Annesley's
simple shield spoke of the Conquest; but all paled before the banner of
the house of Hauteville, for it indicated an alliance with royalty. The
attendants of each pavilion wore the livery of its lord.
Shall we attempt to describe the delicacy of this banquet, where
imagination had been racked for novel luxury? Through the centre of each
table ran a rivulet of rose-water, and gold and silver fish glanced in
its unrivalled course. The bouquets were exchanged every half-hour, and
music soft and subdued, but constant and thrilling, wound them up by
exquisite gradations to that pitch of refined excitement which is so
strange a union of delicacy and voluptuousness, when the soul, as it
were, becomes sensual, and the body, as it were, dissolves into spirit.
And in this choice assembly, where all was youth, and elegance, and
beauty, was it not right that every sound should be melody, every sight
a sight of loveliness, and every thought a thought of pleasure?
They arose and re-assembled on the lawn, where they found, to their
surprise, had arisen in their absence a Dutch Fair. Numerous were the
booths, innumerable were the contents.
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