His palaces are described in a style of Oriental gorgeousness;
his temptations, his lapses from virtue, his downward progress, are
presented with dramatic power; and there is nothing in our literature more
horribly real and terror-striking than the _Hall of Eblis_,--that hell
where every heart was on fire, where "the Caliph Vathek, who, for the sake
of empty pomp and forbidden power, had sullied himself with a thousand
crimes, became a prey to grief without end and remorse without
mitigation." Many of Beckford's other writings are blamed for their
voluptuous character; the last scene in _Vathek_ is, on the other hand, a
most powerful and influential sermon. Beckford was eccentric and unsocial:
he lived for some time in Portugal, but returned to England, and built a
luxurious palace at Bath.
_William Roscoe_, 1753-1831: a merchant and banker of Liverpool. He is
chiefly known by his _Life of Lorenzo de Medici_, and _The Life and
Pontificate of Leo X._, both of which contained new and valuable
information.
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