On the right hand, lower down, is GOSS STREET; and still lower, CROOK STREET, both destitute of interest to sight-seers: but, exactly opposite to Crook Street, stand three fine gable-fronted houses, the centre one of which deserves our attention and admiration. This house is, without exception, the most curious and remarkable of its kind in Chester, and one which, perhaps, has no parallel in Great Britain. Prout has immortalised it in one of his inimitable sketches, of which the accompanying woodcut is a reduced, yet faithful copy. The origin of the house seems to be lost in fable; but, in the present day, it is usually styled BISHOP LLOYD’S HOUSE, from the fact of that Cestrian prelate dying about the date (1615,) carved on one of the panels, and from certain coats-of-arms which decorate the front, bearing some analogy to the bearings of his family. Grotesquely carved from the apex of the gable to the very level of the Row, this house exhibits a profusion of ornament, and an eccentricity of design, unattempted in any structure of the kind within our knowledge. It is, indeed, a unique and magnificent work of art. To say nothing of the designs in the higher compartments, it must suffice here to state, that the subjects of the lower panels lay the plan of human redemption prominently before the eye. In the first panel, we have Adam and Eve in Paradise, in a state of sinless nudity; then comes the first great consequence of the Fall, Cain murdering Abel his brother. To this follows Abraham offering up his Son Isaac; typical of the “one great Sacrifice for us all.” The seventh compartment has a curious representation of the Immaculate Conception, whereby “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Ridiculous have been some of the attempts of “Local Guide-makers” to arrive at the real meaning of this design: some have gravely set it down as the “Flight into Egypt;” while another and later “unfortunate” has sapiently pronounced it to be “Susannah and the Elders.” The eighth panel symbolises the completion of the great sacrifice, the Crucifixion of Christ, in Simeon’s prophecy to the Virgin,—“Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own heart also.” The three centre compartments contain the arms of the reigning monarch, James I., England’s Solomon, as he was called,—the supposed arms and quarterings of Bishop Lloyd,—and a Latin inscription, with the date 1615. If it be true that A thing of beauty is a joy for ever, then will this house, as a masterpiece of art, be an object of interest and delight to strangers, “till time itself shall be no more.” We should step up into the Row at this point, and scrutinise the indescribable forms of men and beasts which ornament and support the oaken pillars in front. [Picture: Bishop Lloyd’s House, Water Gate Row]