Agra we liked as much as we disliked Delhi. To begin with creature
comforts (and the well-being of the body produces a pair of _couleur de
rose_ spectacles for the mental eye), Laurie's Hotel at Agra is very much
more comfortable than the den we abode in at Delhi, and after a good
tiffin we set forth with light hearts to see the Fort.
This, the accumulated achievement of the greatest of the Mogul Emperors,
is a magnificent monument of their power and pride. The earliest part,
built by Akbar, is all of rich red sandstone. The great hall of audience
and other portions show his broad-minded tolerance and catholicity of
taste in being almost pure Hindu in style and decoration. Later, with
Jehangir and Shah Jehan, the high-water mark of sumptuousness was attained
in the use of pure white marble, lavishly inlaid with coloured stones.
As we wandered through halls and corridors of marble most richly wrought,
while the sun-glare outside did but emphasise the cool shade within, or
filter softly through the lace-like tracery of pierced white-marble
screens, one longed to reclothe these glorious skeletons with all the pomp
of their dead magnificence--for one magic moment replace the Great Mogul
upon his peacock throne, surround him with a glittering crowd of courtiers
and attendants, clothe the wide marble floors upon which they stand with
richest carpets from the looms of Persia and the North, and drape the tall
white columns with rustling canopies of silk.
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