538 PROSE HALIEtJTICS. 



saffron, ivy terries^ violets, and amaranth,* for the like 

 pnrpose ; some hung up that mystic flower, the present 

 of the god of Love to the god of Silence, intimating that 

 henceforth all the proceedings of the meeting were to 

 he kept inviolahle and sous la rose; other attendants 

 brought in baskets of many fragrant petals,t to rain 

 upon the couches, floor, and recumbent guests; while 

 more completely to impregnate the air with sweet odours 

 (besides the aroma exhaled from flowers and the yet more 

 costly perfumes brought by the guests), a number of 

 doves, J carrying floral essences and extracts under their 

 wings, were let loose to flit up and down the banquet- 

 hall. § The company now became more animated; the 

 buzz of talking waxed louder and louder every miaute ; 

 anagrams, conundrums, and various other sorts oigryphes, 



* This word comes from a-fiapalva, on account of tlie sober- 

 ing effects imputed to its petals when placed in contact with the 

 temples. 



t At a feast given by Cleopatra to Mark Antony, that Queen 

 paid a talent for rose-petals to cover the floor of the banquet-hall 

 a cubit deep, in order that the guests might tread softly. 



J The luxurious kings of Cyprus employed these birds to fan 

 them at their meals ; which object they attained by anointing 

 their persons, after the manner of rat-catchers, with an unguent 

 wherein was mixed the pulp of a Sicilian berry in request among 

 doves : the doves then, on being let loose, flew straight to the 

 king, on whose person they had no sooner alighted, than driven 

 off by satellites, they attempted to regain their position, and thus 

 provided a charmingly refreshing current of cool air to aU in 

 the vicinity. 



§ It appears that a number of pigeons are always present in 

 the banquet-haU at the Mansion-house ; some Goth, last year, 

 proposed to have them destroyed, but as he was out- voted, and 

 the pretty flutterers remain, we venture to suggest to the Lord 

 Mayor and Court of Aldermen that it would certainly add to the 

 grace of their entertainments, and give them an additionally 

 classic air, were these birds hereafter to be employed as the 'car- 

 riers' and dispensers of sweet odours. 



