Above this in place of entablature rises tier upon tier of decoration, each tier projecting beyond the one beneath, and the topmost of all terminating in a balcony which encircles the whole second story.

The parapet of this balcony is one mass of ornament, and its cornice another row of lions, brown instead of white.
The second story is no less crowded with carving.

Twelve pillars make its ribs, the spaces between being filled with elaborate woodwork, while on top rest more friezes, more cornices, clustered with excrescences of all colors and kinds, and guarded by lions innumerable.

To begin to tell the details of so multi-faceted a gem were artistically impossible.

It is a jewel of a thousand rays, yet whose beauties blend into one as the prismatic tints combine to white.