(_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,--

"'Twas merry when
You wagered on your angling; when your diver
Did _hang a salt fish on his hook_, which he
_With fervency_, _drew up_." {235}

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 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; {236} 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. [Picture:
Venetian chair] 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, than in an every-day residence upon the bank of the
river Thames.

[Picture: Shrine]

The ante-room is not less splendidly furnished. Its ceiling is even more
elaborately embellished than that of the drawing-room, for the hea