The deadness of his expression told everything, without him having to speak.

Intense emotional involvement is thus combined with moments of withdrawal in which the audience is reminded of its status as observers, outsiders, interpreters, and enjoyers of the action.

The qulfis served in delicate earthen plates were a craze.

[…] the people appear to be in the unhappy state of a patient whose palate nauseates the medicine best calculated for the cure of his disease, and seem anxious to continue in the full enjoyment of their chattering epidemick.