London to John O 'Groat's. 211 



later, and dine his townsman, the great Oliver, or was 

 he loyal to the last to Charles the First ? These are 

 questions that come up, on going over such a build- 

 ing, but no one can answer them, and you are left 

 to the wisdom of limping legends on the subject. 

 The present occupant has an antiquarian penchant; so, 

 a short time after he took possession of the house, he 

 began to make explorations in the walls and wains- 

 cottings, as men of the same mind have done at 

 Nineveh and Pompeii. Having penetrated a thick 

 surface of white lava, or a layer of lime, put on with a 

 brush "in an earlier age than ours," he came upon a 

 gorgeous wall of tapestry, with inwoven figures and 

 histories of great men and women, quite as large as 

 life, and all of very florid complexion and luxurious 

 costumes. He has already exhumed a great many 

 square yards of this picturesque fabric, wrought in 

 by-gone ages, and is continuing the work with all 

 the zest and success of a fortunate archaeologist. Now 

 it is altogether probable, that Cowper, as he sat in 

 one of those rooms writing at his beautiful rhymes, 

 had not the slightest idea that he was surrounded by 

 such a crowd of kings, queens, and other great person- 

 ages, barely concealed behind a thin cloud of white- 

 wash. 



It may possibly be true, that a few beautiful, fair- 

 p 2 



