Attended by this gallant equipage, himself well mounted, and splendidly
dressed in crimson and in gold, bearing upon his hand a falcon, and
having his head covered by a rich fur bonnet, adorned with a circle of
precious stones, from which his long curled hair escaped and overspread
his shoulders, Prince John, upon a grey and high-mettled palfrey,
caracoled within the lists at the head of his jovial party, laughing
loud with his train, and eyeing with all the boldness of royal criticism
the beauties who adorned the lofty galleries.
Those who remarked in the physiognomy of the Prince a dissolute
audacity, mingled with extreme haughtiness and indifference to the
feelings of others could not yet deny to his countenance that sort of
comeliness which belongs to an open set of features, well formed by
nature, modelled by art to the usual rules of courtesy, yet so far
frank and honest, that they seemed as if they disclaimed to conceal the
natural workings of the soul. Such an expression is often mistaken for
manly frankness, when in truth it arises from the reckless indifference
of a libertine disposition, conscious of superiority of birth, of
wealth, or of some other adventitious advantage, totally unconnected
with personal merit. To those who did not think so deeply, and they were
the greater number by a hundred to one, the splendour of Prince John's
"rheno", (i.e. fur tippet,) the richness of his cloak, lined with the
most costly sables, his maroquin boots and golden spurs, together with
the grace with which he managed his palfrey, were sufficient to merit
clamorous applause.
In his joyous caracole round the lists, the attention of the Prince
was called by the commotion, not yet subsided, which had attended the
ambitious movement of Isaac towards the higher places of the assembly.
The quick eye of Prince John instantly recognised the Jew, but was
much more agreeably attracted by the beautiful daughter of Zion, who,
terrified by the tumult, clung close to the arm of her aged father.
The figure of Rebecca might indeed have compared with the proudest
beauties of England, even though it had been judged by as shrewd a
connoisseur as Prince John. Her form was exquisitely symmetrical,
and was shown to advantage by a sort of Eastern dress, which she wore
according to the fashion of the females of her nation. Her turban
of yellow silk suited well with the darkness of her complexion. The
brilliancy of her eyes, the superb arch of her eyebrows, her well-formed
aquiline nose, her teeth as white as pearl, and the profusion of her
sable tresses, which, each arranged in its own little spiral of twisted
curls, fell down upon as much of a lovely neck and bosom as a simarre
of the richest Persian silk, exhibiting flowers in their natural colours
embossed upon a purple ground, permitted to be visible--all these
constituted a combination of loveliness, which yielded not to the most
beautiful of the maidens who surrounded her. It is true, that of the
golden and pearl-studded clasps, which closed her vest from the throat
to the waist, the three uppermost were left unfastened on account of
the heat, which something enlarged the prospect to which we allude. A
diamond necklace, with pendants of inestimable value, were by this means
also made more conspicuous. The feather of an ostrich, fastened in her
turban by an agraffe set with brilliants, was another distinction of
the beautiful Jewess, scoffed and sneered at by the proud dames who sat
above her, but secretly envied by those who affected to deride them.