Richard Middlemas very naturally renewed his intimacy with his former
comrade, and it was from Hillary's conversation, that he had adopted the
enthusiasm respecting India, which we have heard him express. It was
indeed impossible for a youth, at once inexperienced in the world, and
possessed of a most sanguine disposition, to listen without sympathy to
the glowing descriptions of Hillary, who, though only a recruiting
captain, had all the eloquence of a recruiting sergeant. Palaces rose
like mushrooms in his descriptions; groves of lofty trees, and aromatic
shrubs unknown to the chilly soils of Europe, were tenanted by every
object of the chase, from the royal tiger down to the jackal. The
luxuries of a natch, and the peculiar Oriental beauty of the
enchantresses who perfumed their voluptuous Eastern domes, for the
pleasure of the haughty English conquerors, were no less attractive than
the battles and sieges on which the Captain at other times expatiated.
Not a stream did he mention but flowed over sands of gold, and not a
palace that was inferior to those of the celebrated Fata Morgana. His
descriptions seemed steeped in odours, and his every phrase perfumed in
ottar of roses. The interviews at which these descriptions took place,
often ended in a bottle of choicer wine than the Swan Inn afforded, with
some other appendages of the table, which the Captain, who was a
_bon-vivant_, had procured from Edinburgh.
Pages:
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121