so thick, that when she has fastened it in buckles on her head, it may be fitly compared to one of those fine clusters of grapes whose fruit is so very large.  Her forehead is as smooth as the best polished mirror, and admirably formed.  Her eyes are black, sparkling, and full of fire.  Her nose is neither too long nor too short, and her mouth small and of a vermilion colour.  Her teeth are like two rows of pearls, and surpass the finest in whiteness.  When she moves her tongue to speak, she utters a sweet and most agreeable voice; and expresses herself in such terms, as sufficiently indicate the vivacity of her wit.  The whitest alabaster is not fairer than her neck.  In a word, by this imperfect sketch, you may guess there is no beauty likely to exceed her in the world.

“Any one that did not know the king, the father of this incomparable princess, would be apt to imagine, from the great respect and kindness he shews her, that he was enamoured with her.  Never did a lover more for the most beloved mistress than he has been seen to do for her.  The most violent jealousy never suggested such measures as his care has led him to adopt, to keep her from every one but the man who is to marry her:  and that the retreat in which he has resolved to place her may not seem irksome, he has built for her seven palaces, the most extraordinary and magnificent that ever were known.

“The first palace is of rock crystal, the second of brass, the third of fine steel, the fourth of another kind of brass more valuable than the former and also than steel, the fifth of touchstone, the sixth of silver, and the seventh of massive gold.  He has furnished these palaces most sumptuously, each in a manner corresponding to the materials of the structure.  He has embellished the gardens with parterres of grass and flowers, intermixed with pieces of water, water-works, jets d’eau, canals, cascades, and several great groves of trees, where the eye is lost in the perspective, and where the sun never enters, and all differently arranged.  King Gaiour, in a word, has shewn that his paternal love has led him to spare no expense.

“Upon the fame of this incomparable princess’s beauty, the most powerful neighbouring kings have sent ambassadors to solicit her in marriage.  The king of China received them all in the same obliging manner; but as he resolved not to marry his daughter without her consent, and she did not like any of the parties, the ambassadors were forced to return as they came, as to the subject of their embassy; they were perfectly satisfied with the great honours and civilities they had received.

“‘Sir,’ said the princess to the king her father, ‘ you have an inclination to see me married, and think to oblige me by it; but where shall I find such stately palaces and delicious gardens as are furnished me by your majesty?  Through your good pleasure I am under no constraint, and have the same honours shewn to me as are paid to yourself.  These are advantages I cannot expect to find any where else, whoever may be my husband; men love to be masters, and I have no inclination to be commanded.’