"
Mrs. Shortridge, too, seemed fully to appreciate the value of the lost
art, and said, "these Moors must indeed have been a very comfortable
people."
"And they crowned their comfort in this world," said L'Isle, "by
inventing an equally comfortable system for the next."
"Is it not strange," said Lady Mabel, gazing on the building before
them, "that the production of two races, each so skillful, should be
so utterly incompatible. Classic and Saracenic art, both beautiful,
united make a monster."
"Not so strange," L'Isle answered, "as the simplicity of the
Mohammedan faith, amidst all that is fantastic in arts and letters--a
grotesque architecture, a wondrous alchemy, the extravagant in poetry
and the supernatural in fiction; or the purity of classic art,
characterized by simplicity and proportion, yet drawing its
inspiration from a wild and copious mythology, made up of the sportive
creations of fancy."
"They were a wonderful people, these Romans, as even this obscure
corner of Europe can witness," said Lady Mabel, her eyes dwelling on
the beautiful colonade, and tracing out the exquisite symmetry of the
shafts, and the rich foliage of the Corinthian capitals.
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