Leaving the Library one mounts the grand staircase to the second floor and enters the First Hall, a room 72 by 35 feet. Here are hung many valuable paintings, among them Sargent’s life-size portraits of Richard Morris Hunt and Frederick Law Olmsted, designers of the house and the estate respectively. Here also is seen a large Persian palace or temple rug, middle sixteenth century, 33 by 25 feet. The furniture here is Venetian, late eighteenth century. Another object of interest is a Spanish Wedding Vestment Chest. Above is an Italian mirror, nineteenth century. Opening from the hall is the Louis XVI Bedroom with furniture of that period. The South Bedroom, once occupied by Mr. Vanderbilt, commands from its windows views of rarely excelled scenic splendor. In this room the carving and panelling are of walnut; the furniture is Spanish, Italian and Portuguese of the early eighteenth century. The bed, hung in red and gold, is Spanish. The North Bedroom is upholstered in purple and gold Genoese velvet. The Oak Sitting Room, between the North and South Bedrooms, contains several large and beautiful bronzes by Barye, Meunier and Mene. There also is a Maria di Medici settee bearing the private monogram of that tempestuous queen, and on the wall are displayed Sargent’s portraits of Mrs. Kissam and Mrs. Bacon. The visitor emerging from the mansion looks down upon a grassy Esplanade, in the center of which are a fountain and pool, with driveways on either side. Beyond the Esplanade is a magnificent structure of stone, the “Rampe Douce,” with its three turtle founts, erected to enable one, whether mounted or afoot, to reach the bridle paths and glades above and beyond. Below the level of the Library Terrace and the Esplanade, surrounded by boxwood and holly hedges, are the Swimming Pool and Italian Garden. The holly hedge is studded at regular intervals with Italian sculptured urns. Here is the wall with ivy from Kenilworth Castle, and a veritable forest of old Wistaria vine greets the visitor in the Pergola. Here, as in almost every other part of the grounds adjacent to the mansion, are rare examples of beautiful statuary procured by Mr. Vanderbilt on his travels abroad. Beyond the Library Terrace are the Italian Garden, the Shrub Garden, the Walled Garden, the Spring Garden and the Azalea Garden, in the aggregate containing about thirty-five acres of rare and beautiful plants and flowers in almost endless variety, which bloom in seasonal succession. The greenhouses at the end of the Walled Garden are devoted to the cultivation of plants and flowers used in the adornment of the mansion. The giant palms and ferns of many varieties present a truly tropical scene.