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Where the huge velarium that Nero had stretched across the

Colosseum at Rome, that Titan sail of purple on which was

represented the starry sky, and Apollo driving a chariot drawn by

white, gilt-reined steeds? He longed to see the curious

table-napkins wrought for the Priest of the Sun, on which were

displayed all the dainties and viands that could be wanted for a

feast; the mortuary cloth of King Chilperic, with its three

hundred golden bees; the fantastic robes that excited the

indignation of the Bishop of Pontus and were figured with "lions,

panthers, bears, dogs, forests, rocks, hunters-all, in fact, that

a painter can copy from nature"; and the coat that Charles of

Orleans once wore, on the sleeves of which were embroidered the

verses of a song beginning "_Madame, je suis tout joyeux_," the

musical accompaniment of the words being wrought in gold thread,

and each note, of square shape in those days, formed with four

pearls.