noon
And `` Now through the palace chambers moving lights And busy shapes proclaim the toilet 's rites ; From room to room the ready handmaids hie , Some skilled to wreathe the headdress tastefully , Or hang the veil , in negligence of shade , O'er the warm blushes of the youthful maid . '' Splendid services of gold and silver plate met the eye in every direction , on their way to the grand dining room ; while , from the remotest part of the building , the sense of smelling was simultaneously assailed by several currents of delightful culinary exhalations , which , like the winds in the cave of Æolus , struggled for egress from their confined birthplace . This is one of those occasions on which the Dives of this sumptuous palace , Mr. Goldrich , intends to celebrate his birthday ; and as he ca n't tell where he was born , nor can he show any genuine images of his ancestry , -LRB- except that he came down a scion from the great `` Anglo-Saxon race , '' -RRB- he is determined to make amends for this calamity he could not help , and the want of taste in his father , whoever he was , by spending an ordinary fortune in the present celebration , and thus combine the splendors of all the possible past anniversaries of his birth in one grand , unrivalled celebration to-day . `` And here , at once , the glittering saloon Bursts on the sight , boundless and bright as noon . '' The select music of splendid bands now announced the movements of guests towards the grand banquet room . In pairs they enter , and singular ; the short procession is now at an end , and the places are filled up with the scanty number of twoscore guests , male and female . You would have supposed , from the preparation , that the inhabitants of the entire city were invited ; but no , the exact number was forty , besides the members of the rich man 's family .