boys; a genuine piece of Fiamingo's work, cut from solid ivory, and formerly in the collection of the Vatican. Here,

come this way, we may as well pick up something of the history of this tapestried recess, the canopy and seats of which, and the three other recesses in the drawing-room, are fashioned out of the remains of a large throne or dais brought from Florence, and which had belonged to the Medici family. The materials are of the richest possible kind, being flowers of floss silk upon a ground-work of gold thread, interspersed with silver. The effect produced by this combination is gorgeous in the extreme. "And those figures?" That nearest the eye is a statue of the Emperor Rudolph of Hapsburgh, admirably carved in oak, the armour is of silver damasked with gold. The other

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figure, and a corresponding one on the opposite side of the room, represent Gothic queens, whose robes have been restored in the illuminated style of decoration. "And the tapestry in the recess?" Listen to what Mr. Baylis is saying. Thinking over it," remarked Sir Bulwer Lytton to me, "I have very little doubt but that my guess was right-that the fisherman is meant for Antony and the lady for Cleopatra; it was a favourite story in the middle ages, how Antony, wishing to surprise Cleopatra with his success in angling, employed a diver to fix fishes on his hook. Cleopatra found him out, and, in turn, employed a diver of her own to put waggishly a salt (sea) fish on his hook." The story is in Plutarch, and the popularity of the anecdote may be seen by the use Shakspeare makes of it. Charmian says,—

You wagered on your angling; when your diver

Did hang a salt fish on his hook, which he

With fervency, drew up.

It is no doubt correctly conjectured by Sir Bulwer Lytton, that many subjects in tapestry (not Scriptural) have their explanation in Plutarch, the fashionable classic source of tale and legend for our fathers of the middle ages. Shakspeare, it need scarcely be observed, depends on him for all his classic plots; and he was no less a favourite on the Continent than with us. If you observe the attitude and expression of Cleopatra, for so we will consider her, you will perceive that there is something impressive, as well as smiling, about her which would suit the words she Antony and Cleopatra, act ii. sc. 5.

*

is supposed to have uttered, when she had laughed sufficiently at the trick she played him, and which, to the best of my recollection, ran thus, "Leave fishing to us smaller potentates; your angling should be for cities and kingdoms."

Every article of the furniture merits your attention. Here is a Venetian chair;* it is one of a set of twenty-six,

with a sofa, brought from the Gradenigo Palace, and is carved and gilt all over, the back, and seat, and cushions for the arms, being Genoa red velvet. Fourteen of these chairs, with the sofa, are in this room; the other twelve were purchased by the Earl of Lonsdale.

Vases of Dresden China, marqueterie tables, and a shrine (see

page 237) of gilt carved work at

one end of the room, reflected in mirrors of gigantic dimensions, dazzle the senses; and its ceiling studded with blue and gold pendants, and its walls all painted over with quaint devices like the pages of a missal. Also a magnificent Gothic chimney-piece (see page 238) of Carrara marble, fitted with brass-work of ormolu and chimney-glass. The chimney was removed from the grand Gothic-room at Carlton House, and cost George IV. many hundred pounds. Indeed the drawing-room of the Pryor's Bank seems to be more like some scene in an enchanted palace,

*Now in the possession of the Duke of Hamilton.

than in an every-day residence upon the bank of the river Thames.

The ante-room is not less splendidly furnished. Its ceiling is even more elaborately embellished than that of the drawing-room, for the heads of mitred abbots, jolly monks, and demure nuns look down upon us from each intersection of the groining.

A Florentine cabinet (see page 239), of mosaic work in lapis lazuli, pietra dura, topaz, agates, &c., one of the finest specimens of the kind ever seen,-it eventually came into the possession of Mr. Hurst, who asked fifteen hundred

guineas for it a magnificent carved oak chimney-piece (see page 240); chairs which belonged to Queen Elizabeth; and among other pictures, an undoubted one by