- end_line
- 12829
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T03:48:16.157Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 12767
- text
- The apartment we now entered, was fitted up in a style of Eastern
splendour, and its atmosphere was redolent of the most delicious
perfumes. The walls were hung round with the most elegant draperies,
waving in graceful folds, on which were delineated scenes of Arcadian
beauty. The floor was covered with a carpet of the finest texture, in
which were wrought with exquisite skill the most striking events in
ancient mythology. Attached to the walls by cords composed of alternate
threads of crimson silk and gold, were several magnificent pictures
illustrative of the loves of Jupiter and Semele, Psyche before the
tribunal of Venus, and a variety of other scenes, limned all with
felicitous grace. Disposed around the room were luxurious couches,
covered with the finest damask, on which were likewise executed after
the Italian fashion the early fables of Greece and Rome. Tripods,
designed to represent the Graces bearing aloft vases, richly chiselled
in the classic taste, were distributed in the angles of the room, and
exhaled an intoxicating fragrance.
Chandeliers of the most fanciful description, suspended from the lofty
ceiling by rods of silver, shed over this voluptuous scene a soft and
tempered light, and imparted to the whole that dreamy beauty which must
be seen in order to be duly appreciated. Mirrors of unusual magnitude,
multiplying in all directions the gorgeous objects, deceived the eye by
their reflections, and mocked the vision with long perspective.
But overwhelming as was the display of opulence, it yielded in
attraction to the being for whom all this splendour glistened; and the
grandeur of the room served only to show to advantage the matchless
beauty of its inmate. These superb decorations, though lavished in
boundless profusion, were the mere accessories of a creature, whose
loveliness was of that spiritual cast that depended upon no adventitious
aid, and which as no obscurity could diminish, so no art could heighten.
When I first obtained a glimpse of this lovely being, she lay reclining
upon an ottoman; in one hand holding a lute, and with the other, lost in
the profusion of her silken tresses, she supported her head. I could not
refrain from recalling the passionate exclamation of Romeo:--
‘See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!’
She was habited in a flowing robe of the purest white, and her hair,
escaping from the fillet of roses which had bound it, spread its
negligent graces over neck and bosom and shoulder, as though unwilling
to reveal the extent of such transcendent charms. Her zone was of pink
satin, on which were broidered figures of Cupid in the act of drawing
his bow; while the ample folds of her Turkish sleeve were gathered at
the wrist by a bracelet of immense rubies, each of which represented a
heart pierced through by a golden shaft. Her fingers were decorated with
a variety of rings, which as she waved her hand to me as I entered,
darted forth a thousand coruscations, and gleamed their brilliant
splendours to the sight. Peeping from beneath the envious skirts of her
mantle, and almost buried in the downy cushion on which it reposed, lay
revealed the prettiest foot you can imagine cased in a satin slipper,
which clung to the fairylike member by means of a diamond clasp.
As I entered the apartment, her eyes were downcast, and the expression
of her face was mournfully interesting; she had apparently been lost in
some melancholy revery. Upon my entrance, however, her countenance
brightened, as with a queenly wave of the hand she motioned my
conductress from the room, and left me standing, mute, admiring, and
bewildered in her presence.
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