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A sounding grotto, vaulted, vast, 
O’erstudded with a thousand, thousand pearls, 
And crimson-mouthed shell with stubborn curls 
Of every shape and size, even to the bulk 
In which whales harbour close, to brood and sulk 
Against an endless storm. Moreover, too, 
Fish—semblances of green and azure hue, 
Ready to snort their streams. 
Keats. 
CHAPTER I. 
T HE aquarium is an established household ornament; and fully entitled 
to the first place in the list of recreations we have engaged to dis¬ 
course upon. It graces the drawing-room, the conservatory, and the green¬ 
house ; is a welcome and highly-prized addition to the student’s resources in 
the acquisition of knowledge ; it extends the sphere of domestic education 
for the young, enlivens the solitary hours of the invalid, and gives delight to 
everybody. 
Considered as a domestic ornament it is insurpassable, and, while in its 
humblest form it presents a constant succession of beautiful and novel 
objects, so to all the accessories of artistic decoration it adds the charm of 
life in some of its most beautiful and strange developments. The merest 
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