What are you about? You should not have touched so thoughtlessly that “brass 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.
You should not disturb those books; you will look in vain for the publication of George III.’s ‘Illustration 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.
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.