A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

86 BRIDAL PALACE.
would tell you not only how the grand recep-
tion room is hung with azure brocade and gold,
how the vast ante-room at the head of the grand
staircase is adorned with pier-glasses innumer-
able, and the circular windows at each end
shaded with curtains of violet gauze flowered
with gold, how the Princess's bedchamber is one
mass of white satin damask and gold fringes,
with delicate under-curtains of rose-coloured
silk, &c., &c. ; but I should also enter into a
detail of the profusion of beautiful articles of
European furniture introduced amidst the divans
and cushions of Oriental usage, and describe the
crystals, and porcelains, and pendules, and read-
ing chairs, and their various positions, with a
touch of Mons. de Balzac's minutiae in such
affairs. I shall merely specify that in the prin-
cipal saloon are the two largest and finest ])ier-
glasses I ever saw, but that the admirable effect
they are calculated to produce is much lessened
by the injudicious manner in which they are
placed. I ventured to express my opinion to
the chief of the eunuchs, who accompanied us
through the apartments; but he shrugged his
shoulders, and remarked that the choice and
distribution of the whole of the Palace decora-
tions were confided to Hakkakin Bey (an Ar-