244 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



of cannons, and the cheers of thousands upon thousands 

 of his loyal subjects ; and it was a gala time indeed 

 for every one during the short reign of this very 

 decorated king. 



It was on the next day that the grand procession of 

 the ' Mistick Krewe ' came off, while another came off 

 at night, when all New Orleans was ablaze with illumi- 

 nations and mad with merriment. The processions are 

 allegorical, and represent different themes from year 

 to year, such as illustrations from Spenser's ' Faery 

 Queene,' the ' Pilgrim's Progress,' the ' Progress of 

 Art and Science/ and so on. The scenes from ' Fact 

 and Fable ' displayed this year were said by those 

 who knew to be particularly gorgeous, and personally 

 I never saw anything of the kind to equal it. 



The procession of Rex, as I said, came off during 

 the day, and that of Comus at night, the latter alone 

 consisting of not less than twenty-three tableaux of 

 most gorgeous character, representing various phases 

 in the history of fact and fiction, such as the War in 

 Heaven, the Ages of Man, Lalla Rookh, and such- 

 like, down to the last, but not least the History of 

 Ireland. This mighty pageant was mounted in such 

 a lavish style that the cheers of the populace were loud 

 and incessant as the procession glided slowly and 

 majestically along the streets. 



And then came the balls and midnight revelry, when 

 all New Orleans appeared to have gone fairly mad. 

 There was a ball given by Rex to his humble sul 

 jects, and another by Comus, both by invitation ; ai 

 I went to each of them to behold the beauty and chivali 

 of New Orleans arrayed in all their bravery of foi 

 and fashion. The ball given by Rex and his retim 



