of outline and of graceful symmetry of proportion, but never realized the true meaning of the words until the morning when I watched the Taj burst into loveliness at the touch of the sun's magic wand.”
Under the softened light of the moon the beautiful structure develops fresh beauties. The dazzling effect has ceased, and you gaze upon every part of it as it appears bathed in a soft amber light that seems to enter your own soul and impart its peace and serenity till you wonder that outside these walls there can be a world of sin, and strife, and sorrow. You are conscious of abandoning yourself to the delightful, if brief, enjoyment of that poetic and mental peace which the charming scene was designed to produce upon the beholder.
Let us now enter the wonderful shrine itself, and gaze upon its internal beauty. Before entering the central hall we descend to the vault below, where the real sarcophagi are, in which lie the remains of the Emperor and Empress. Her tomb occupies the very center, and his is by her side. The light is made to fall directly upon her tomb, which is of white marble and beautifully decorated. But the especial splendor is reserved for the tombs in the rotunda above, directly over these, and which, as it were, officially represent them.
We ascend to them, and stand amid a scene of architectural glory which has no equal on earth. Above us rises the lofty dome, far up into the dim distance. The floor on which we tread is of polished marble and jasper, ornamented with a wainscoating of sculptured marble tablets inlaid with flowers formed of precious stones. Around are windows or screens of marble filigree, richly wrought in various patterns, which admit a faint and delicate illumination—what Ritualists would love to call “a dim, religious light”—into the gorgeous apartment. In the center are the two tombs, surrounded by a magnificent octagonal screen about six feet high, with doors on the sides. The open tracery in this white marble screen is wrought into beautiful flowers, such as lilies, irises, and others, and the borders of the screen are inlaid with
