"'Permettez que je vous fasse l'observation,' said Rapp, as they were setting off for the opera; 'que votre schall n'est pas mis avec cette grace qui vous est habituelle.' "Josephine laughingly let him arrange it in the manner of the Egyptian women. This impromptu toilette caused a little delay, and the infernal machine exploded in vain! "What destinies waited upon the arrangement of this cashemir! A moment sooner or later, and the shawl might have given another course to events, which would have changed the whole face of Europe."[111] The Empress Josephine (says her biographer) had quite a passion for shawls, and I question whether any collection of them was ever as valuable as hers. At Navarre she had one hundred and fifty, all extremely beautiful and high-priced. She sent designs to Constantinople, and the shawls made after these patterns were as beautiful as they were valuable. Every week M. Lenormant came to Navarre, and sold her whatever he could obtain that was curious in this way. I have seen white shawls covered with roses, bluebells, perroquets, peacocks, &c., which I believe were not to be met with any where else in Europe; they were valued at 15,000 and 20,000 francs each. The shawls were at length sold _by auction_ at Malmaison, at a rate much below their value. All Paris went to the sale. FOOTNOTES: [109] "Her Majesty told the ladies, that if the Bishop held more discourse on such matters, she would fit him for heaven; but he should walk thither without a staff, and leave his mantle behind him." [110] Life of Raleigh, by Oldys. [111] Lady Morgan's France in 1829-30. CHAPTER XV. THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD. "Where are the proud and lofty dames, Their jewell'd crowns, their gay attire, Their odours sweet? Where are the love-enkindled flames, The bursts of passionate desire Laid at their feet? Where are the songs, the troubadours, The music which delighted then?-- It speaks no more. Where is the dance that shook the floors, And all the gay and laughing train, And all they wore? "The royal gifts profusely shed, The palaces so proudly built, With riches stor'd; The roof with shining gold o'erspread, The services of silver gilt, The secret hoard, The Arabian pards, the harness bright, The bending plumes, the crowded mews, The lacquey train, Where are they?--where!--all lost in night, And scatter'd as the early dews Across the plain." Bowring's Anc. Span. Romances.