Above the door of one, neatly carved in wood, were the lines from Horace: "Ille terrarum mihi praeter omnes.
Angulus ridet." [Of all the corners of the world, There is none that so charms me.] Only a few chosen guests found admittance into this long, narrow apartment.

It was completely wainscoted with wood, and from the centre of the richly-carved ceiling a strange picture gleamed in brilliant hues.

This represented the landlord.

The worthy man with the smooth face, firmly-closed lips, and long nose, which offered an excellent straight line to its owner's burin, sat on a throne in the costume of a Roman general, while Vulcan and Bacchus, Minerva and Poinona, offered him gifts.

Klaus Van Aken, or as he preferred to be called, Nicolaus Aquanus, was a singular man, who had received good gifts from more than one of the Olympians; for besides his business he zealously devoted himself to science and several of the arts.