dertaken to enact, and look up as to the comparative height of the window at the top compartments made up of ancient

painted glass, charged with the arms of some of the medieval kings of England, among which you cannot fail to notice those of Richard III. Those two elaborately-wrought lanterns which depend from the groined ceiling, formerly hung in the Gothic conservatory of Carlton House, and the recesses of the walls are adorned with eleven full-length portraits of kings and queens of Spain painted upon leather.

Look at those ebony and ivory couches, and this ebony chair, from which justice was formerly meted out by the Dutch and English rules to the Cingalese; and see here. this great chair, so profusely carved and cushioned with

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rich black velvet worked with gold. It is said to

have been the Electoral

coronation chair of Saxony; and the date assigned to it in the Builder' is 1620. The armorial bear

ings embroidered upon the back would probably settle the question; but I know little of foreign heraldry beyond the fact that sufficient attention is not paid to it in this country.

Attached to the gallery at the opposite end of the lobby from which we entered the drawing-room, there is a boudoir, or robing-room-a perfect gem in its way. You have only to touch this spring, and that picture starts from the wall and affords us free egress. Just take one peep into this fairy boudoir.

There hangs against the wall Nell Gwynne's mirror, in its curous frame of needlework. Oh! You wish to take a peep at yourself in Nelly's looking-glass? Odds, fish! mind you do

not overset that basset table of Japan manufacture-another Strawberry Hill relic. Now, are you satisfied? Those

beautiful enamels, and that charming Bermudian brain-stone the wonderful network of which infinitely exceeds the finest lace? Well, I must admit that some philosophy is required to feel satisfied when revelling among the ornaments of palaces, the treasures of monasteries, and the decorations of some of the proudest mansions of antiquity; and did we not turn our eyes and regard the infinitely superior works of Nature, alike bountifully spread before the poor and the rich man, the heart might feel an inward sickening at the question. In the state carved-oak bed-room is a finely carved walnut-wood German cabinet of the true Elizabethan period.

Though within the walls of the Pryor's Bank, or any other human habitation, all that is rich in art may be

assembled, yet, without the wish to turn these objects to a beneficial purpose, they become only a load of care; but when used to exalt and refine the national taste, they confer an immortality upon the possessor, and render him a benefactor to his species; when used, also, as accessories to the cultivation of kindly spmpathies and the promotion of social enjoyment, they are objects of public utility. The revival of old-fashioned English cordiality, especially at Christmas, had been always a favourite idea with the owners of the Pryor's Bank, and in 1839 they gave an entertainment which, like

"O'Rourke's noble feast, will ne'er be forgot

By those who were there or those who were not." They were fortunate in securing the aid of Theodore Hook, of pleasant, and, alas! of painful memory, who was their neighbour, with that of some other friends and acquaintances, who thoroughly entered into the whim of recalling olden times by the enactment of masques and other mummeries.

Hook, in his manuscript journal of Thursday, the 26th of December, 1839, notes that he was engaged to dine with Lady Quentin at Kew:

"Weather dreadful, so resolved to write her an excuse and came home in coach early, so up to Baylis's, where I was asked to dine. They came here, and we walked up together; so to rehearsal, and then back again to bed."

Hook's letter, in a feigned hand, to Mr. Baylis upon this occasion ran thus:

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Sir,-Circumstancis hoeing too the Fox hand wether in Lunnun as indered me of goen two Q. wherefor hif yew plese i ham reddy to cum

to re-ersal two nite, in ten minnits hif yew wil lett the kal-boy hof yewer theeter bring me wud-if you kant reed mi riten ax Mister Kroften Kroker wich his a Hanty queerun like yewerself honly hee as bin longer hatit yewers two kommand,

"Master Bailies hesquire,

Manger hof thee,

T.R.P.B. and halso Proper rioter thereof,”

"TEE HEE OOK.

On Saturday, Hook records in his 'Diary' his having refused his firmest friend's command" that he should dine with him-" because," writes Hook, "I cannot on account of the things to be done at Pryor's Bank."

Of the memorable Monday, the 30th of December, Hook notes:

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To-day, not to town, up and to Baylis's; saw preparations. So, back, wrote a little, then to dinner, afterwards to dress; so to Pryor's Bank, there much people,-Sir George and Lady Whitmore, Mrs. Stopford, Mrs. Nugent, the Bully's, and various others, to the amount of 150. I acted the Great Frost' with considerable effect. Jerdan, Planché, Nichols, Holmes and wife, Lane, Crofton Croker, Giffard, Barrow. The Whitmore family sang beautifully; all went off well."

The part of the Great Frost to which Hook alludes was in a masque, written for the occasion, and printed and sold in the rooms, for the benefit of the Royal Literary Fund; and among the record of miscellaneous benefactions to this most admirable charity are registered-" Christmas masquers and mummers at the Pryor's Bank, Fulham, the seat of Thomas Baylis, Esq., F.S.A., and William Lechmere Whitmore, F.S.A. (1840), 3l. 12s. 6d." Thus carrying out in deed as well as act the benevolent feelings of the

season.

What little plot there was in this production had refer