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Had we time to linger here, how amusing it might be to attempt to decipher the monograms, and names, and verses inscribed upon the various lozenge-shaped panes of glass, which practically exemplified the phrase of "diamond cut diamond."

The fragments of the old Royal Exchange, with a Burmese cross-legged idol perched thereon-the urn to the memory of " POOR BANQUO;" the green-house, with its billiardtable, and even an alcove, the most charming spot in "the wide world" to talk sentiment in, must not detain us from returning to another angle of the river front, after

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glancing at which, we enter the outer hall or passage, wainscoted with oak and lined above with arras, separated from the inner hall by an oak screen, which was

usually guarded upon gala nights by most respectable "Beef-eaters," who required the production of invitation

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cards from all visitors. They permit us to pass without question; and that is a very proper example for you to follow, and a good reason why you should not question me too closely :

"Do you think that I

Came here to be the Pryor's Bank directory?"

You must use your own eyes, and judge for yourself. I will tell you, however, all that I know as briefly as possible, and point out whatever occurs to me in our scamper, for a scamper it can only be termed just such a kind of run as a person makes through London who has come up by railroad to see all its wonders in a week. But I cannot allow you to examine so closely that curiously

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carved oak chimney-piece in the inner hall, although I admit that it may be as early as Henry VIII.'s time, and those interesting old portraits. Where shall we begin? You wish to inspect everything. mence with the kitchen, and steam it up-stairs to the dormitories, going at the rate of a high-pressure engine.

Suppose, then, we com

You are already aware that the kitchen was panelled with oak from the drawing-room of Winchester House, and now you see the whole style of fitting-up accords with that of "bygone days." Look, for instance, towards the kitchen window, and you will find that the various cupboards, presses, and dressers-even the cooking utensilscorrespond; but, although modern improvements have not been lost sight of, antique forms have been retained. Let one example suffice, that of an ancient gridiron, of beautiful and elaborate workmanship.

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The history of the plates and dishes displayed in this

kitchen would afford an opportunity for a dissertation on the rise and progress of the fine arts in this country, as they present most curious and important specimens of early drawing, painting, and poetry. The old English plate was a square piece of wood, which indeed is not quite obsolete at the present hour. The improvement upon this primitive plate was a circular platter, with a raised edge; but there were also thin, circular, flat plates of beech-wood in use for the dessert or confection, and they were gilt and painted upon one side, and inscribed with pious, or instructive, or amorous mottos, suited to the taste of the society in which they were produced. Such circular plates are now well known to antiquaries under the name of "roundels," and were at one time generally supposed by them to have been used as cards for fortune-telling, or playing with at questions and answers. More sober research into their origin and use shows that they were painted and decorated with conventional patterns by nuns, who left blank spaces for the mottoes, to be supplied by the more learned monks; and a set of these roundels generally consisted of twelve. As specimens of the style of these mottoes about the time of Henry VII. or VIII. the following may be taken :—

"Wheresoever thou traveleste,

Este, Weste, Northe, or Southe,

Learne never to looke

A geben horsse in the mouthe.”

“ En friends ther ys flattery,
En men lyttell trust,
Thoughe fayre they proffer

They he offten unjuste.”

There are many sets of verses for roundels extant in

manuscript, and a few have been printed; indeed, it appears likely that to the love for this species of composition we owe Tusser's "Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry," and most of his other admonitory verses.

After the Reformation, coloured prints superseded the painted and manuscript "poesies" of the nuns and monks, and the elder De Passe, and other artists of the period of James I. and Charles I., produced a variety of oval and circular engravings, which were pasted upon roundels and varnished over. The subjects generally selected were those which naturally arranged themselves into a set of twelve, as the months. By the Puritans the beechen roundels thus decorated were regarded with especial dislike, and they returned to the use of the unadorned trencher and "godly platter." When the "Merry Monarch" was restored he brought over with him from Holland plates and dishes manufactured at Delft, where the porcelain known as Faenza, Faience, Majolica, and Fynlina ware, made during the fifteenth century in the North of Italy, and upon the embellishments of which, according to Lamartinière, the pencils of Raffaelle, Giulio Romano, and the Caracci, were employed, had been successfully, although coarsely imitated. And it must be

confessed that many of the old Dutch plates, dishes, and bowls, upon the kitchen-shelves of the Pryor's Bank, deserved to be admired for boldness of design, effective combinations of colour, and the manual dexterity displayed in the execution of the patterns. The superior delicacy of the porcelain of China, which about this time began to be imported freely into England from the East caused it to

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