Any one that did not know the king, father of this
incomparable princess would scarcely be able to imagine the great
respect and kindness he shows her. No one has ever dreamed of such
care as his to keep her from every one but the man who is to marry
her: and, that the retreat which he has resolved to place her in
may not seem irksome to her, he has built for her seven palaces,
the most extraordinary and magnificent that ever were known.
'The first palace is of rock crystal, the second of copper, the
third of fine steel, the fourth of brass, the fifth of touchstone,
the sixth of silver, and the seventh of massy gold. He has
furnished these palaces most sumptuously, each in a manner suited
to the materials that they are built of. He has filled the gardens
with grass and flowers, intermixed with pieces of water, water-
works, fountains, canals, cascades, and several great groves of
trees, where the eye is lost in the prospect, and where the sun
never enters, and all differently arranged. King Gaiour, in a word,
has shown that he has spared no expense.
'Upon the fame of this incomparable princess's beauty, the most
powerful neighbouring kings sent ambassadors to request her in
marriage.
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