The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 183: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

152 THE COURT OF LONDON a manner that no other key would fit than the one specially made for the purpose. This key the prince invariably wore fastened to a thin but strong chain underneath his waistcoat; for the desk contained papers of great importance. To the walls of the chamber were suspended several pictures, all painted by eminent men, but all most voluptuous in the subjects which they represented. Lucretia struggling in the arms of Tarquin; Cleopatra pillowing the head of Mark Antony upon her naked bosom; Mars and Venus ensnared in the invisible net which Vulcan had spread upon the couch of their amorous dalliance; the beautiful Andromeda bound in a state of utter nudity to a rock, and left as a prey to the monster from which Perseus rescues her; Ariadne wandering in an equally primitive condition on the shores of Chio, when abandoned by Theseus; a beautiful woman struggling in the lascivious embraces of a satyr, — these were the principal subjects of the pictures. In addition to the door by which this royal bedchamber was usually entered, there were two others. One com- municated with a private staircase, to which we shall have to allude more than once in the course of our narrative; the other led into a bathroom fitted up with Oriental splen- dour, and adorned with full-length mirrors in every direction. Voluptuous ottomans, a buffet covered with wines and delicious beverages, vases filled with perfumes, and an atmosphere warmed by artificial means, rendered this bathing-place so perfect in its luxury that the most fastidious and the most difficult to please could not find a single fault. It was between nine and ten o’clock in the morning, as we have already intimated, when the Prince of Wales awoke in the sumptuous couch which stood upon the dais in the bedchamber. Opening his eyes languidly, his Royal Highness pressed his hand to his brow — for he had sat up until a late hour, and had imbibed a sufficiency of curagoa punch to leave behind the evaporating fumes even a far more racking headache than he now actually experienced. Raising himself indolently in his bed, the prince poured some hock into a large tumbler, then emptied therein the contents of a bottle of soda-water, and drank the delicious beverage ere its effervescence had time to subside. In a few minutes the prince consulted an elegant gold CORMICLOO