48,000; and though no reasonable doubt can be ascertained in regard to the extreme exaggeration of these and similar statements, the fact that the largest and finest pearls brought immense prices is beyond all question. It has been said that the wish to become master of the pearls with which it was supposed to abound, was one of the motives which induced Julius Cæsar to invade Britain. But, though a good many were met with in various parts of the country, they were of little or no value, being small and ill-coloured. After pearls and diamonds, the emerald held the highest place in the estimation of the Romans.