Page:The Industrial Arts of India.djvu/197

 Thus in Iliad, iii : "Meantime to beauteous Helen from the sides. The various goddess of the rainbow flies. Here in the palace at her loom she found The golden web her own sad story crown’d ; The Trojan wars she weav'd, herself the prize, And the dire triumph of her fatal eyes.' 1

And Iliad, v :

"Pallas disrobes ; her radiant veil unty*d f With flowers adorn'd, with art diversify'd,”

And Iliad, vi :

"The largest mantle her rich wardrobes hold, More prized for art, than labour'd o’er with gold."



“The Phrygian Queen to her rich wardrobe went, Where treasured odours breathed a costly scent. There lay the vestures of no vulgar art, Si do nian maids embroidered every part, Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris bore, With Helen touching on the Tyrian shore. Here as the Queen revolv’d with careful eyes The various textures and the various dyes, She chose a veil that shone superior far, And glow'd refulgent as the morning star,"

And in Od. xv :

"Meantime the King, his son, and Helen, went Where the rich wardrobe breathed a costly scent* The King selected from the glittering rows, A bowl ; the Prince a silver beaker chose. The beauteous Queen revolved with careful eyes Her various textures of unnumber’d dyes, And cho>e the largest ; with no vulgar art, Her own fair hands embroider’d every part. Beneath the rest it lay divinely bright, Like radiant Ilcsper o'er the gems of night,”

The two last passages are photographic vignettes from any wealthy Indian Sethia's house, and in copying them one seems to