atin and
diamonds. The men, on their side, were of all professions and arts, and of
every grade of celebrity, from senator to merchant,--each distinguished by
some personal attribute or talent; and in all was the gift, so rare, of
manners and conversation. It was a company of undoubted gentlemen, as
truly entitled to respect and admiration as if they stood about a throne.
They were the untitled nobility of Nature, wealth, and genius.

As I stood looking, with placid admiration, from a recess, upon a
brilliant _tableau_ of beautiful women and celebrated men that had
accidentally arranged itself before me, Dalton touched my arm.

"I have seen," said he, "aristocratic and republican _reunions_ of the
purest mode in Paris, the court and the banker's circle of London,
_conversazioni_ at Rome and Florence. Every face in this room is
intelligent, and nearly all either beautiful, remarkable, or commanding.
Observe those five women standing with Denslow and Adonais,--grandeur,
sweetness, grace, form, purity; each has an attribute. It is a rare
assemblage of superior human beings. The world cannot surpass it. And, by
the by, the rooms are superb."

They were, indeed, magnificent: two grand suites, on either side a central
hall of Gothic structure, in white marble, with light, aerial staircases
and gilded balconies. Each suite was a separate miracle: the height, the
breadth, the columnal divisions; the wonderful delicacy of the arches,
upon which rested ceilings frescoed with incomparable art. In one
compartment the arches and caryatides were of black marble; in another, of
snowy Parian; in a third, of wood, exquisitely carved, and joined like one
piece, as if it were a natural growth; vines rising at the bases of the
walls, and spreading under the roof. There was no forced consistency.
Forms suitable only for the support of heavy masses of masonry, or for the
solemn effects of church interiors, were not here introduced. From
straight window-cornices of dark wood, slenderly gilt, but richly carved,
fell cataracts of gleaming satin, softened in effect with laces of rare
appreciation.

The frescoes and panel-work were a study by themselves, uniting the
classic and modern styles in allegorical subjects. The paintings, selected
by the taste of Dalton, to overpower the darkness of the rooms by
intensity of color, were incorporated with the walls. There were but few
mirrors. At the end of each suite, one, of fabulous size, without f