VILLA STIBBERT. 
337 
obtained of hill and valley richly cultivated, which once was 
devastated by the robber chieftain. The little chapel beside 
the Loggia is supposed to occupy the site of Ugo’s Castle, and 
within its walls lie buried the remains of the celebrated engraver 
Raffaelle Morghen, who died in 1833. His grandfather, a 
German, was invited to Tuscany by the Marchese Gerini to 
engrave the works of the Florentine artists in the Pitti Gallery. 
Raffaelle Morghen was born in Florence in 1758, and earned 
for himself a name, as the first engraver of his time. 
The grounds round the Villa Stibbert combine English 
taste for order with the usual elegance of the Italian garden, 
consisting of terraces decorated with lovely busts amidst the 
luxuriant growth of a southern vegetation. Within the villa 
there is a most rare and remarkable collection of armour, which 
Mr. Stibbert allows to be seen on certain days to those who can 
obtain a card of admission through his personal friends. 
Descending a few steps from the entrance hall into a vast 
saloon with a vaulted ceiling, the visitor finds himself surrounded 
by figures of men in various postures, and of horses with their 
riders in full armour. They represent different periods of 
Italian and German history. Numerous swords and other 
weapons, horses’ bits of singular construction, banners, &c., 
decorate the walls, which are painted with coats of arms and 
other devices in a low tone of colour. Some precious relics 
are under glass on tables in the middle of the room. In 
the centre is a horse and man fully equipped for the tourna¬ 
ment ; to the right a red-bearded figure wears the armour of the 
Emperor Maximilian, the letzte Ritter of the Germans ; he has 
on a kilt of crimson and green velvet striped with black and 
gold, the Austrian colours ; and broad ribbons of crimson and 
green are crossed over his breast. 
One very rich coat of mail inlaid with gold belonged to a 
Visconti of Milan. In a recess to the left, a rider comes forth 
clad in the armour of one of the Guadagni family. Six cavaliers, 
three on each side, guard the farther entrance to this saloon. 
VOL. II.