embellishing, to look unusually stylish, and as usual, never succeeded
so ill in my life. Our residence on the Grand Parade is scarcely a
hundred yards from, and overlooks the Pavilion--a circumstance which
had quite escaped my recollection; for with all the natural anxiety of a
young and ardent mind, I had fully equipped myself before the Count had
even thought of entering his dressing-room. Half-an-hour's lounge at
the projecting window of our new habitation, on a tine summer's evening,
gave me an opportunity of remarking the ~293~~singular appearance the
front of this building presents:

"If minarets, rising together, provoke
From the lips of the vulgar the old-fashioned joke--

'_De gustibus non est_ (I think) _disputandum_'
The taste is plebeian that quizzes at random."

There is really something very romantic in the style of its
architecture, and by no means inelegant; perhaps it is better suited for
the peculiar situation of this marine palace than a more classical or
accredited order would be. It has been likened, on its first appearance,
to a chess-board; but, in my thinking, it more nearly resembles that
soul-inspiring scene, the splendid banquet table, decorated in the best
style of modern grandeur, and covered with the usual plate and glass
enrichments: for instance, the central dome represents the water magnum,
the towers right and left, with their pointed spires, champagne bottles,
the square compartments on each side are exactly like the form of
our fashionable liqueur stands, the clock tower resembles the centre
ornament of a plateau, the various small spires so many enriched
_candelabra_, the glass dome a superb dessert dish; but

"Don't expect, my dear boy, I can similies find
For a heap of similitudes so undefined.
And why should I censure tastes not my concern?
'Tis as well for the arts that all tastes have their turn."

If I had written for three hours on the subject, I could not have
been more explicit; you have only to arrange the articles in the order
enumerated, and you have a model of the upper part of the building
before you. At nine o'clock we made our _entre_ into the Pavilion,
westward, passing through the vestibule and hall, when we entered one
of the most superb apartments that art or fancy can devise, whether for
richness of effect, decoration, and design: this is ~294~~called the
_Chinese Gallery_, one h