But all, at last, was finished well. Now of the thousand gifts to tell When father, mother, loved vied, Which should most enrich the bride! Diamonds, the costliest and the rarest; Pearls of the East, the largest, fairest— How proud had Egypt’s royal Queen, In her triumphant glory, been To drink such ocean-spoils, as now Waited to hang on Mary’s brow!— Rubies, that flashed like the red sun, When earth he latest looks upon; Emeralds, whose deep and lucid green, Would shame the fairies’ turf, I ween; And sapphires, of such hues intense As Midnight’s heaven had dropped them thence; And turquoises of paler hue, Fond Memory’s flower hath such a blue; And opals of such changeful dyes As rainbows shew in Summer skies, Were showered on her, whose beauty rare, Surpassed all gems beyond compare. And now arrived the time to shew Her gorgeous and complete _trousseau_— Crowds flocked to Regent Street each day, Enchanted with rich display Which Howell’s taste and skill provide, To deck this young and peerless bride. And many a maiden’s tempted eye Made her young heart for wedlock sigh. What Cashmere shawls!—why, for one glance, Had crossed the sea the flower of France! Even English dames (the truth to speak) Dreamed of them many an after-week, And raved in ecstasy’s disorder About “that matchless Turkish border!” Robes of each fashion, stuff, and shade, In dazzling number were displayed; With _peignoirs_, white as snows which arch The weeping branches of the larch; _Chapeaux_ and caps outpassing number— Some for the morning, some for slumber; Furs from Siberia—mart Zipline, Nor Czar nor Kaisar e’er had seen Finer; and ermine, soft and white As flakes of snow, ere they alight On earth; and shoes, which Cinderella In her glass shoe had found no fellow; Muslins from Dacca’s cunning looms; Velvets and satins with such blooms, As, shewn in garden-walks, would quite With envy turn the peaches white! And then _such_ hues!—less changeful deck The monarch of the bee-birds’[4] neck; Not Juno, when she dressed a cloud To cheat the vacant youth who bowed To its false charms, chose tints more gay Than, flower-like, in that _trousseau_ lay.