A Walk from London to Fulham Part 15

If you like, we will return to the inner hall, where is a portrait of the celebrated Earl of Ess.e.x, an undoubted original picture, dated 1598, three years previous to his being beheaded (Zucchero), and from it at once enter the library, or breakfast-room. Here there is a superbly carved Elizabethan chimney-piece.

[Picture: Elizabethan chimney-piece]

What are you about? You should not have touched so thoughtlessly that "bra.s.s inkstand," as you call it. It is actually a pix, or holy box, {227} which once contained the host, and was considered "so sacred, that upon the march of armies it was especially prohibited from theft." We are told that Henry V. delayed his army for a whole day to discover the thief who had stolen one. You may admire the pictures as much as you please; they are odd and hard-looking portraits to my eye; but they are historically curious, and clever, too, for their age. [Picture: Pix, or Holy Box] Could you only patiently listen to a discussion upon the characters of the originals of the portraits that have hung upon these walls, or the volumes that have filled these shelves; you might gain a deeper insight into the workings of the human heart than, perhaps, you would care to be instructed by. There were in the next room-the dining-room-into which we may proceed when you please, for only by a sliding door between the library and dining-room are they separated-such pictures! [Picture: Sliding door into dining-room] An unquestionable 'Henry VIII.,' by Holbein; a 'Queen Mary,' by Lucas de Heere, from the collection of the late Mr. Dent; and a glorious 'Elizabeth,' that had belonged to Nathaniel Rich of Eltham, who we know from the particulars of sale that were in the Augmentation Office, was the purchaser of Eltham Palace, when disposed of by the Parliament after the death of Charles I.; and we also know from Strype's _Annals of the Reformation_, that Elizabeth visited Eltham and pa.s.sed some days there in 1559, and that she made her favourite Sir Christopher Hatton keeper of the royal palace there.

You should not disturb those books; you will look in vain for the publication of George III.'s 'Ill.u.s.tration of Shakspeare,' and corrected in the autograph of the king for a second edition. How remarkable are the opinions entertained by His Majesty respecting Doctors Johnson and Franklin, and how curious are some of the notes! This book is the true history of his reign, and would be worth to us fifty black-letter Caxtons. Mr. Thorpe of Piccadilly can tell you all about it. [Picture: Monastic chair and damask curtains] Oh, never mind that ma.n.u.script in its old French binding, and those exquisitely-wrought silver clasps, and dear old Horace Walpole's books. We must enter the dining-room. Here sit down in this monastic chair, and look around you for five minutes. This chair Mr. Baylis picked up in Lincoln; and the curtains beside it, they came from Strawberry Hill, and are of genuine Spitalfields damask. There is no such damask to be had now. Eighty years ago were these curtains manufactured, and yet they are in most excellent condition. The greater portion of the Gothic oak panelling around us originally formed the back of the stalls in the beautiful chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford.

During the late repairs this panelling was removed and sold. Much of it was purchased by the Marquess of Salisbury for Hatfield House, and the remainder Mr. Baylis bought. More of the oak panelling in the room, especially the elaborately-wrought specimens and the rich tracery work, have been obtained from Canterbury Cathedral, York Minster, St. Mary's Coventry, and other churches.

[Picture: Ornate chimney-piece]

The chimney-piece is a rich composition of ancient carving; the canopy came from St. Michael's Church, Coventry, and in the niches are some fine figures of the kings and queens of England. [Picture: Knight's armour]

The fire-back is an interesting relic, as it is the original one placed in the great dining-hall of Burghley House, by Elizabeth's minister, whose arms are upon it, with the date 1575. The sideboard, with its canopy of oak, a.s.similates with the fitting of the room, and had upon its shelves a glittering display of ancient gla.s.s and early plate. Salvers and cups of singular forms and beautiful shapes arose proudly up, one above the other, with dishes of Raffaelle ware beneath them. But I cannot help seeing that the steel-clad knight, who keeps guard in a recess by the sideboard, attracts more of your attention. [Picture: Leathern black jack and iron jug] The effigy is an excellent suit of fluted armour of Henry VIIth's time; and in the opposite recess, those huge drinking-vessels are only an honest old English leathern black jack and an iron jug; the former from St. Cross, Winchester, the latter from the castle of some German baron, and full of feudal character.

As for the other relics in the dining-room, I will only particularise two or three more; and they are a pair of round and solid well-carved pendents from the chancel of the church of Stratford-on-Avon, which have been removed from their original station immediately over the tomb of Shakspeare; and are now, as you see, inverted and used here as footstools.

"Think of that, Master Brooke!"

The other relic is that matchless piece of sculptured oak [Picture: Effigy in oak of Emperor Rudolph II.] which represents the Emperor Rudolph II., the size of life (five feet six inches in height), and which was brought from Aix-la-Chapelle by the late Sir Herbert Taylor. What may have been its former history I cannot tell you, but it resembles in execution the exquisite Gothic figures in the chimney-piece of the town-hall at Bruges, and is of about the same height and size.

Are you willing to forsake the thoughtful soberness of antique oak-panelling for the tinsel of Venetian gold and the richness of Genoa velvet, Florentine tapestry, and Persian arras? If so, we will ascend to the drawing-rooms and gallery. But stay a moment and permit this lady and oddly-dressed gentleman to pa.s.s us on their exit from the gallery, where they have been rehearsing some charming entertainment for the evening, or getting up some piece of fanciful mummery to amuse the idle guests who have congregated around the garden fountain. [Picture: Couple exiting from gallery] The light is not favourable for seeing all the pictures that deserve inspection on the staircase-you had better ascend; and now, having reached the head of the semi-staircase, our course is along this lobby to the opposite door-way, which is that of the drawing-room.

Let us enter at once, and in our tour of the Pryor's Bank regard the ante-drawing-room as a kind of middle or pa.s.sage-room, belonging either to the gallery or the drawing-room. I admit that the arrangement of the house, which, however, is very simple, appears puzzling at first: the reason of this is, that the senses are often deceived, from mirrors here and there being so judiciously arranged, that they reflect at happy angles objects which would otherwise escape observation. It is impossible to convey an idea of the whole effect of the Pryor's Bank, made up as it has been of carvings of unrivalled richness, grace, and variety, solemn and grotesque. Statues are there, some of the highest cla.s.s 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 baccha.n.a.ls, 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 (_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 cla.s.sic source of tale and legend for our fathers of the middle ages. Shakspeare, it need scarcely be observed, depends on him for all his cla.s.sic plots; and he was no less a favourite on the Continent than with us. If you observe the att.i.tude 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 bra.s.s-work of ormolu and chimney-gla.s.s. 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 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, etc., one of the finest specimens of the kind ever seen,-it eventually came into the possession of Mr. Hurst, who asked fifteen hundred [Picture: Gothic Chimney-piece] 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 Janssen, of "Charles II. dancing at the Hague," must not detain us, although it be a duplicate of the celebrated picture in the possession of Her Majesty, with which the history of this is completely identical, both having been purchased from the same individual at the same period.

[Picture: A Florentine Cabinet]

"And that portrait of Elizabeth?" It was given by Charles II. to Judge Twysden. "And that other portrait?" Yes, it is Lord Monteagle; not of Exchequer doc.u.mentary fame, but of Gunpowder Plot notoriety. And there are portraits of Katharine of Aragon and Prince Arthur from Strawberry Hill. I positively cannot allow you to dwell on that chimney-piece of Raffaelle design, carved in oak and coloured in ultra-marine and gold.

I entirely agree with you in thinking it a pity that the [Picture: Carved Oak chimney-piece] vast labours of our ancestors-things upon which they bestowed so much time and thought-should be blown into oblivion by the mere breath of fashion. How much n.o.bler is the fashion to respect, cherish, and admire them!

And now we are again within the gallery, and look upon the ante-room through the private entrance, and in another second we might be within the bay-window of the gallery; for, place these sketches together at a right angle, side by side, and the part of the sofa which appears in one, is only the continuation of the same seat in the other. But this must not make you think that the Pryor's Bank is but a miniature affair, or give you a contemptible idea of the size. You should rather take your general notion of the proportions of the gallery from a glance at that lady who is studying with so much attention the part she has undertaken to enact, and look up as to the comparative height of the window at the top compartments made up of ancient [Picture: Bay-Window: Private Entrance] painted gla.s.s, 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 rich black velvet worked with gold. [Picture: Black velvet chair] It is said to have been the Electoral coronation chair of Saxony; and the date a.s.signed to it in the 'Builder' is 1620. The armorial bearings 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. [Picture: Nell Gwynne's mirror] 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 curious frame of needlework. Oh! You wish to take a peep at yourself in Nelly's looking-gla.s.s? Odds, fish! mind you do not overset that ba.s.set table of j.a.pan 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.

[Picture: German cabinet (Eizabethan period)]

Though within the walls of the Pryor's Bank, or any other human habitation, all that is rich in art may be a.s.sembled, 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 sympathies 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 n.o.ble 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 ma.n.u.script 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:-

"Sir,-Circ.u.mstancis hoeing too the Fox hand wether in Lunnun as indered me of goen two Q. wherefor hif yew plese i ham reddy to c.u.m 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 hat.i.t yewers two kommand,

"TEE HEE OOK."

"_Master Bailies hesquire_, _Manger hof thee_, _T.R.P.B. and halso Proper rioter thereof_."

On Sat.u.r.day, 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:-

"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, Planche, 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), 3 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 reference to the season, the house in which it was performed, and temporary events.

Egomet, an imp, most piquantly personified by Mr. John Barrow, opened the affair in a moralising strain prophetically applicable to the moment.

After stating who and what he was, he starts:-

"But I'm all over wonder.

Surely the kitchen must be somewhere under?

But where's _the_ room?-the matchless little chamber, With its dark ceiling, and its light of amber- That fairy den, by Price's pencil drawn, Enchantment's dwelling-place? 'Tis gone-'Tis gone!

The times are changed, I said, and men grown frantic, Some cross in steamboats o'er the vast Atlantic; Some whirl on railroads, and some fools there are Who book their places in the pendant car Of the great Na.s.sau-monstrous, big balloon!

Poor lunatics! they think they'll reach the moon!