BUYING A PALACE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 712, 11 January 1910, Page 3

BUYING A PALACE.

,Not ; content' with a ■ mansion in New York' and anotherin Pierpont Morgan wants- to ; :buy a: palace in' Italy.' •Ho;fias set his eyes..upon the Beggia; qr Corte,':Eeale,' at;.';M4ntua, iwhich, 'in the days .of • tho- Eenaisshnce, was the, palace .■of .the iGoiirazas, ;and :for- it ihe -offered the lung of Italy live million dollars (a ..Little; over one million" sterling- .iu % our -money). But the ? offer; - was refused. the refusal 'tv-as a; definite asser'■'tioii.'that'"'.tHe' palace; is 'not for sale'lat all,-'or merely -.a, rejection, ofthe. price offered, 19' uncertain, but - i report; comes: . from' Borne, that - the'ltalian Government considers; the", : price inadequate, - and .that , it: might' be 1 - induced to sell were. the figures .increased by another, million dol- . ', v.

■'"it;.i3' 'Italy, that-!Mr.':Mor§an-;desires" the- palace, not so much -for liiit self, 'as';fo# v his ;iiiunamed : 'daiighter;'.who ..haa JMdtitltf!; ''-Several; times' 'and' become piea ! .by"lsabella''d'Este;'\yife of; .Giovanni : ■Francesco-111, and sister of; Alfonso, Duke ? whd- died' inV,IM9 ' at the ase of; '35.;. Isabella id'Este was 'a-zbeautifiu,' brilli'aht. and ..adooniplished' woman,' who oitei-tained and corres[ionded with the ;mpst|'eminent" men of ..for' dayr and' with rare taste',collected,'.books,- pictures, ' and antiquities. Perhaps it -would'bo a 1 good' > thing; for', the,M^uanfe'to'have Miss Morgan revive >the splendours' of- their ancient Icoart, '- for ' the ,site -;s -decayed 'and : needs sffie one; with,unlimited means to restore it'to prosperity. -. . - . Tho palace at Ifimtua is" vast. It contains as inauy as:, six .hundred rooms, many of which; are decorated with snperb : frescoes and carvings; by: Andrea Mantegna, Guilio Eomaiio; Eubens/ and .other almost equally famous artistsl 1 - Parts of the palace date from 1,">02, wrheu. it belongs to'-; the'i Bonacolsi' family, ;'bnt it .has been added. to ;■■ - and 1 enlarged many , times, , and" ' it' : owes . most of the splendour ,to the ; djm■asty !of .the. Gonzagas,; who ruled Perroja and -Mantua for a .centiiryi fighting against Milan and .'.'Venice, and making their capital' the centre of European, intellectual llife. 'They loved , to, entertain poets and painters, statesmen, and philosophers, and their palace l is fnil of;.relics of; the .famous ' guests it has harboured. '

' The; ceiling of one room contains - a fa-, mous labyrinth,'around- which the. mys-; ' tic words, A "Forse. si; f orse -no" . ("Perhaps yes, perhaps no"), are repeated over ana: over agaiii. Gabriele .d'Annunzio on a recent visit to . the palace was so struck by;.these'wards'-in the labyrinth that he made .ihem; the title of-a play, he is now finishing. ' . • A -..

;; Miss Morgan.,has read and written - a great deal of the life of. Isabella d'Este, and 1 has ;'made ffrequent visits to Mantua to study the'rooms; she occupied and the decorations of her own apartments,.which are^A exquisite"; examples: of. the .Eenais--sanca;-- -A''"-A; ."a;;/."--; 0 -A A

\ Mantua lies in;the: middle of a marshy country at ,the foot of' the Alps. Alt was the;birthplace of Virgil,; and, according to. Dante, was built as. a, fortress because of the'.inaccessibility given to it by the surrounding ; marshes.. It was, be says, A called after, the heartless witch Manto, who,. fteeirig from' men, made the island amid the' swamps her'home; there 'she plied .her arts, and 'left her soulless corpse." '