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-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 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 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.”