pleasure," as he terms the Park, his account of which he sums up by
declaring, that, "were the inhabitants of the celestial regions to descend,
they would at one glance forget the wonders of the heavens at the sight of
so many bright eyes and beautiful faces! what, therefore, remains for
mortals to do?" The Opera is, he says, "the principal _tomashagah_"
(place of show or entertainment) in London, and best decorated and
lighted;" though he does not go the length of affirming, as stated in the
account given by the Persian princes, that "before each box are forty
chandeliers of cut glass, and each has fifty lights!"--"I could not,"
continues the khan, "understand the subject of the performances--it was
all singing, accompanied with various action, as if some story were meant
to be related; but I was also told that the language was different from
English, and that the majority of those present understood it no more than
myself." The scanty drapery and liberal displays of the figurantes at
first startled him a little; but "the beauty of those _peris_ was such as
might have enslaved the heart of Ferhad himself;" and he soon learned to
view all their _pirouettes_ and _tours-de-force_ with the well-bred
nonchalance of a man who had witnessed in his own country exhibitions
nearly as singular in their way "though the style of dancing here was of
course entirely different from what we see in India." The impression made
by the sight of the ballet on the Parsees, who invariably reduce every
thing to pounds, shillings, and pence, took a different form; and they
express unbounded astonishment, on being told that Taglioni was paid a
hundred and fifty guineas a-night, "that such a sum should be paid to a
woman to stand a long time like a goose on one leg, then to throw one leg
straight out, twirl round three or four times with the leg thus extended,
curtsy so low as nearly to seat herself on the stage, and spring from one
side of the stage to another, all which jumping about did not occupy an
hour!"