It is
not so very grand, although, poor as it is, I lack capacity to take in
even the whole of it.
What gave me most pleasure (because it required no trouble nor study to
come at the heart of it) were the individual relics of antiquity, of
which there are some very curious ones in the cases ranged along the
principal saloon or nave of the building. For example, the dagger with
which Felton killed the Duke of Buckingham,--a knife with a bone handle
and a curved blade, not more than three inches long; sharp-pointed,
murderous-looking, but of very coarse manufacture. Also, the Duke of
Alva's leading staff of iron; and the target of the Emperor Charles V.,
which seemed to be made of hardened leather, with designs artistically
engraved upon it, and gilt. I saw Wolsey's portrait, and, in close
proximity to it, his veritable cardinal's hat in a richly ornamented
glass case, on which was an inscription to the effect that it had been
bought by Charles Kean at the sale of Horace Walpole's collection. It is
a felt hat with a brim about six inches wide all round, and a rather high
crown; the color was, doubtless, a bright red originally, but now it is
mottled with a grayish hue, and there are cracks in the brim, as if the
hat had seen a good deal of wear. I suppose a far greater curiosity than
this is the signet-ring of one of the Pharaohs, who reigned over Egypt
during Joseph's prime ministry,--a large ring to be worn on the thumb, if
at all,--of massive gold, seal part and all, and inscribed with some
characters that looked like Hebrew.
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