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1At another time he devoted himself entirely to music, and in a long latticed room, with a vermilion-and-gold ceiling and
2walls of olive-green lacquer, he used to give curious concerts in which mad gipsies tore wild music from little zithers,
3or grave, yellow-shawled Tunisians plucked at the strained strings of monstrous lutes, while grinning Negroes beat
4monotonously upon copper drums and, crouching upon scarlet mats, slim turbaned Indians blew through long pipes of reed
5or brass and charmed--or feigned to charm--great hooded snakes and horrible horned adders. The harsh intervals and
6shrill discords of barbaric music stirred him at times when Schubert's grace, and Chopin's beautiful sorrows, and the
7mighty harmonies of Beethoven himself, fell unheeded on his ear. He collected together from all parts of the world the
8strangest instruments that could be found, either in the tombs of dead nations or among the few savage tribes that have
9survived contact with Western civilizations, and loved to touch and try them. He had the mysterious juruparis of the Rio
10Negro Indians, that women are not allowed to look at and that even youths may not see till they have been subjected to
11fasting and scourging, and the earthen jars of the Peruvians that have the shrill cries of birds, and flutes of human
12bones such as Alfonso de Ovalle heard in Chile, and the sonorous green jaspers that are found near Cuzco and give forth
13a note of singular sweetness. He had painted gourds filled with pebbles that rattled when they were shaken; the long
14clarin of the Mexicans, into which the performer does not blow, but through which he inhales the air; the harsh ture of
15the Amazon tribes, that is sounded by the sentinels who sit all day long in high trees, and can be heard, it is said, at
16a distance of three leagues; the teponaztli, that has two vibrating tongues of wood and is beaten with sticks that are
17smeared with an elastic gum obtained from the milky juice of plants; the yotl-bells of the Aztecs, that are hung in
18clusters like grapes; and a huge cylindrical drum, covered with the skins of great serpents, like the one that Bernal
19Diaz saw when he went with Cortes into the Mexican temple, and of whose doleful sound he has left us so vivid a
20description. The fantastic character of these instruments fascinated him, and he felt a curious delight in the thought
21that art, like Nature, has her monsters, things of bestial shape and with hideous voices. Yet, after some time, he
22wearied of them, and would sit in his box at the opera, either alone or with Lord Henry, listening in rapt pleasure to
23"Tannhauser" and seeing in the prelude to that great work of art a presentation of the tragedy of his own soul. On one
24occasion he took up the study of jewels, and appeared at a costume ball as Anne de Joyeuse, Admiral of France, in a
25dress covered with five hundred and sixty pearls. This taste enthralled him for years, and, indeed, may be said never to
26have left him. He would often spend a whole day settling and resettling in their cases the various stones that he had
27collected, such as the olive-green chrysoberyl that turns red by lamplight, the cymophane with its wirelike line of
28silver, the pistachio-coloured peridot, rose-pink and wine-yellow topazes, carbuncles of fiery scarlet with tremulous,
29four-rayed stars, flame-red cinnamon-stones, orange and violet spinels, and amethysts with their alternate layers of
30ruby and sapphire. He loved the red gold of the sunstone, and the moonstone's pearly whiteness, and the broken rainbow
31of the milky opal. He procured from Amsterdam three emeralds of extraordinary size and richness of colour, and had a
32turquoise de la vieille roche that was the envy of all the connoisseurs. He discovered wonderful stories, also, about
33jewels. In Alphonso's Clericalis Disciplina a serpent was mentioned with eyes of real jacinth, and in the romantic
34history of Alexander, the Conqueror of Emathia was said to have found in the vale of Jordan snakes "with collars of real
35emeralds growing on their backs." There was a gem in the brain of the dragon, Philostratus told us, and "by the
36exhibition of golden letters and a scarlet robe" the monster could be thrown into a magical sleep and slain. According
37to the great alchemist, Pierre de Boniface, the diamond rendered a man invisible, and the agate of India made him
38eloquent. The cornelian appeased anger, and the hyacinth provoked sleep, and the amethyst drove away the fumes of wine.
39The garnet cast out demons, and the hydropicus deprived the moon of her colour. The selenite waxed and waned with the
40moon, and the meloceus, that discovers thieves, could be affected only by the blood of kids. Leonardus Camillus had seen
41a white stone taken from the brain of a newly killed toad, that was a certain antidote against poison. The bezoar, that
42was found in the heart of the Arabian deer, was a charm that could cure the plague. In the nests of Arabian birds was
43the aspilates, that, according to Democritus, kept the wearer from any danger by fire. The King of Ceilan rode through
44his city with a large ruby in his hand, as the ceremony of his coronation. The gates of the palace of John the Priest
45were "made of sardius, with the horn of the horned snake inwrought, so that no man might bring poison within." Over the
46gable were "two golden apples, in which were two carbuncles," so that the gold might shine by day and the carbuncles by
47night. In Lodge's strange romance 'A Margarite of America', it was stated that in the chamber of the queen one could
48behold "all the chaste ladies of the world, inchased out of silver, looking through fair mirrours of chrysolites,
49carbuncles, sapphires, and greene emeraults." Marco Polo had seen the inhabitants of Zipangu place rose-coloured pearls
50in the mouths of the dead. A sea-monster had been enamoured of the pearl that the diver brought to King Perozes, and had
51slain the thief, and mourned for seven moons over its loss. When the Huns lured the king into the great pit, he flung it
52away--Procopius tells the story--nor was it ever found again, though the Emperor Anastasius offered five hundred-weight
53of gold pieces for it. The King of Malabar had shown to a certain Venetian a rosary of three hundred and four pearls,
54one for every god that he worshipped. When the Duke de Valentinois, son of Alexander VI., visited Louis XII. of France,
55his horse was loaded with gold leaves, according to Brantome, and his cap had double rows of rubies that threw out a
56great light. Charles of England had ridden in stirrups hung with four hundred and twenty-one diamonds. Richard II had a
57coat, valued at thirty thousand marks, which was covered with balas rubies. Hall described Henry VIII., on his way to
58the Tower previous to his coronation, as wearing "a jacket of raised gold, the placard embroidered with diamonds and
59other rich stones, and a great bauderike about his neck of large balasses." The favourites of James I wore ear-rings of
60emeralds set in gold filigrane. Edward II gave to Piers Gaveston a suit of red-gold armour studded with jacinths, a
61collar of gold roses set with turquoise-stones, and a skull-cap parsemé with pearls. Henry II. wore jewelled gloves
62reaching to the elbow, and had a hawk-glove sewn with twelve rubies and fifty-two great orients. The ducal hat of
63Charles the Rash, the last Duke of Burgundy of his race, was hung with pear-shaped pearls and studded with sapphires.
64How exquisite life had once been! How gorgeous in its pomp and decoration! Even to read of the luxury of the dead was
65wonderful.
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