58 EMBARRAS DE RICHESSE. 



fingers which seemed created to caress ; the Syrian, 

 with aquiline and haughty look ; the Greek, with 

 features brightened by intellect and vivacity ; and the 

 home-born beauty prepared expressly for the harem, 

 with a complexion as white as the milk on which she 

 had been fed, and a face in form and expression 

 resembling the full moon. 



All these dear charmers belonged to the king, and 

 no doubt he often wished half of them away. For if 

 he felt a serious passion rising in his breast, etiquette 

 compelled him to put it down. Inconstancy was en- 

 joined on him by law. He was subjected to a rota- 

 tion of kisses by the regulated science of the harem. 

 Ceremony interdicted affection and caprice. He suf- 

 fered from unvarying variety, and the monotony of 

 eternal change. The whole empire beloDged to him, 

 and all its inhabitants were his slaves. If he hap- 

 pened to be struck to the heart by a look cast from 

 under a pair of black-edged eyelids ; if he became 

 enamoured of a high bosomed virgin, with a form like 

 the oriental willow, he had only to say the word ; she 

 was at once taken to the apartments of the women, 

 and her parents received the congratulations of their 

 friends. But then he was not allowed to see his be- 

 loved for a twelvemonth : six months sbe must be 

 prepared with the oil of myrrh, six months with the 

 sweet odours, before she was sufficiently purified and 

 perfumed to receive the august embraces of the king, 

 and to soothe a passion which meanwhile had ample 

 time to cool. 



The Great King slept on a splendid couch, overspread 

 by a vine of branching gold, with clusters of rubies 

 representing grapes. He wore a dress of purple and 

 white, with scarlet trousers, a girdle like that of a 



