ety, solemn and grotesque. Statues are there, some of the highest
class of art, others which belong to an early Gothic period, and yet an
harmonious effect has been produced. Where will you take up your
position for a general view? At the other end? or in the oriel window
looking on the Bishop's Walk?

[Picture: Oriel Window. Venetian Table]

Now if it were not for that richly gilt Venetian table, the companion to
which is in the possession of the Earl of Harrington, we might have an
excellent view of that magnificently embellished recess, upon the merits
of which Mr. Baylis is commenting to another oddly equipped gentleman.
There certainly is something going forward in the fancy-dress way. On
this Venetian table stands a French astronomical clock; upon it are
silver medallions of Louis XIII. and XIV., and among its ornaments the
monograms of these monarchs appear.

Here is a group, in ivory, of bacchanals, with attendant boys; a genuine
piece of Fiamingo's work, cut from solid ivory, and formerly in the
collection of the Vatican. Here, [Picture: Group in Ivory: Tapestried
Recess] 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 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