gelina might be vacuous, vain,
papilionaceous, silly, or even a mere doll, but if her hair hung down
"like the tail of a Tartary cow," [96] if her eyes were "like the stones
of unripe mangoes," and her nose resembled the beak of a parrot, the
Hindu Edwin was more than satisfied. Dr. Johnson's "unidead girl" would
have done as well as the blue-stocking Tawaddud. [97]

20. Isabel Arundell & "My Dear Louisa." 1851.

It was during Burton's stay at Boulogne that he saw the handsome girl
who ten years later became his wife--Isabel, daughter of Mr. Henry
Raymond Arundell. She was the eldest of a very large family. Just
twenty, fair, "with yards of golden hair," dark blue eyes and a queenly
manner, Isabel Arundell everywhere attracted attention. No portrait, it
was said, ever did justice to her virginal beauty. "When she was in any
company you could look at no one else," the charm of her manner exceeded
even the graces of her person, but her education was defective, and she
was amusingly superstitious. She could be heard saying at every turn:
"This is a good omen; that a bad one; oh, shocking! the spoons are
crossed;

By the pricking of my thumbs
Something wicked this way comes."

Though not themselves wealthy, the Arundells were of noble lineage, and
had rich and influential relations who prided themselves on being "old
English Catholics." Among Miss Arundell's ancestors was Henry, 6th Lord
Arundell of Wardour; her grandfather and the 9th Lord were brothers; and
her mother was sister to Lord Gerard.

Isabel Arundell and Burton could have conducted their first conversation
just as well had they been deaf and dumb. Strolling on the ramparts he
noticed a bevy of handsome girls, one of whom, owing to her exceptional
looks, particularly fired him, and having managed to attract her
attention, he chalked on a wall, "May I speak to you," and left the
piece of chalk at the end of the sentence. She took it up and wrote
under it, "No, mother will be angry."

She had, however, long pictured to herself an ideal husband, and on
seeing Burton, she exclaimed under her breath: "That is the man!" She
describes him as "five feet eleven inches in height, very broad, thin
and muscular, with very dark hair, black, clearly defined, sagacious
eyebrows, a brown, weather-beaten complexion, straight Arab features,
a determined-looking mouth and chin, nearly covered by an enormous
moustache; two large, black, flashing eyes, with long