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- 12807
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T03:55:03.886Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 12746
- text
- strike a panic into the stoutest heart, and to unsettle the strongest
nerves. But when to these was added the thought--that at the dead of
night, and in the company of a being so perfectly inexplicable, I was
effecting a clandestine entrance into so remarkable an abode, the kind
and sympathising reader will not wonder, when I wished myself bestowed
in my own snug quarters in ⸻ Street.
Such were the reflections which passed through my mind during our aerial
voyage, throughout which my guide maintained the most rigid silence,
only broken at intervals by the occasional creakings of our machine, as
it rubbed against the side of the house in its ascent. No sooner had we
gained the window, than two brawny arms were extended, circling me in
their embrace, and ere I was aware of the change of locality, I found
myself standing upright in an apartment, dimly illuminated by a solitary
taper. My fellow-voyager was quickly beside me, and again enjoining
silence with her finger, she seized the lamp, and bidding me follow,
conducted me through a long corridor, till we reached a low door
concealed behind some old tapestry, which opening to the touch,
disclosed a spectacle as beautiful and enchanting as any described in
the Arabian Nights.
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!’
- title
- Chunk 15