gs there are in wretched taste, and to say truth
I don't much admire Moorish taste."

Mr. Beckford next pointed out a head in marble brought from Mexico by
Cortez, which was for centuries in the possession of the Duke of Alba's
family, and was given to the present proprietor by the Duchess. "Her
fate was very tragical," he observed. In a small cupboard with glass in
front is a little ivory reliquior, four or five hundred years old. It
was given to Mr. Beckford by the late Mr. Hope. It is in the shape of a
small chapel; on opening the doors, the fastenings of which were two
small dogs or monkeys, you found in a recess the Virgin and Child,
surrounded by various effigies, all carved in the most astonishingly
minute manner.

The mention of Mr. Hope's name produced an observation about
"Anastasius," of which Mr. Beckford affirmed he was confident Mr. Hope
had written very little; he was, he positively asserted, assisted by
Spence. My companion here observed, "Had Mr. Beckford heard of the
recent discoveries made of the ruins of Carthage?" "Of Carthage?" he
said, "it must be New Carthage. It cannot be the old town, that is
impossible. If it were, I would start to-morrow to see it. I should
think myself on the road to Babylon half-way." "Babylon must have been a
glorious place," observed my companion, "if we can place any reliance on
Mr. Martin's long line of distances about that famous city." "Oh,
Martin. Martin is very clever, but a friend of mine, Danby, in my
opinion far surpasses him." I cannot agree with Mr. Beckford in this.
Martin was undoubtedly the inventor of the singular style of painting in
question, and I do not believe that Danby ever produced anything equal to
some of the illustrations of "Paradise Lost," in particular "The Fall of
the Apostate Angels," which is as fine a conception as any painter,
ancient or modern, ever produced.

Mr. Beckford then, taking off a glass cover, showed us what is, I should
imagine, one of the greatest curiosities in existence, a vase about ten
inches high, composed of one entire block of chalcedonian onyx. It is of
Greek workmanship, most probably about the time of Alexander the Great.
The stone is full of veins, as usual with onyxes. "Do observe," said he,
"these satyrs' heads. Imagine the number of diamonds it must have taken
to make any impression on such a hard substance. Rubens made a drawing
of it, for it was pawned in his time for a large sum. I posses