The man of fancy made an entertainment at one of his castles in the air, andinvited a select number of distinguished personages to favor him with theirpresence. The mansion, though less splendid than many that have been situatedin the same region, was nevertheless of a magnificence such as is seldomwitnessed by those acquainted only with terrestrial architecture. Its strongfoundations and massive walls were quarried out of a ledge of heavy and sombreclouds which had hung brooding over the earth, apparently as dense andponderous as its own granite, throughout a whole autumnal day. Perceiving thatthe general effect was gloomy,—so that the airy castle looked like afeudal fortress, or a monastery of the Middle Ages, or a state prison of ourown times, rather than the home of pleasure and repose which he intended it tobe,—the owner, regardless of expense, resolved to gild the exterior fromtop to bottom. Fortunately, there was just then a flood of evening sunshine inthe air. This being gathered up and poured abundantly upon the roof and walls,imbued them with a kind of solemn cheerfulness; while the cupolas and pinnacleswere made to glitter with the purest gold, and all the hundred windows gleamedwith a glad light, as if the edifice itself were rejoicing in its heart.
And now, if the people of the lower world chanced to be looking upward out ofthe turmoil of their petty perplexities, they probably mistook the castle inthe air for a heap of sunset clouds, to which the magic of light and shade hadimparted the aspect of a fantastically constructed mansion. To such beholdersit was unreal, because they lacked the imaginative faith. Had they been worthyto pass within its portal, they would have recognized the truth, that thedominions which the spirit conquers for itself among unrealities become athousand times more real than the earth whereon they stamp their feet, saying,“This is solid and substantial; this may be called a fact.”
At the appointed hour, the host stood in his great saloon to receive thecompany. It was a vast and noble room, the vaulted ceiling of which wassupported by double rows of gigantic pillars that had been hewn entire out ofmasses of variegated clouds. So brilliantly were they polished, and soexquisitely wrought by the sculptor’s skill, as to resemble the finestspecimens of emerald, porphyry, opal, and chrysolite, thus producing a delicaterichness of effect which their immense size rendered not incompatible withgrandeur. To each of these pillars a meteor was suspended. Thousands of theseethereal lustres are continually wandering about the firmament, burning out towaste, yet capable of imparting a useful radiance to any person who has the artof converting them to domestic purposes. As managed in the saloon, they are farmore economical than ordinary lamplight. Such, however, was the intensity oftheir blaze that it had been found expedient to cover each meteor with a globeof evening mist, thereby muffling the too potent glow and soothing it into amild and comfortable splendor. It was like the brilliancy of a powerful yetchastened imagination,—a light which seemed to hide whatever was unworthyto be noticed and give effect to every beautiful and noble attribute. Theguests, therefore, as they advanced up the centre of the saloon, appeared tobetter advantage than ever before in their lives.
The first that entered, with old-fashioned punctuality, was a venerable figurein the costume of bygone days, with his white hair flowing down over hisshoulders and a reverend beard upon his breast. He leaned upon a staff, thetremulous stroke of which, as he set it carefully upon the floor, re-echoedthrough the saloon at every footstep. Recognizing at