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    labours of an earthquake , though masses , for a . whole half hour , continued tumbling into place , till all was settled in a firm and compact body . The deep roar of the many hundreds of voices , here and there one rising into a scream , at first appalled , then left me to a tumult of wonder , stnd bewildering , breathless intensity of eye and ear . There , directly beneath my gaze , was the large , sacred , green veil ^ behind which the mysterious preparations were

    then in state of progress . What a sublimity of office was in that baize curtain ! With what dignified composure , what Jupiterian equanimity did that curtain look forth its authority , its command that the sacred precincts which it guarded , the hallowed rites which it concealed , should not be profanely penetrated ! Heroes and derni-gods , and Ida ' beauteous queens were there , robing for the festival ! An after and less reverential acquaintance with these affairs , told me there was a drawing on of flesh-coloured

    legs ; a tugging at gilt leather breast-plates ; a tying of lambroquins ; a buckling of sandals ; a proper adjusting of certain padding ; corking and india-inking of eye-brows and whiskers , and a breeding of roses on the cheeks , by the marriage of a hare ' s foot with red lead , and a thousand other mortal earthlinesses too tedious to mention . But of all these I saw nothing now : blessed state of innocence ! The deities were smiling at each other , as

    they sipped their nectar , and inhaled ambrosial essences . I feasted in stillness on the Exhilarating idealities , and sat in unbreathing ecstasy . Ha ! look ! look there ! a face and two Olympian fingers opening and peeping through a crevice in that sacred curtain ! Most happy and envied , most privileged of beings ! who and what art thou ? Thought is more speedy than speech ; 1 had time to think this , not to speak it , for instantly there was

    an outbursting of noises ; such—* my young remembrance could not parallel a fellow to' them—such as forced me out of my feelings of worship and venerating curiosity . They were compounded of hiss , growl , snarl , whoop , yell ; f Off " , off ; ' ' Ya a a a h—ya a a ah ! off , off ! ' Cats , dogs , geese , serpents , bears , brayers , wolves , owls , and rooks were at once tearing their throats with warring discord on my stunned and confounded ears ;

    but the face and fingers , after an exhibition of a phalanx of teeth by the former , withdrew , and the hallowed orifice closed . Now my eyes turned to survey and revel through the capricious , deep , gorgeous , gilded , and emblematically painted—room ? no ; not room . It was a mountain scooped out from summit to base , and caverned in its bosom ; and the blue and fleecy sky overhead , the roof being coloured to represent a canopy of bright day ; all arranged with seats , bowery and flowery , on which a thousand tinted streaks , and dots of shrubs and verdure rested . But the

    shrubs and flowers were most inharmonious , and for heat , it woa a blast furnace in Guinea ! the hollow of Etna was breezy aud cooling rather than that . The noise was deafening and trenpw >

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    My first Play . 477

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1833, page 477, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2618/page/37/