ion or embassage from Tangier, that I was present in her
apartments; and it was immediately after this, too--(so that I have good
cause to remember it)--that the first completely unexpected reverse came
to my fortunes.

I arrived at Her Majesty's lodgings about nine o'clock in the evening;
and was pleased to see that the Yeomen of the Guard lined the staircase
up to the great gallery. This was an honour which the Queen did not very
often enjoy; and very fine they looked in their scarlet and gold, with
their halberds, all the way up from the bottom to the top.

The Great Gallery, when I came into it, was tolerably full of people,
of whom I spoke to a good number, among whom again were Sir Charles
Sedley and my Lord Dorset, as usual inseparable. But I was very much
astonished at the manner in which the Moors were treated, for they were
seated on couches, on one side of the state under which Her Majesty sat,
as if they were some kind of raree-show, set there to be looked at. They
were extraordinary rich and barbaric in their appearance; and when I had
kissed Her Majesty's hand, I too went and looked with the rest of the
crowd who jostled all together to stare at them. They were in very
gorgeous silks, and wore turbans; and their jewels were beyond anything
that I had ever seen--great uncut emeralds, and red stones of which I
did not know the name, and ropes of pearls. The folks about me bore
themselves with an amazing insolence, regarding them as if they had been
monsters, and freely making comments on them which their interpreter, at
least, must have understood. The Moors themselves behaved with great
dignity; and it was impossible not to reflect that these shewed a far
higher degree of dignity and civilization than did my own countrymen.
They were very dark-skinned, and three or four of them of a wonderful
handsomeness. They sat there almost in silence, looking gravely at the
crowd, and observing, I thought, with surprise the bare shoulders and
bosoms of the ladies who stared and screamed as much as any. It appeared
to me that these poor Moors, too, thought that the civilization lay
principally upon their own side. I presently felt ashamed of myself for
looking at them; and turned away.

* * * * *

The gallery and the antechambers had some fine furniture in them, pushed
against the walls that the crowd might circulate; but all was not near
so fine as the Duchess of Portsmouth's apartment