perial service would be profitless; they were employed in the 

 laboratories, the observatory, the art-gallery, the museum, 

 the stables, the menagerie and the botanic gardens ; all these 

 found an asylum either in the Hradschin or in the city across 

 the Moldau; many received small stipends, while a favored 

 few resided within the precints of the royal palace, receiving 

 daily bounty from the imperial kitchens and cellars. 



Next to science and art, Rudolph was most attached to 

 his stables and to his pleasure-gardens. The stables, situated 

 on the ground-floor of one of the wings of the huge palace, 

 beneath the workshops of the stone-polishers and the art 

 rooms, were filled with noble horses of many races; to some 

 of these four-le*gged pets Rudolph gave the names of certain 

 two-footed darlings who resided in the Castle. Exhibitions 

 of the beauty and intelligence of the horses and of the skill 

 of their riders were occasionally given in an immense covered 

 riding-hall, fitted up with galleries and a royal box. 



Beyond the mews, in a beautifully planned pleasure- 

 garden, flourished a profusion of exquisite flowers of ever}' 

 clime, protected in winter by removal to hot-houses ; here the 

 first tulips seen in Europe were cultivated, brought by an 

 imperial ambassador from the Orient, many individuals cost- 

 ing more than the plants of an entire garden. The first tulip 

 that bloomed in this lovely spot, the Emperor, in a rare 

 poetic mood, christened "Maria," after his much-loved Mother. 

 Opposite the grim Black Tower was a conservatory in which 

 were planted fig-trees, oranges, lemons, pomegranates and 

 peaches, as well as palms and tree-ferns from the tropics. In 

 a raised parterre bright colored blossoms in the green grass 

 formed the letters of Rudolph's enigmatic device: 



A D S I T 

 which is said to signify: 



"A Domino Salus In Tribulatione." 



16 



