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Romance and Poetry: Indian

Among the marvelous stories related of Presbyter Joannes, or Prester John, the mythical Indian king, is that relating to a letter which he is said by Albericus to have sent, in the twelfth century, to Manuel, of Constantinople, and Frederick, the Roman Emperor, besides others, the wonderful contents of which are alluded to in chronicles and romances, and which, indeed, were turned into rhyme and sung all over Europe by minstrels and trouveres. The following is a description of the magnificent abode of this fabulous monarch:--"The palace in which our Supereminency resides, is built after the pattern of the castle built by the Apostle Thomas for the Indian King Gundoforus. Ceilings, joists, and architrave, are of sethym wood; the roof of ebony, which can never catch fire. Over the gable of the palace are, at the extremities, two golden apples, in which are two carbuncles, so that the gold may shine by day, and the carbuncles by night. The greater gates of the palace are of sardius, with the horn of the horned snake inwrought, so that no one can bring poison within. The other portals are of ebony. The windows are of crystal; the tables are partly of gold, partly of amethyst, and the columns supporting the tables are partly of ivory, partly of amethyst. The court in which we watch the jousting is floored with onyx, in order to increase the courage of the combatants. In the palace, at night, nothing is burned for light but wicks supplied with balsam....Before our palace stands a mirror, the ascent to which consist of five-and-twenty steps of porphyry and serpentine." After a description of the gems adorning this mirror, which is guarded night and day by three thousand armed men, he explains its use:--"We look therein, and behold all that is taking place in every province and region subject to our sceptre."

In the adventures of the "Golden Fleece," the palace of Priam (to which I have alluded) "seemed to be founded by Fayrie, or enchantment, and was paved with crystal, built with diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds, and supported by ivory pillars, surmounted by golden images."