'Imagine yourself standing in an Egyptian city, where innumerable
lamps of every hue are shining. It is one of the great lamp-fetes of
Sais, which all Egypt has come to see. There, in honour of the feast,
sits a tall woman, covered by a veil. But the painting is so
wonderful, Mr. Aylwin, that, though you see a woman's face expressed
behind the veil--though you see the warm flesh-tints and the light of
the eyes through the aerial film--you cannot judge of the character
of the face--you cannot see whether it is that of woman in her noblest,
or woman in her basest, type. The eyes sparkle, but you cannot say
whether they sparkle with malignity or benevolence--whether they are
fired with what Philip Aylwin calls "the love-light of the seventh
heaven," or are threatening with "the hungry flames of the seventh
hell"! There she sits in front of a portico, while, asleep, with
folded wings, is crouched on one side of her the figure of Love, with
rosy feathers, and on the other the figure of Faith, with plumage
of a deep azure. Over her head, on the portico, are written the
words:--"I am all that hath been, is, and shall be, and no mortal
hath uncovered my veil.
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