grandeur, and lazily drink in the draughts of a beauty, as I believe, no
where else to be enjoyed. When at such hours Julia or Fausta is my
companion, I need not say in how great degree the pleasure is heightened,
nor what hues of a more rosy tint wrap all the objects of the scene.
Fountains here, as every where in the Eastern world, are frequent, and of
such size as to exert a sensible influence upon the heated atmosphere.
Huge columns of the coldest water, drawn from the recesses of the
mountains, are thrown into the air, and then falling and foaming over
rocks rudely piled, to resemble some natural cascade, disappear, and are
led by subterranean conduits to distant and lower parts of the ground.
These fountains take many and fantastic forms. In the centre of the
principal court of the palace, it is an enormous elephant of stone, who
disgorges from his uplifted trunk a vast but graceful shower, sometimes
charged with the most exquisite perfumes, and which are diffused by the
air through every part of the palace. Around this fountain, reclining upon
seats constructed to allow the most easy attitudes, or else in some of the
apartments immediately opening upon it, it is our custom to pass the
evening hours, either conversing with each other, or listening to some
tale which he who thinks he can entertain the company is at liberty to
relate, or gathering at once instruction and delight, as Longinus, either
from his memory or a volume, imparts to us choice selections of the
literature of Athens or Rome. So have I heard the Oedipus Tyrannus, and
the Prometheus, as I never have heard them before.

At such times, it is beautiful to see the group of listeners gathering
nearer and nearer, as the philosopher reads or recites, and catching every
word and accent of that divine tongue, as it falls from his lips. Zenobia
alone, of all who are there, ever presumes to interrupt the reader with
either question or comment. To her voice Longinus instantly becomes a
willing listener; and well may he: for never does she speak, at such