Parell Was Originally A College Of Jesuits, And, After So Many
Alterations And Improvements, That Its Original Occupants Would Be
Puzzled To Recognise It, Is Now Rendered Worthy Of The Purpose To
Which It Is Dedicated.
The house is an irregular structure, without
pretension to architectural design or ornament, but having something
noble in its appearance, which is helped out by a fine portico and
battlemented roof.
The interior is handsome and convenient; two
flights of marble stairs, twelve feet broad, lead into a very spacious
drawing-room, with galleries on either side, and three smaller
drawing-rooms beyond. The terrace over the portico, at the other
end, separated from this suite of apartments by a verandah, is easily
convertible into a fourth reception-room, it being roofed in by an
awning, and furnished with blinds, which in the day-time give a very
Italian air to the whole building.
Though I have never been in Italy, the acquaintance gained of it
through the medium of illustrating pens and pencils makes me fancy
that the island of Bombay, and Parell especially, at this season of
the year (the cold weather), may bear a strong resemblance to that
fair and sunny land.
The gardens of Parell are perfectly Italian, with their fountains and
cypress trees; though regular, they are not sufficiently symmetrical
to offend the eye, the nature of the ground and of the building, which
runs out at right angles, preventing the formality from being
carried beyond its just limit.
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