The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-04-05
THE PRESS.
[From Belgravia.l
How Jack Harris Became an
aesthetic.
A Suggestion From Theophile Gautier
ICONCLUDED.I

CONCLUDED.
He awoke from his troubled night at what
seemed late hour to him. 1t was nearly 9
o'clock, and after startling his parents by
announcing that he was going out to break
fast he hurried off toward his friends resi-
dence, which was in side street leading in
to one OF the squares that border on the
fashionable world. On arriving he
learned, to his intense surprise, that Mr..
Marlowe was not yet up, but would be with
him in few minutes; and Jack was left to
await him in chamber which was as for
eign to his established ideas as was the first
glimpse of the jewel-garden to the widows
son OF Pekin. Although it was bright,
sunny morning, the windows were carefully
masked by thick curtains of soft, richly col
ored Persian stuffs, which completely shut
out the daylight, and the room was illu-
minated by candles of a delicate rose color,
which stood in a corona tucis that hung
from the ceiling and shed tender lightupon
all around. The first thing that impressed
him when his eyes had grown used to the
effect of the candlelight, was the number of
different objects that were in the room,
which, although he room was large one,
seemed to suggest the puzzle as to how on
earth they all got there. There is a weird
story, traditional among sailors, that to
certain spot in the sea all the things that are
lost on earth are carried-Ariosto, by the
way, places this Walhalla of flotsam and jet
sam in the moon-and the room owned by
Iheocritus seemed very much to resemble
his NEUROLOGICAL treasure house. So strange
collection of objects could not, Jack i'm
agined, have: ever been collected together
before Even the famous room described by
Foe in one of his weird stories, which seemed
to have laid all quarters of the globe under
requisition, paled by the side of the dwelling
OF the aesthetic poet. A Morris paper COW
cred the walls with strange designs of fruit
and flowers and impossible thology,
which Theocritus would have described as
being both subtle and full of deep sugges-
tions. To the untaught eye and unframed
mind OF poor Jack there was something very
bewildering, however, about the strange sun
flowers and fantastic pomegranates which
crawled all over the walls, fiourished in
deliberately painted designs upon the panels
OF the door, and found their embroidered
way to the window curtains. A high dado
ran round the room, adorned with very stiff
lotos flowers and bulrushes. which were, as
Theocfitus observed, truly symbolic, though
what they were exactly symbolic of just
there, ne never condescended to explain.
The room was so crowded with furniture
of all kinds that for some time Jack was un.
able to take it all in, but sat gazing vacantly
around him like man half awake. No sin
gle chair had fellow in appearance, and
scarcely even in period. A Louis Quatorze
in red and gold frowned upon chaste spec
linen of ebony with a seat of woven rushes,
and severely graceful Chippendale josteled
high-backed Gothic, the very idea of sit
ting upon which caused Jack to shudder. A
strangely shaped, high-backed stool, curious
~ col0red, was OF pattern that would have
been familiar to the eyes of Rameses. By
its side lay cushion of Eastern silk fit for
the divan of the Light of the Harem herself
A singular structure in bamboo, claiming
birth in the celestial Empire, was flanked by
rockingham OF Acknowledgements man
ufacture; while several medieval arm-chairs,
from high-souled firm of decorators, were
dotted all over the chamber. There were
also great many tables, most of them very
low, so that to Jacks uncultured mind there
seemed to be no way of getting at them I'M
less one lay on the floor. Most of these, to
jacks intense surprise, were covered with
what he would have called 'tea- things"
Jack wondered why his friend could want
SO many different teasets on so many differ
ent tables at the same time, unless he was
anxious to emulate the party of the March
Hare and the Halter; but his surprise was
still greater to find that these tea things were
not confined to the tables, but struggled all
over the room on shelves; while most of the
walls were literally alive with plates which
appeared to have been flung there by their
owner in burst of despair at their exeeed-
ing ugliness, and were fixed tbeirby super-
natural means loreyeefr'ss a warning against
giving way TO temper. Indeed, Jack began
10 perceive that the chief feature of the room
Was china of all kinds, from the willow pat
tern plate, which Jacks ignorance associated
It'll
way streets, to huge jars standing in corners
OF the room, upon whose cracked sides
crawled awful dragons or were pictured the
dreams of an eccentric mythology, or from
the sun-kissed lusters of Cubic and the
Spanish Moors, to the apple-green and rose
Du Barry that delighted the connoisseurs
OF the last century. Brass and glass also
played conspicuous part in this fantastic
chamber. Huge brazen dishes as large
as shields conferred a shining immor-
tality on the features of Medici or Val
OILS, and tables and sideboards were Uttered
with quaintly-hued Venetian glass goblets
whose shapes seemed to render drinking
impossible, and strangely fashioned candel-
abra. Old bits of armor of various ages and
places, lay about in odd parts of the room,
where one would least expect to find them
helmets that once embraced the brows of
some sturdy soldier of the League or shad-
owed the pale face of Circassian chieftains;
swords, too, of many kinds, from the grace
full rapier that might have done good SER
vice in the land of a Busy D'Amboise to
the courtly weapons of the eighteenth cen
fury, rusted, perhaps, a little by the dews of
Leicester Fields. A huge reading desk of
carved oak had come from a restored church
to the room of Theocritus, and was support
ing rare edition in black letter, of Lid
gates "Troy Boke", which lay open upon it
and on which Jack looked for some minutes
in speeches. generation, unaware of the
fact that it was turned upside down, and, as
was shown by the dust upon it, had been so
long enough.
There were good many paintings about,
both on the walls and on easels, one or two
genuine Botticellis, as imported, possible
Pinturiccio, poorly initiated Luini, which
Theocritus always claimed to be true Leo
nardo, and some specimen of the good devo-
ton and bad drawing of the Byzantine mas
tiers. There were also great many etchings
about the room, all of subjects which dis
played more of the female form divine than
seemed right to the rigidly proper mind of
Jack Harris, and good many photographs
of fair women, among whom the beautiful
actress of the last night was multitudinous-
ly prominent From niche diminutive
cast of the Venus of Milo, gilded all over,
oIdIcu dI lIc-SlLcu SldIue Ol une Egyptlan
goddess Pasht, whichstood directly opposite.
There was piano in the room, of strange
design, and strangely ornamented, with a
great many pieces of music on the top of it,
and every spare corner in the room was lit
tered with books and flowers, these latter
chiefly roses and lilies, whose heavy odor
filled the room and made poor Jacks head
swim. Wherever there was an inch of room
not taken up by something else, there was
piece of tapestry, or a Japanese fan, or both.
Indeed, Theocritus appeared to be so fond
of Japanese fans that there was not space
enough for their display merely on the walls,
so they futtered on the ceiling in a little
cloud, where they remained pinned like gil
gantic butterflies until-as they usually did
they fell off, which disturbed the whole
harmony of the place, producing the same
effect, Theocritus explained, as when a pi-
ano chord breaks during the execution Of a
Beethoven sonata. But it would be impossi-
BILE to describe all the contents of this Won
derful roomful which Adolphus, or rather
Theocritus, whose father was a wealthy
brewer, and member for northern county.
could well afford to gather together, but
which to Jack seemed the most marvellous
collection he had ever seen, the Crystal Pal
ace not excepted. Jack took up one or two
of the books that lay on the ground in care
fully careless confusion. The firsthe Glanced
fhn