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FAMOUS SONGS
in homage to a crowned figure, holding a sceptre, and seated on a throne; and behind the kneel-ing figures is a man in full armour. On the opposite side are two men fully armed, and with shields, meeting a third. At each extremity is a man in armour standing on a tesselated pave-ment. The whole of this ornamentation is bordered by arabesques." Assuming this orna-mentation to be of Italian workmanship, Sir William Cope was willing to give credence to the story told by a lady of a distinguished Italian house to the effect that the incident happened in her own family, and was a well-known record. The chest was said to have been sold to an Englishman, whom Sir William believed to have been the fifth baronet, who resided in Italy for many years, and who con-veyed it to Bramshill about the beginning of last century. He cites Rogers's " Ginevra" in support of his contention, but unfortunately the poet in a footnote to his poem said: " This story is, I believe, founded on fact, though the time and place are uncertain. Many old houses in England lay claim to it." Rogers laid the scene in Modena. At Florence, how-ever, is an old Castello, opposite to the church of St. Florence, where the " identical chest" is still shown to visitors.
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