Page:Romance & Reality 2.pdf/94

92 shrubs, shut out all but the small portion of shrubbery, which was like one bright and blooming spot in a wilderness. The windows opened upon a broad terrace, against whose stone balustrade a few pots of early flowers were placed—not very rare, for the hothouse had been neglected; still there were some rose-trees, putting forth buds at least, some myrtles, some deep purple hyacinths. The steps led down into the garden, whose beds were rich in white and crimson daisies, hepaticas, and violets, whose breath perfumed the whole place. The turf was of that rich dark emerald which promises softness fit for the chariot of the fairy queen; and, spreading his magnificent plumage in the sunshine, which brought out a thousand new colours, a peacock stood gazing round, either for admiration, or with an Alexander Selkirk-looking feeling, which said, "I am monarch of all I survey." "I must say," observed Lord Mandeville, opening the window till the room seemed filled with fragrance and sunshine, "a street sacred to Macadam's dynasty of mud, and the blinds, brick, and smoke of our opposite neighbours, are not quite equal to a scene like this."