THE AQUARIUM MANIA. 113 



All London was eager to look at the wonderful little creatures 

 from the sea-shore ; and, for some months, the Gardens were 

 daily the scene of as much excitement as followed the arrival 

 of that now enormous beast, Obaysh, the Hippopotamus. 



The publication of Mr. Gosse's elegant volume, " The Aqua- 

 rium," opened up a new source of interest in connection with the 

 subject. It suggested the establishment of the " Parlour Aqua- 

 rium," by means of which private persons might have in their 

 own houses, and under their constant notice, similar collections of 

 animals to those which attracted such attention in places of public 

 resort. The idea was no sooner suggested than it was eagerly 

 caught up, and forthwith the Aquarium was elevated to the first 

 rank amongst the ornaments of the parlour and the drawing-room. 

 The expense, however, was something considerable at first ; and, 

 for a while, it was only in those " desirable residences," as the 

 auctioneers phrase it, the substantial mansions of the people 

 well-to-do in the world, that you had any chance of meeting with 

 the Aquarium. But an increase of dealers, and the competition 

 between them, soon made matters different ; so that before long 

 the man who had only a few shillings to spare could yet have 

 his collection of pet Anemones, and keep, if he would, a whole 

 aquatic menagerie inside his parlour window. Nor did it matter 

 in the least, apparently, where, or at what distance from the 

 coast he might reside ; for like those famous bedsteads one sees 

 announced at the railway stations, the Aquarium, it seems, is 

 expressly adapted to be " sent free by post," and might any- 

 where be had to order by simply addressing a letter to one of the 

 London dealers. In London itself the passion for the Aquarium 

 raged for a while at fever point. The new invention quickly 

 dispossessed the shop windows of all the old-fashioned globes of 

 gold fish, and created such obstructive crowds upon the foot- 

 paths, as to call for a speedy interference of the police. In West- 

 end squares, in trim suburban villas, in crowded city thorough- 

 fares, in the demure houses of little, unfrequented back streets, 

 and inside the flat, sill-less windows of poverty-stricken Spital- 

 fields and Bethnal Green, everywhere you saw the Aquarium in 

 one form or another, and had abundant proof how ardently the 

 cockney of every grade was attached to " the new fancy " which 

 had come into fashion. 



But it is time that we turn our attention from the history 



I 



