338 ROYAL GARDENS. 
a bud from his dear native tree! But in this delicious garden of 
Negauristan, the eye and the smell were not the only senses 
regaled by the presence of the rose. The ear was enchanted by 
the wild and beautiful notes of multitudes of nightingales, whose 
warblings seem to increase in melody and softness, with the un¬ 
folding of their favourite flowers ; verifying the song of their 
poet, who says : “ When the roses fade, when the charms of the 
bower are passed away, the fond tale of the nightingale no 
longer animates the scene.” 
At the upper end of the garden, is a small and fantastically built 
palace, enclosed in a little paradise of sweets. The Shah often 
retires thither, for days together, at the beginning of summer, 
before he removes to more distant and temperate regions ; and 
accompanied by the softer sex of his family, forgets, for awhile, 
that life or the world have other seasons than the gay and lovely 
spring. This building was of a light architecture, and, with its 
secluded garden, presented altogether a scene more congenial to 
the ideas I had conceived of one of these earthly imitations of 
the Houris’ abodes, than any I had yet met in the East. The 
palace was nearly circular, full of elegant apartments, brilliantly 
adorned with gilding, arabesque, looking-glasses, and flowers 
natural and painted, in every quarter. Some of the largest 
saloons, were additionally ornamented with pictures ; portraits 
of the Shah and his sons; of the chief personages at court; also 
of foreign ministers ; and amongst the rest, were General Sir 
John Malcolm, Sir Hartford Jones, Sir Gore Ousely, Monsieur 
Gardanne, &c. &c. &c., all pourtrayed in high costume, and all 
like one and the same original. The carpets and nummuds ol 
these apartments, were of the most delicate fabric, and literally, 
as we moved, we felt treading on velvet. But the place of 
