The Mysteries of Udolpho

' 'Dear sir!' said Henri, 'here is an arm-chair so massy with gilding,

that it resembles one of the state chairs at the Louvre, more then any

thing else.' 'Yes,' said the Count, stopping a moment to survey it, 'there is a

history belonging to that chair, but I have not time to tell it.--Let us

pass on. This suite runs to a greater extent than I had imagined; it is

many years since I was in them. But where is the bed-room you speak of,

Ludovico?--these are only anti-chambers to the great drawing-room. I

remember them in their splendour!'

'The bed, my Lord,' replied Ludovico, 'they told me, was in a room that

opens beyond the saloon, and terminates the suite.'

'O, here is the saloon,' said the Count, as they entered the spacious

apartment, in which Emily and Dorothee had rested. He here stood for

a moment, surveying the reliques of faded grandeur, which it

exhibited--the sumptuous tapestry--the long and low sophas of velvet,

with frames heavily carved and gilded--the floor inlaid with small

squares of fine marble, and covered in the centre with a piece of

very rich tapestry-work--the casements of painted glass, and the large

Venetian mirrors, of a size and quality, such as at that period France

could not make, which reflected, on every side, the spacious apartment.

These had formerly also reflected a gay and brilliant scene, for this

had been the state-room of the chateau, and here the Marchioness had

held the assemblies, that made part of the festivities of her nuptials.

If the wand of a magician could have recalled the vanished groups, many

of them vanished even from the earth! that once had passed over these

polished mirrors, what a varied and contrasted picture would they have

exhibited with the present! Now, instead of a blaze of lights, and

a splendid and busy crowd, they reflected only the rays of the one

glimmering lamp, which the Count held up, and which scarcely served to

shew the three forlorn figures, that stood surveying the room, and the

spacious and dusky walls around them

. 'Ah!' said the Count to Henri, awaking from his deep reverie, 'how the

scene is changed since last I saw it! I was a young man, then, and the

Marchioness was alive and in her bloom; many other persons were here,

too, who are now no more! There stood the orchestra; here we tripped in

many a sprightly maze--the walls echoing to the dance! Now, they resound

only one feeble voice--and even that will, ere long, be heard no more!

My son, remember, that I was once as young as yourself, and that you

must pass away like those, who have preceded you--like those, who, as

they sung and danced in this once gay apartment, forgot, that years are

made up of moments, and that every step they took carried them nearer

to their graves. But such reflections are useless, I had almost

said criminal, unless they teach us to prepare for eternity, since,

otherwise, they cloud our present happiness, without guiding us to a

future one. But enough of this; let us go on.'