HISTORY OF HAMPTON COURT PALACE 
 
 IN STUART TIMES. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/historyhampton0ct2lawe 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 amptou Sourt liialace- 
 
 VOL II. 
 
 STUART TIMES. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPER PLATES, ETCHINGS, ENGRAVINGS, ETC. 
 
 BY 
 
 BARRISTER-AT-LAW. 
 
 Author of the " Historical Catalogue of the Pictures at Hampton Court J 
 " A New Guide to Hampton Court" &c. 
 
 ILonOon : 
 
 GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET, 
 COVENT GARDEN, 
 
 1888. 
 
CHISWICK l'KESS: • C. WHITT1NGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, 
 CHANCERY LANE. 
 
reface. 
 
 HE following pages form the Second Volume of 
 the History of Hampton Court, and aim at 
 giving a complete narrative of all the events, 
 that occurred at this Palace, from the beginning 
 of the reign of James I. to the end of that of 
 James II. Like the first volume of this History — in 
 Tudor Times — its scope is designed also to embrace such 
 an account of the artistic and archaeological features of the 
 Palace and its contents, as may serve to invest the many 
 historical incidents that occurred within its walls, in Stuart 
 Times, with a local " colouring," which, it is hoped, may 
 add something to their vividness and interest. 
 
 In strictness, perhaps, a volume dealing with the times 
 of the Stuarts should have included the reign of Queen 
 Anne. But an epoch so distinctly new opens after the 
 Revolution, and a landmark so great is formed in the 
 History of Hampton Court by the accession of William of 
 Orange, on account of his great additions and alterations in 
 the structure of the Palace, and in the Gardens and the 
 Parks, that the close of the reign of James II, seemed the 
 most appropriate point at which to conclude the present 
 volume. 
 
vi 
 
 Preface. 
 
 It was originally the authors intention to complete the 
 History of Hampton Court in this Second Volume. But 
 the work expanded so much in the process of composition, 
 that it soon became evident that to do so would either render 
 the book inconveniently bulky, or else entail the omission 
 of much that seemed essential, if a true picture was to be 
 presented of life at Hampton Court in the olden time. 
 
 Consequently, the last hundred years of the History of 
 the Palace will be relegated to a third volume, which will 
 complete these annals down to the present time, and contain 
 a detailed index to the whole work. 
 
 Of the illustrations, which are necessarily of considerable 
 importance in a work of this sort, it need only be said that 
 part of them are taken from original drawings specially 
 executed for this work, while the rest are engravings from 
 old historical pictures at Hampton Court, and reproductions 
 from contemporary sketches and plates. 
 
 In conclusion, the author wishes again to express his 
 obligations to the various officials connected with the 
 Palace, who have most cordially rendered him every 
 assistance in his researches. 
 
 Hampton Court Palace, 
 October, 1888. 
 
ontents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 RONTISPIECE . 
 Preface 
 Contents 
 
 List of Illustrations 
 
 vn 
 
 XV 
 
 111 
 
 V 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 James I. at Hampton Court— A Grand Christmas. King James 
 comes to Hampton Court — Summons the Country Gentlemen to come and 
 be Knighted, or compound by paying Fines — Creates a large Batch of 
 New Peers — The Noble Order of Baronets — Resolves to spend Christmas 
 at Hampton Court — A Grand Masque by the Poet Daniel ordered — Letter 
 of Lady Arabella Stuart — Jealousies of the Foreign Ambassadors — The 
 Plague — Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe ransacked for Dresses for the Masque 
 — Inigo Jones designs the Scenic Effects for Masques — Ferrabosco's Music 
 — Account of Daniel — Great Concourse of Visitors at the Palace — Running 
 at the Ring — Numerous Plays performed in the Great Hall — The King's 
 Company of Players at Hampton Court — Shakespeare probably present — 
 "Robin Goodfellow " — Interludes and Masquerades — Grand Banquets — 
 Wranglings between the French and Spanish Ambassadors I 
 
 The Royal Masque— Vision of the Twelve Goddesses. The 
 Day of the Grand Royal Masque— Profanation of the British Sabbath — 
 Excitement in the Palace — Appearance of the Great Hall — The Scenery 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
viii 
 
 Contents. 
 
 — The King enters — Brilliant Spectacle — The Masque begins — " Night " 
 appears — "Sleep" awakened — "Iris" — "The Sibyl" — "The Three 
 Graces" — "The Twelve Goddesses " — The Procession down the Mountain 
 and up the Hall — The Songs and Dances — The Ladies' Dresses — The 
 Goddesses retire — The Supper after the Masque — Scramble for Seats — 
 Renewed Jealousies of the Ambassadors — Pirated Edition of the Masque 
 — Plea for the Revival of the Old English Masques 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Hampton Court Conference between Anglicans and 
 Puritans. The Millenary Petition — A Conference granted by King James 
 between the Church of England and the Puritans— James opens the First 
 Day's Proceedings — Rattle of the Dry Bones of Theology — The Puritan 
 Divines called in on the Second Day — Blatant Intolerance of the Bishop 
 of London — The Authorized Version of the Bible determined on — James's 
 Display of Biblical Learning — Grows impatient of the Arguments of the 
 Puritan Divines — They are insulted and browbeaten — "Away with your 
 Snivelling " — " May you want Linen for your own Breach " — The Episcopa- 
 lians declare the King to speak by Inspiration of the Holy Spirit — Fulsome 
 Flattery of the Archbishop of Canterbury — The Bishop of London throws 
 himself on his Knees in Adoration — " Such a King never known since the 
 Time of Christ " — Effects of the Conference — Delight of the Royal Pedant 
 — " I have peppered them soundly " 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 James I.'s Visitors — Presbyterians Preached at. The Court go 
 to London — Henry, Prince of Wales, comes to reside at the Palace — His 
 Fondness for Athletic Exercises — Curious Picture of him out Stag-hunting 
 — Fond of Tennis — Return of James and his Queen — Lady Arabella 
 Stuart — Proposed matrimonial Alliances for her — "The Fair Maid of 
 Bristol" — Visit of Christian IV. of Denmark — " The King keeps Wassail" 
 — The Ladies become intoxicated — Plays acted before the Royal Dane — 
 Another Rattle of the Dry Bones of Theology — The Scotch Presbyterian 
 Ministers summoned to a Conference and preached and prated at — Passive 
 Obedience the First Duty — Visit of the Prince Vaudemont 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 James I.'s Stag-hunting in the Parks. King James's Keenness 
 for Stag-hunting — Will not forego his Pleasure for Business — His unpopu- 
 larity — Threat to poison his Hounds — His Savageness against Poachers — 
 Issues a lecturing Proclamation on the Subject — Commends the conduct 
 of " the Better Sort" — Condemns " the Corrupt Natures and Insolent Dis- 
 positions of the Common People " — His violent Rage against Spectators 
 of his Sport — Issues a Proclamation against them — "The bold and bar- 
 
Contents. 
 
 ix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 barous Insolency of Multitudes of Vulgar People " — Severe Punishment 
 threatened against them — Dissatisfaction at his Selfishness — He takes Pot- 
 shots at Tame Deer in the Park — The Duke of Saxe-Weimar entertained 
 with a grand Hunting party — Description of the Sport — James' Hunting 
 Costume .58 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Descriptions of the Palace During James I.'s Reign— A 
 Forced Marriage. Prince Otto of Hesse — His curious Account of 
 Hampton Court — The King's Hatred of War — "Peace with Honour" — 
 The Palace described — The Eighty Royal Chambers — The Golden Tapes- 
 tries — The Pictures — Portraits of Our Lord — Of the Cathay Savages — Of 
 Alexander the Great — Curiosities— Henry VI I I.'s Dining Table and Camp 
 Bed — Queen Elizabeth's Musical Instrument of Glass — The Queen's 
 Private Chapel — The Duke of Saxe-Weimar's Narrative — The Queen's 
 Sporting Proclivities — She shoots the King's Favourite Hound — Her 
 Portrait at Hampton Court as " the Huntress Queen" — Rise of the Duke 
 of Buckingham — He is made Keeper of the Honour of Hampton Court — 
 Dismissal of Lord Chief Justice Coke — Proposed marriage of Buckingham's 
 Brother to his Daughter — Her Mother intervenes and carries her off— Coke 
 in Pursuit — He captures his Daughter — Her Wedding in the Chapel at 
 Hampton Court — Uproarious Proceedings on the Marriage Night . . 65 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Death of Queen Anne of Denmark. Anxiety about the Queen's 
 Health — She suffers from Gout, Dropsy, and Phthisis — Nearly choked in 
 her Sleep — Raleigh's Cordial — She lingers for two months — The Arch- 
 bishop and Bishops come to her Bedside — Prince Charles is brought into 
 her Room — She will not believe she is dying — She is urged to make her 
 Will — The Prince receives her blessing — Her last Hours — Five or six little 
 Groans — She dies — Ominous stopping of the Palace Clock — Burial in 
 Westminster Abbey — Her Will — Her Wishes disregarded by James — He 
 bears her Death with " Exemplary Fortitude " — Goes to Newmarket Races 
 three Weeks after her Death — Writes an Epitaph on the Queen — Wears 
 Mourning for a Month only — His Portrait by Vansomer — His Dress and 
 Appearance — Inigo Jones at Hampton Court — Count Gondomar applies 
 for Apartments in the Palace — Censure on Dr. Whiting — Rupture with 
 Spain — Death of James 1 80 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Charles I.'s Quarrel with his Queen. Charles I. retires to 
 Hampton Court — His Dislike of the Queen's French Attendants — Madame 
 de Saint-Georges — She is slighted by the King — Buckingham's Insolent 
 Behaviour towards the Queen — His request that his Relatives should be 
 
X 
 
 Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 made Ladies of her Bedchamber refused — The Court removes to Windsor 
 — Madame de Saint-Georges again slighted — The Plague — Two French 
 Priests put into Quarantine in the Tilt Yard Tower — The Quarrel between 
 Charles and Henrietta — Intolerable Conduct of the French Ecclesiastics 
 — The Queen's Confessor insists on saying Grace — Proclamation prohibiting 
 Communications between London and Hampton Court — The French 
 Ambassador intrigues to get Apartments in the Palace — At last succeeds — 
 " Gives much trouble to the Household — The Expense of his Board . 95 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Dismissal of Henrietta-M aria's French Suite. The Queen's 
 undutiful Behaviour to her Husband — Quarrels with him about her 
 Household — His Complaints to the Queen- Mother — He resolves to dismiss 
 the French Suite — His Letters to Buckingham on the Subject — The 
 Duke's Resentment against the French — He foments the Dissensions 
 between Charles and his Wife — The Queen refuses to be Crowned with the 
 King — The French Suite Expelled from England, Bag and Baggage — 
 Visits of Paul Rozencranz and Bethlem Gabor — Bassompierre's Mission to 
 England — His Interview with Buckingham — A private Audience arranged 
 — He is received by the King — Charles breaks his Promise — Indignation 
 of Bassompierre — " The Arrogance of the English " — The King grants him 
 an Audience — " Puts himself into a great Passion" — Impudence of Bucking- 
 ham — Abortive Results of Bassompierre's Embassy 105 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Charles I. at Hampton Court— The Eve of the Civil War. 
 Picture of Buckingham and his Family — More Plays at the Palace — Laud 
 supplies Dresses and Scenery — Renewed Outbreak of the Plague — 
 Stringent Regulations against Londoners coming within Ten Miles of 
 Hampton Court — Shakespeare's Plays acted in the Great Hall — Properties 
 for the Play called the " Royal Slave" — Picture of Charles I. Dining in 
 Public— Charles orders the Cutting of the Longford River — The Water 
 Supply for the Palace — His Works of Art— Projects a vast and magnificent 
 Hunting Ground from Hampton Court to Richmond — Unpopularity of the 
 Scheme — Laud opposes it — The King relinquishes it— The Grand Remon- 
 strance presented to Charles at Hampton Court — Aldermen of the City 
 entertained — A "Heavenly King" — Attempted Arrest of the Five 
 Members— Charles's Flight to Hampton Court 118 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Great Rebellion. Charles I. a Prisoner at Hampton 
 Court. Hampton Court during the Civil War— The Parliament takes 
 Possession of the Palace— Sacrilegious Profanation of the Chapel by the 
 Puritans— The Altar, Sacred Pictures and Stained Glass torn down— Charles 
 
Contents. 
 
 xi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 brought by the Army to Hampton Court — Resides here in comparative 
 Ease and Dignity — Receives his old Adherents — Allowed to seehis Children 
 —Strictly watched by Colonel Whalley — Cromwell visits and confers with 
 him — An Accommodation with the Army discussed — Charles's Intrigues 
 and incurable Duplicity — His Mode of Life at this Time — His Farewell to 
 Sir Richard and Lady Fanshawe — His Forebodings of Misfortune — • 
 Ominous Rumours of his Danger of Assassination — Withdraws his Pledge 
 not to attempt an Escape — The Guards doubled — Visit of his Daughter 
 the Princess Elizabeth — Disturbed by the Guards in the Gallery — The Eve 
 of Flight 130 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Charles I.'s Escape from Hampton Court. Charles Intrigues to 
 Escape — Further Rumours of Designs against his Life — Ashburnham and 
 Berkeley privately admitted to the Palace — The Plan of Escape settled 
 with Charles — Ominous Letter from Cromwell — The King retires to his 
 Private Chamber — His Flight from the Palace — Drops a Rare Tract — 
 Thomason's Marvellous Bibliographic Collection — Anxiety of Colonel 
 Whalley — Why is the King so long coming out ? — The Door of King 
 Charles's Room broken open — The King gone ! — Documents found in his 
 Room — Letter to Colonel Whalley — His Solicitude for his Works of Art — 
 His Incapacity for appreciating his Real Position — Consternation in the 
 Palace — Excitement in the Army — Cromwell rides over to Hampton Court 
 — Writes to the Speaker of the House of Commons — Charles's Letters to 
 the Parliamentary Commissioners, and to the Parliament — The Detention 
 of the King ordered — Colonel Whalley's Account of the King's Flight — 
 The King arrested in the Isle of Wight — Royalist Rising near Hampton 
 Court — Strange Discovery of Skeletons in the Palace . . . .143 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Commonwealth. Hampton Court for Sale. "The late 
 Charles Stuart's " Property to be Surveyed, Valued, and Sold — Trustees 
 appointed for the Purpose — Inventory of Goods, Furniture, and Works of 
 Art in Hampton Court— The Great Three Years' Sale — Appraisement of 
 the Splendid Tapestries — Insignificant Prices for the great Pictures — The 
 Furniture and Antiquities — Survey of the Manor of Hampton Court — 
 Valuation of the Parks — All the King's Houses and Parks to be Sold — 
 Hampton Court to be exempted from the Sale — Return of Cromwell to 
 London — The Palace prepared for him and his Family — Hampton Court 
 to be Sold — The Vote reversed : Not to be Sold — Reversed again : To be 
 Sold — Reversed once more : Not to be Sold — Reversed yet again : To be 
 Sold — Another Resolve : Hampton Court offered to Oliver Cromwell — He 
 refuses it — The Manor and Parks sold — Bought back again for Cromwell 
 — He takes Possession of the Palace 163 
 
xii 
 
 Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Oliver Cromwell's Private Life at Hampton Court. Cromwell 
 installed as Lord Protector — " His Highness' " Visits to Hampton Court — 
 Plot to assassinate him on his Way — The Conspirators arrested, tried and 
 condemned — Proclamation of Charles II. against Cromwell — Free Leave 
 to murder the " Detestable Villain " — Promise of a Large Pension to the 
 Assassin — Mrs. Cromwell, "the Lady Protectress" — Comical and Ribald 
 Stories against her — Her "Court and Kitchen" — Charged with Niggardli- 
 ness — The Protector's State Banquets — His "Court of Beggars" — His 
 Boisterous Joviality with his Familiars — Practical Jokes — Puts Hot Coals 
 in his Friends' Boots — Cromwell out Hunting — His Appreciation of Pictures 
 and Tapestry — Furniture of his own Room in the Palace — His Delight in 
 Music — Milton playing on the Organ in the Great Hall — Another Plot 
 against the Protector's Life — An Infernal Machine — His " Removal " com- 
 mended by Charles II. and his Brother James — Cromwell haunted by the 
 Dread of Assassination — Marriage of Mary Cromwell to Lord Falconberg 
 in the Chapel — Sycophantic Language of the Court Scribes . . .174 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Death of Mrs. Claypole — Cromwell's Last Illness — Cromwell 
 gathers his Family about him — Estrangement of his old Friends — He is 
 solaced by his Children in his Troubles — Illness of Mrs. Claypole — She 
 upbraids her Father with his Crimes — She dies — Buried in Westminster 
 Abbey — Cromwell's Grief— His failing Health — He has the Bible read to 
 him — Submission to the Will of God a hard Lesson — He gets better — 
 Meets George Fox, the Quaker, in the Park — "A Waft of Death" — Worse 
 again— The Fever creeping on—" I shall not die by this Illness " — " God 
 has answered our Prayers" — The Saints declare " He shall recover" — A 
 Public Fast in the Palace — His Speedy Recovery peremptorily demanded 
 of the Deity — But Cromwell grows worse — Removed to Whitehall — His 
 Death 188 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Restoration. Richard Cromwell proclaimed Protector— Submits 
 to the Long Parliament — Money to be raised by the sale of Goods at 
 Hampton Court — Curious Inventory of the Furniture in the Palace — 
 Hampton Court again to be sold— The Sale prevented by Ludlow— The 
 Palace and Parks to be offered to General Monk — Twenty Thousand 
 Pounds given to him instead— Restoration of Charles II.— "The Royal 
 Oak"— Refurnishing of Hampton Court Palace— Works and Repairs— 
 The Tennis Court improved— Charles II. plays Tennis— "Beastly Flattery" 
 —The Gardens— Planting of the Avenues and Digging of the Canal in the 
 Home Park— The Parks re-stocked with Game— The King entertained at 
 the Upper Lodge in Bushey Park— Account of Edward Progers the Confi- 
 dant of Charles's Intrigues— Numerous Applicants for Offices and Posts . 197 
 
Contents, 
 
 xiii 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Honeymoon of Charles II. and Catherine of Braganza. 
 Marriage of Charles II. to Catherine of Braganza — Their Arrival in great 
 State at Hampton Court — Etching by Dirk Stoop — Reception of their 
 Majesties in the Palace — The Duchess of York comes to pay her Respects 
 — Presentations to the Queen — The Judges — The Lord Mayor and Alder- 
 men — The Nobility — John Evelyn's Impression of the new Queen — Her 
 Ladies — Hideous and Disagreeable old Frumps — De Grammont's Opinion 
 — "Six Frights who call themselves Maids of Honour" — "Peter of the 
 Wood" — The Old Knight — A Fantastic and Comical Crew — Their 
 ludicrous Dress — Their Monstrous Fardingales — The Queen's Obstinacy 
 in Retaining her Native Dress — Submits and adopts the English Fashion 
 < — A Joyous Time at Hampton Court — The Queen's Portuguese Band — 
 Evelyn's Description of the Palace — Pepys' Visit — The Parks and Gardens 
 — A Portuguese Young Lady's Baby 208 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Charles II. Betwixt Mistress and Wife. Discontent in London 
 at " the King and Queen minding their Pleasures at Hampton Court " — 
 The Queen resolved not to receive Lady Castlemaine — The King deter- 
 mined that she shall — The imperious Castlemaine's Audacity — Aspires to 
 be publicly recognized as the King's Mistress — Charles presents her to 
 Catherine— A Painful Scene — Catherine faints — Charles's " Wonderful 
 Indignation" — Dreads the Appearance of being ruled by his Wife — Urged 
 on by his Courtiers not to yield — Their Satirical Comments on the Queen 
 and her Attendants — Charles's Honour involved — He demands that Cathe- 
 rine should make his Mistress a Lady of her Bedchamber — Catherine's 
 Passionate Indignation at the Proposal — The aid of the Lord Chancellor 
 Clarendon invoked — His Lordship speaks out — " Flesh and blood could 
 not comply with it " — The King's unshakeable Determination — Requires 
 Clarendon to Persuade the Queen to yield — He hesitates — Charles's 
 Peremptory Letter — "The Keeper of the King's Conscience" undertakes 
 to pander for his Majesty 220 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Queen Catherine and Lady Castlemaine. Clarendon's Interviews 
 with Catherine of Braganza — Her touching Reliance on him — His un- 
 worthy Sophistry — Tries to wheedle her to acquiesce in the King's Purpose 
 — She threatens to return to Portugal — " Your mother wouldn't have you 
 back " — High words between Charles and Catherine — Her " Perverseness " 
 — Clarendon's Pharasaical Cant — The King's Mistress " an estimable and 
 commendable Associate" for the Queen — Catherine's Determination — 
 Studied Coldness and Indifference of the King — He passes his time in 
 Jovial Company — The Queen's Attendants sent back to Portugal — Lady 
 
xiv 
 
 Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Castlemaine installed in the Palace — The Queen's friendless and forlorn 
 Condition — Subjected to Ridicule and Indignity — She submits — Treats 
 Lady Castlemaine with marked Familiarity — Loathsome Perfidy of Claren- 
 don — Charles and Catherine visit the Queen-Mother — Her Visit to this 
 Palace — Their Majesties' State Entry into London by way of the Thames 
 — Their Progress down the River in Magnificent Barges — Splendid Aquatic 
 Pageant 230 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Hampton Court under Charles II. — James II. King Charles's 
 occasional Visits to the Palace — Lady Castlemaine's Apartments — The 
 Due de Moncony's Description of Hampton Court — Outbreak of the Plague 
 — The Court retires to Hampton Court — Pepysat the Palace — " Not invited 
 anywhere to dinner" — Lely paints the Beauties of the Court — Description 
 of those Frail and Lovely Ladies — The Court removes to Salisbury and 
 Oxford — The King and Duke back again at this Palace — Cordial Thanks 
 to Pepys for his gallant Services during the Plague — Also to John Evelyn 
 — Visit of Mandeslo — The Parks — The Upper Lodge in Bushey Park — 
 Cosmo III. Duke of Tuscany joins a Hunting Party here — Description of 
 the Sport — Deer Netting — Cosmo's Account of the Parks, Palace and 
 Gardens — M. Jorevin de Rochford — Charles II. suddenly dissolves Parlia- 
 ment — The Duke of Monmouth forfeits the King's Favour — Anecdote of 
 Charles II. and Verrio — James II. — Canopy under which he received the 
 Papal Nuncio — His Fireback — His Army on Hounslow Heath . . . 243 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 Appendix A. Survey of Hampton Court Mansion House and Parks 
 made by the Parliamentary Commissioners in 1653 258 
 
 Appendix B. Extracts from the Calendars of State Papers of the Time 
 of the Commonwealth, relating to the Sale of the Manors and Parks of 
 Hampton Court in 1653, and their Repurchase by the State for the Use 
 and Occupation of the Protector Oliver Cromwell 272 
 
 Appendix C. Inventory of Goods, mostly claimed as belonging to 
 Cromwell, at Hampton Court Palace in 1659 277 
 
 Appendix D. Accounts for Various Works Done at Hampton Court 
 in the Reign of Charles II 309 
 
Wist of Hllustrattons:, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 RONTIS PIECE. — James I. entertaining the Spanish 
 
 |Jg |^Jpi|i Plan. — Principal Floor of the Palace in the time of the 
 
 Map. — The Domain and Parks of Hampton Court . . 168 
 
 ™™™*^ Interleaved Plate. — Bay Window in the Great Watch- 
 ing Chamber 10 
 
 The Screens in the Great Hall 14 
 
 The Great Hall 19 
 
 Entrance to the Buttery under the Pantry and the Great Hall ... 26 
 
 Corner in the Master Carpenter's Court 34 
 
 Interleaved Plate. — Henry, Prince of Wales, and the Earl of Essex . 47 
 
 Garden on the Top of the Palace 56 
 
 James I. taking the Assay 63 
 
 Interleaved Plate.— Portrait of Queen Anne of Denmark ... 74 
 
 Interleaved Plate. — Portrait of James 1 90 
 
 Interleaved Plate. — Portrait of Charles 1 95 
 
 Old Tower in the Tilt Yard 100 
 
 Interleaved Plate. — Back Court near the Fish Kitchen . . .112 
 Interleaved Plate. — Picture of the Duke of Buckingham and his Family 1 19 
 Interleaved Plate. — Charles I. Dining in Public . . . .122 
 
 Altar Rails of Carved Oak 135 
 
 View of the North of the Palace in Tennis Court Lane . . . .139 
 
 Interleaved Plate. — The Old Pond Garden 142 
 
 Interleaved Folding Plate. — View of the First Court from the Top 
 
 of the Palace .166 
 
 Interleaved Plate.— Parapet of the Great Hall 170 
 
 Interleaved Plate. — Mrs. Cromwell, the Lady Protectress . . .177 
 Doorway in Tennis Court Lane . . 191 
 
xvi 
 
 List of Illustrations. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Interleaved Plate. — Portrait of Charles II 201 
 
 One of Charles II. 's Cast-Iron Fire-backs 202 
 
 The Upper Lodge in Bushey Park in the Reign of Charles II. . . . 206 
 Interleaved Folding Plate. — Arrival of Charles II. and his Queen at 
 
 Hampton Court 209 
 
 Interleaved Plate. — Portrait of Queen Catherine of Braganza . .214 
 
 Interleaved Plate. — Old East Front of Hampton Court, after Danckers. 217 
 
 Interleaved Plate. — Portrait of the Countess of Castlemaine . . 222 
 
 Back Stairs of the Great Hall 234 
 
 Interleaved Folding Plate. — River Front of Hampton Court in the 
 
 Reign of Charles II. ' . . 240 
 
 Old Cast-Iron Fire-Back with James II.'s Arms and Initials . . . 256 
 
Plan of the principal floor of Hampton Court Pal 
 
 SHOWING IN OUTLINE THE CLOISTER GREEN COURT.PULLEC 
 
 This mark in the West cloister of the Cloister Green Court indicates 
 the spot where the two skeletons were found on Nov. 2nd. 1871. Seef>agei6o. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 HAMPTON COURT PALACE 
 
 IN STUART TIMES. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 JAMES I. AT HAMPTON COURT — A GRAND CHRISTMAS. 
 
 King James comes to Hampton Court — Summons the Country Gentlemen to 
 come and be Knighted, or compound by paying Fines — Creates a large Batch 
 of New Peers — The Noble Order of Baronets — Resolves to spend Christmas at 
 Hampton Court — A Grand Masque by the Poet Daniel ordered — Letter of 
 Lady Arabella Stuart — Jealousies of the Foreign Ambassadors — The Plague — 
 Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe ransacked for Dresses for the Masque — Inigo 
 Jones designs the Scenic Effects for Masques — Ferrabosco's Music — Account 
 of Daniel — Great Concourse of Visitors at the Palace — Running at the Ring — 
 Numerous Plays performed in the Great Hall — The King's Company of Players 
 at Hampton Court — Shakespeare probably present — " Robin Goodfellow " — 
 Interludes and Masquerades — Grand Banquets — Wranglings between the French 
 and Spanish Ambassadors. 
 
 |AMES I. had not been long on the throne of 
 England when, desiring to behold in turn all 
 the palaces of his new kingdom, he came from 
 Windsor Castle to reside for a short time at 
 Hampton Court. He had been here only a day 
 or two, when he issued a proclamation which must have 
 
 # B 
 
2 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1603 
 
 brought home with clearness to the minds of his new sub- 
 jects, how the rule they had now come under, differed from 
 that of Queen Elizabeth, and how completely the romantic 
 element that had invested her era with such lustre was 
 closed for ever. During the past reign the dignity of 
 knighthood had been conferred only as a special mark of 
 royal favour on men distinguished for great and gallant 
 services to their sovereign and country ; and it was an 
 honour that heroes bearing names of such imperishable 
 renown as Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Walter Raleigh, were 
 ambitious to deserve, proud to receive, and jealous to guard. 
 It derived likewise a special value from being a personal, 
 and not an hereditary distinction. But the canny Scotch 
 King James, with the sordid and mercenary ideas that 
 tainted even that which most nearly concerned his kingly 
 honour, saw in it only a means of lining with good English 
 gold his by no means too amply filled pockets. It must 
 be said, however, that the suggestion is stated to have first 
 come from the Earl of Salisbury, who is credited with having 
 urged it on James, telling him "he should find his English 
 subjects like asses, on whom he might lay any burden ; 
 and should need neither bit nor bridle, but their own asses' 
 ears." When the King objected that it might discontent 
 the generality of the gentry : " Tush, Sire," he replied, 
 " you want the money, that will do you good ; the honour 
 will do them very little harm." 1 
 
 Thus it was that on the 17th of July, 1603, ne issued 
 from Hampton Court a general summons to all persons 
 who had ^40 a year in land, or upwards, to come and 
 receive the honour of knighthood (of course with the ob- 
 ligation of paying the necessary fees) ; 2 or, if they declined 
 a proffered dignity thus cheapened and vulgarized, they 
 
 1 Sir Anthony Weldon's Character of James I. 
 
 2 Rymer's Feeder a, vol. xvi., p. 530. 
 
1603] 
 
 Hundreds of New Knights. 
 
 3 
 
 were enjoined to compound for the audacity of so doing, 
 by the payment of substantial fines to the Royal Commis- 
 sioners appointed for that purpose. Three days after, in 
 compliance with the Kings gracious summons, two gentle- 
 men, Mr. John Gammes of Radnorshire and Mr. William 
 Cave of Oxfordshire, presented themselves at Hampton 
 Court, 1 and were the first to receive knighthood at the 
 hands of his Majesty. These two, however, were but a 
 small and insignificant advance guard, when compared to 
 the vast main body of troops of country gentlemen already 
 on the march towards London from all parts of England and 
 Wales. They flocked, indeed, in such numbers, that six 
 days after the issue of the summons there were awaiting the 
 Kings pleasure several hundred would-be knights. Ac- 
 cordingly James came up, on the 22nd of July, from 
 Hampton Court to Whitehall ; and there, on the following 
 day, disposed of the first batch of no less than three hundred 
 knights. The exertion of giving the accolade to so many 
 persons would naturally be a very laborious one on a hot 
 July day ; so the ceremony was appointed to take place in 
 the Royal Gardens. 
 
 In addition to this, as will be remembered, King James, 
 later on in his reign, 2 when rather hard up for cash, hit 
 upon the expedient of founding " the noble order of 
 Baronets," who were each of them to pay a fee of ^1,000 
 on creation, and were in return for the honour conferred 
 on them, " to defend and ameliorate the condition of the 
 Province of Ulster, aid towards the building of churches, 
 towns, and castles, and proffer their lives, fortunes, and 
 estates to hazard in the performance of this duty," and 
 "maintain and keep thirty soldiers there." Some of our 
 modern baronets would be rather aghast if called on to 
 
 1 Nichols' Progresses of James I., vol. i., p. 204. 
 2 Ibid., vol. ii., p. 419. 
 
4 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1603 
 
 render any such services in return for the honours they 
 bear ! 
 
 In the meanwhile the King had also been proportionately 
 lavish with the higher honour of the peerage ; and on the 
 2 1 st of July he created, with great ceremonial, in the Great 
 Hall of Hampton Court, eleven peers, in the presence of 
 the Queen and the Court. Altogether during his reign he 
 conferred as many as a hundred and eleven peerages, about 
 seven times as many, in a reign of twenty-two years, as his 
 predecessor, Queen Elizabeth, had created in a reign of 
 twice that duration. 
 
 Soon after this, the King and Queen went on a progress in 
 the southern counties, until about the beginning of the month 
 of December, when they resolved to move to Hampton Court 
 for the ensuing festive season. Probably the recollection of the 
 splendid entertainments of which this Palace had been the 
 scene during the reigns of the Tudor sovereigns, and espe- 
 cially of the late Queen, suggested it as the most appropriate 
 royal residence in which to celebrate their first Christmas- 
 tide after their advent to the throne. Of all the English 
 palaces it was then, as it is now, the most spacious ; and, 
 with its magnificent suite of reception rooms, the most 
 adapted for brilliant Court gaieties. The desire of the King 
 and Queen to rival the splendour of their predecessors 
 doubtless had weight with them in selecting a grand masque, 
 to be written by Samuel Daniel, as the principal feature of 
 the festivities, for it was just about this time that these 
 entertainments were beginning to be popular. Towards 
 the close of Queen Elizabeth's reign they had gradually 
 tended towards the form they eventually assumed under the 
 skilful hands of Ben Jonson, and were, in fact, developing 
 from mere masquerades or mummings into dramatic re- 
 presentations of a high lyrical order, which found their 
 noblest embodiment in Milton's sublime poem, " Comus." 
 
1603] 
 
 A Grand Masque Ordered. 
 
 5 
 
 It will be interesting, therefore, not only to give some 
 account of the Court festivities at this season, but also to give 
 a particular description of Daniel's masque, because it was, 
 in a certain sense, the first true masque ever presented, and 
 because it holds a position midway between the earlier revels 
 of Tudor times and the more finished compositions into 
 which they afterwards developed. 1 
 
 The first notice we have of the preparations for the 
 gaieties in prospect is in a letter of the beautiful and 
 accomplished, but ill-fated Lady Arabella Stuart, the story 
 of whose loves and misfortunes is so pathetically told 
 in Isaac D'Israeli's " Curiosities of Literature." Her letter 
 is dated, " Hampton Court, December the 18th," and is 
 addressed to Lord Shrewsbury. 2 Having noticed that 
 the Queen arrived on Friday, the 16th, she goes on : — " The 
 King will be here to-morrow. The Polonian Ambassador 
 shall have audience on Thursday next. The Queen inten- 
 deth to make a masque this Christmas, to which end my Lady 
 Suffolk and my Lady Walsingham hath warrant to take of 
 the late Queen's best apparel out of the Tower of their dis- 
 cretion. Certain noblemen (whom I may not yet name to 
 you because some of them have made me of their counsel) 
 intend another. Certain gentlemen of good sort another. 
 It is said there shall be 30 plays. The King will feast all 
 the Ambassadors this Christmas." 
 
 Sir Dudley Carleton also writes on the 22nd from London, 
 where he had apparently gone for the day, to his " assured 
 friend Mr. John Chamberlain" : 3 — Sir, we have left Salisbury 
 plains to the frost and snow, and the pleasant walks at 
 
 1 The account which follows of whole festivities, with a reprint of the 
 
 Daniel's masque, The Vision of the masque. 
 
 Twelve Goddesses, is abridged from 2 Progresses of James I., vol. iv., 
 
 the author's pamphlet, published in p. 1061. 
 
 1880, entitled A Royal Masque at 3 State Papers, Domestic, James I., 
 
 Hampton Court, descriptive of the vol. v., No. 20. 
 
6 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1603 
 
 Wilton to as good dirt as ever you saw in Smithfield when 
 it is at the best, and coming to Hampton Court were there 
 welcomed with fogs and mists, which make us march blind- 
 fold ; and we fear we shall now stumble into the sickness, 
 
 which till now we have miraculously scaped We shall 
 
 have a merry Christmas at Hampton Court, for both male 
 andfemalemasques are all ready bespoken, whereof the Duke 
 is rector chori of the one side, and the Lady Bedford of the 
 other. After Christmas, if the sickness cease, we shall come 
 to Whitehall." 
 
 The reception of the ambassadors whom Lady Arabella 
 Stuart mentions, was not unattended, we shall find, with those 
 petty jealousies and continual bickerings in which the repre- 
 sentatives of foreign Courts seem to have spent the greater 
 part of their time. 
 
 Quarrels about precedence, offence taken because one 
 ambassador was asked to dinner when another was not, and 
 struggles to get lodgings in the royal palace formed their chief 
 occupation, and caused endless annoyance to the King's 
 ministers. These absurd contests never ceased till the cus- 
 tom prevailed that the precedence of ambassadors should be 
 determined according to the time they have been accredited 
 to any particular Court. 
 
 The prevalence of the plague, to which Dudley Carleton 
 refers, might well have thrown a gloom over the whirl 
 of gaieties. By this time, however, its virulence had 
 much abated, the deaths in London being only three or 
 four hundred a week, whereas they had been as many 
 thousands. 
 
 The rifling of Queen Elizabeth's wardrobes to supply 
 dresses for the masque is of a piece with all the acts of King 
 James. Even before he had left Scotland, in the spring, he 
 had written to the Council requesting them to send up some . 
 of the Queen's jewels and robes in order to deck out his wife 
 
1603] Preparations for a Grand Christmas. 7 
 
 with becoming splendour, and was much vexed because 
 they refused, having, they said, no authority to send such 
 things out of the kingdom. When her late Majesty's trea- 
 sures came to be sorted, there were found no less than 500 
 robes, all of the greatest magnificence, some of which she 
 appeared to have worn but once. They cannot have been 
 very well adapted for turning into the classical costumes re- 
 quired for the masque. But though the designs were pro- 
 bably deficient in archaeological accuracy, it does not appear 
 that Anne of Denmark perpetrated such a violation of taste 
 on this occasion, as she did on another, when she acted a 
 Grecian goddess in a fardingale ! The Duke who is men- 
 tioned by Dudley Carleton as director of the gentlemen's 
 masque was Lodowick Stuart, Duke of Lennox. He was 
 a first cousin of the King's, and married, some years after 
 this, Frances, Lady Hertford, one of the performers in the 
 masque. 
 
 The scenery and mechanical appliances for the masque 
 were probably designed by Inigo Jones. He had just re- 
 turned from Denmark, where he had been staying with the 
 Queen's brother, Christian IV., from whom he brought 
 letters of recommendation, that soon procured him the office 
 of architect to the Queen. His name is frequently men- 
 tioned in subsequent years as the designer of the scenic 
 effects in the many masques given at Court, nor was his 
 share in these entertainments considered of less importance 
 than that of the author. The great architect, indeed, seems 
 to have taken considerable pride in his contributions to 
 these entertainments ; and Ben Jonson's omission on one 
 occasion to confess the value of his assistance nearly led 
 to a serious breach between them. Once, when the prin- 
 cipal effect was obtained by the revolving of a large globe, 
 on which various pictures were represented, Inigo Jones 
 did not disdain to do the duty of scene-shifter and turn 
 
8 
 
 Histoiy of Hampton Court Palace. [1603 
 
 the machinery himself, so important did he regard these 
 matters. 
 
 With respect to the music of the masque, nothing positive 
 can be ascertained. All that we know is, that Master 
 Alphonso Ferrabosco, " a man planted by himself in that 
 divine sphere and mastering all the spirits of music," as Ben 
 Jonson says of him, was a frequent composer of the music 
 of the marches and songs interspersed in these charming 
 trifles. What remains of his compositions fully leads us to 
 endorse the high opinion held of him by his contempo- 
 raries, and he may well have employed his talents on this 
 occasion. 
 
 Samuel Daniel, the author of the masque, was born in 
 1562, and by the time of which we are treating, had 
 achieved a very considerable reputation as a writer of 
 graceful and polished verse. His " Complaint of Rosa- 
 mund," and his " Sonnets to Delia," and other small poems, 
 were particularly well known, and had given him a position 
 among the poets of the age which modern times have hardly 
 confirmed to him ; though Mr. Collier does not hesitate to 
 class him with Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Spenser as 
 one of the four great Elizabethan poets. Early in the year 
 1603, ne had been selected to write " A Panegyric Con- 
 gratulatory," presented to the King on his visit to Harring- 
 ton-Burley, now called Burley-on-the-Hill, which belonged 
 at that time to Sir John Harrington, father of the famous 
 Lucy, Countess of Bedford, to whom he dedicated the 
 masque, who took a leading part in getting it up, and who 
 seems to have been throughout the directing genius of it. 
 
 The success of the " Panegyric," combined doubtless 
 with the influence of this lady, pointed him out as the 
 most fitting person to write the Queen's masque. From 
 this time Daniels advancement was unbroken. He be- 
 came a great favourite with the Queen, and she soon made 
 
1603] 
 
 Daniel and his Royal Masque. 
 
 9 
 
 him a gentleman-in-waiting extraordinary, and afterwards a 
 groom-in-waiting of her privy chamber. He was also ap- 
 pointed " Master of the Queen's Children of the Revells," 
 who were to be trained for the acting of stage plays, and 
 whose education he had to supervise. 
 
 The exact date of this appointment does not appear ; but 
 at the latest it must have been soon after the performance 
 of the " Vision of the Twelve Goddesses," as on January 
 31st, 1604, we fi n d an order that all plays to be acted by the 
 Queens revellers were to be submitted to Samuel Daniel. 
 Shakespeare, it would seem, was also a candidate for this 
 office, for in a letter of Daniel's to Sir Thomas Egerton, 
 thanking him for procuring him the place, occurs this 
 passage: "It seemeth to myne humble judgement, that 
 one who is the authour of playes now daylie presented on 
 the public stage of London, and the possessor of no small 
 gaines, and moreover himselfe an actor in the King's Com- 
 panie of Comedians, could not with reason pretend to be M r 
 of the Queene's Majesty's Revells, forasmuch as he wold 
 sometimes be asked to approve and allow his own writings " 
 — a reference that can apply to no one but Shakespeare, 
 who was the only playwright in the company. 1 
 
 The names of the twelve ladies who took part in the 
 masque were discovered by the author in a curious copy of 
 the first edition of the masque preserved in the British 
 Museum, in which they are inserted in a handwriting of the 
 time. They will be given further on ; and they are in- 
 structive as affording evidence how soon Anne of Denmark 
 gathered round her the ladies to whom she clung for the 
 rest of her life ; while it is worthy of note that every one of 
 them afterwards became famous, or at least notorious, in 
 the annals of this reign. 
 
 1 HalliwelFs Life of Shakespeare, p. 205; and Collier's New Facts, ed. 1835, 
 p. 48. 
 
io History of Hampton Court Palace. [1603 
 
 With as many as twelve ladies, who were not on the best 
 of terms with each other, Daniel and the stage managers 
 must have had no small amount of trouble. Modern private 
 theatrical experience suggests the sort of difficulties that 
 would arise : the contention as to who should do this part, 
 and who that ; the dissatisfaction of ladies with their cos- 
 tumes, and so on. However, in this case the rehearsals 
 seem to have gone off without any very serious contests — 
 at least, none serious enough to be noted by the chroniclers 
 of that day. 
 
 Among the Record Office papers, in an old account, half 
 worm-eaten and decayed with damp, there is an entry for 
 work done in relation to this masque : — 
 
 Item, Paid for making readie the lower ende, with certain Roomes 
 of the Hall at Hampton Court for the Queene's Mat y and ladies 
 against their masque by the space of three dayes. 1 
 
 From this we gather that the old pantry behind the 
 " screens " at the lower end of the hall was set apart as a 
 " tyring-room," or green room, for the Queen and her ladies, 
 and the Great Watching Chamber at the upper end put at 
 their disposal for rehearsals — as had been the custom in 
 Queen Elizabeth's time. 2 
 
 In the meanwhile there was no lack of amusement and 
 occupation for the rest. The whole world was flocking to 
 Hampton Court ; ambassadors to offer their congratula- 
 tions, nobles and gentlemen to testify their loyalty to their 
 new sovereign, and crowds of needy adventurers on the 
 look out for the honours, pensions, and places which were 
 being showered in such profusion by James on his new 
 subjects. The crowd was so great that even with upwards 
 of 1,200 rooms, besides outbuildings, the Palace could not 
 
 1 Excheqtier Q. R. Household and Wardrobe Accounts. 8 7 2 . 
 2 See vol. i., p. 319. 
 
Bay Window in the Great Watching Chamber. 
 
Rehearsals and Festivities. 
 
 1 1 
 
 contain the numbers of retainers and servants that congre- 
 gated here, so that tents had to be set up in the park to 
 shelter them. Every day there were festivities : banquets, 
 receptions of ambassadors, balls, masquerades, plays, tennis 
 matches, and a grand running at the tilt. These extracts 
 from the old accounts make it appear that the timid King 
 summoned up sufficient courage on the occasion to take 
 part in this tilting match : — 
 
 Paid to Sir Richard Coningsbie .... for making readie the 
 gallorie with other roomes in M r Muggins 1 lodgings at Hampton 
 Court e for his Mat y to {dine?) with the Lordes and Knightes after 
 the running at the Tylt for the space of two days mens : Januarii 
 1603. 
 
 Item .... for making readie a standing for the Queenes Majestie 
 in the Parke at Hampton Conrte to see the Kinge's Majestie and the 
 Lordes running at the Ringe 1 
 
 In Lady Arabella Stuart's letter of the 18th of December 
 mention is made of thirty plays to be acted ; and there is an 
 entry in the old accounts of money paid for " making readie 
 the Hall for the plays against Christmas. " The number 
 " thirty " must probably be set down to the exaggeration of 
 a vivacious mind, but that there were many is evident from 
 an account given in a letter of Dudley Carleton's to John 
 Chamberlain, dated the 15th of January, 1604. It * s among 
 the State Papers in the Record Office, and has never before 
 been printed. 1 It contains an interesting picture of the 
 celebration of the " Grand Christmas " at the Palace this 
 year. 
 
 " We have had a merry Christmas and nothing to dis- 
 quiet us save brabbles amongst our ambassadors, and one 
 or two poor companions that died of the plague. The first 
 
 1 Exchequer Q. R., Household and 2 State Papers, Domestic, fames I., 
 Wardrobe Accounts. 8 T 2 . vol. vi., No. 21. 
 
12 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1603 
 
 holidays we had every night a public play in the great 
 hall, at which the King was ever present, and liked or dis- 
 liked as he saw cause : but it seems he takes no extra- 
 ordinary pleasure in them. The Queen and Prince were 
 more the players' friends, for on other nights they had them 
 privately, and have since taken them to their protection. 
 On New Years night we had a play of ' Robin Good- 
 fellow.'" 
 
 This and the other plays were performed by the " King's 
 Company of Comedians," who had been incorporated 
 by a warrant of King James a few months before this. 1 
 Prominent among their names — coming, in fact, second on 
 the roll — is that of William Shakespeare ; and we make no 
 doubt that he was staying with the rest of his company in 
 this Palace at this Christmas time, and that his plays were 
 performed before the Court. They were (t freely to use 
 and exercise the arts and faculty of playing comedies, 
 tragedies, histories, enterludes,moralls,pastoralls, stage plaies, 
 and such other like, as thei have already studied, or here- 
 after shall use or studie, as well for the recreation of our 
 loving subjects, as for our solace and pleasure, when we 
 shall think good to use them." That they were at Hamp- 
 ton Court this Christmas is evident from the " Accounts of 
 the Treasurer of the Chamber," among which is the following 
 entry : 2 — 
 
 To John Hemynges one of his Ma ties players uppon the Conncells 
 Warrant dated at Hampton Court 18 January 1603 f or the paynes 
 and expences of himself and the rest of his company e in presentinge of 
 sixe interludes or play es before the Kings Ma tie and prince viz. on St 
 Stephens daye at night, St Johns day at night, Innocents daye and 
 New y 'ere } s daye at night before the kings Ma tie for each of the sayde 
 
 1 For the warrant, see Halliwell's 2 See Extracts from Revels Ac- 
 Life of Shakespeare, and Chapter counts, published by the Shakespeare 
 House Privy Seal Papers, No. 71. Society. 
 It is dated the 7th of May, 1603. 
 
1603] 
 
 Shakespeare at Hampton Court. 
 
 13 
 
 playes twentie nobles apeece and to them by waye of his Ma ties reivarde 
 fyve marks, and for tivoe playes before the prince 011 the XXX th of 
 December and the ffirste of January 1603 tzventie nobles apeece in all 
 amonntinge to the some of Liii £. 
 
 The date 1603 is, of course, the Old Style for what we 
 should call 1604. Dudley Carleton has told us that the 
 play on New Year's night was " Robin Goodfellow." No 
 copy of this play exists ; 1 but the " mad prankes and merrie 
 jestes" of this mythical personage seem to have been intro- 
 duced into many plays besides " A Midsummer Night's 
 Dream." Perhaps the particular one acted by Hemynges, 
 Shakespeare, and Burbage, and the rest of the company, was 
 that by Henry Chettle, which he was writing in September, 
 1602, and for which two entries for money paid are inserted 
 in Henslow's diary. 
 
 It was at the lower end of the hall in front of the 
 " screenes," as they were called, that the stage was always 
 erected when the plays were erected here, and many a time 
 the players in Shakespeare's company, including probably 
 himself, made their entrances and exits through the openings 
 shown in the accompanying sketch. 
 
 We will now resume Dudley Carlton's account of the 
 Christmas festivities. After mentioning the play of " Robin 
 Goodfellow," he proceeds to describe a " Masque brought 
 in by a magician of China," which was acted on the same 
 night : — " There was a heaven built at the lower end of the 
 hall, out of which our magician came down, and after he had 
 made a long sleepy speech to the King of the nature of the 
 country from whence he came, comparing it with ours for 
 strength and plenty, he said he had brought in clouds certain 
 Indian and China knights to see the magnificency of this 
 Court, and thereupon a travers {i.e. a curtain) was drawn, and 
 
 1 See Collier's Introduction to A Midsummer Night's Dream. 
 
14 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1603 
 
 the masquers seen sitting in a vaulty place with their torch- 
 bearers and other lights, which was no unpleasing spectacle. 
 The masquers were brought in by two boys and two musi- 
 cians, who began with a song, and whilst that went forward 
 they presented themselves to the King. The first gave the 
 
 The Screens in the Great Hall. 
 
 King an impresa in a shield with a sonnet in a paper to 
 express this device, and presented a jewel of 40,000 crowns 
 value which the King is to buy of Peter van Lore, but that 
 is more than every man knew, and it made a fair show to 
 the French ambassador's eye, whose master would have 
 
1603] Plays and Masquerades in the Great Hall. 1 5 
 
 been well pleased with such a masquer's present, but not at 
 that price. The rest in their order delivered their 
 escutcheons with letters ; and there was no great stay at 
 any of them save only at one who was put to the interpreta- 
 tion of his device. It was a fair horse colt in a fair green 
 field, which he meant to be a colt of Bucephalus' race, and 
 had this virtue of his sire, that none could mount him but 
 one as great at least as Alexander. The King made him- 
 self merry with threatening to send this colt to the stable, 
 and he could not break loose till he promised to dance as 
 well as Bankes's horse. 1 The first measure was full of 
 changes and seemed confused, but was well gone through 
 withal. And for the ordinary measures they took out the 
 Queen, the ladies of Derby, Hertford, Suffolk, Bedford, 
 Susan Vere, Southwell the elder, and Rich. In the corantoes 
 they ran over some other of the young ladies, and so ended 
 as they began with a song ; and that done, the magician 
 dissolved his enchantment, and made the masquers appear in 
 their likeness to be the Earl of Pembroke, 2 the Duke, Mon- 
 sieur d'Aubigny, young Somerset, Philip Herbert the young 
 Bucephal, James Hayes, Richard Preston, and Sir Henry 
 Godier. Their attire was rich, but somewhat too heavy and 
 cumbersome for dances, which put them besides their gal- 
 liards. They had loose robes of crimson satin embroidered 
 with gold, and bordered with broad silver laces, and doublets 
 of cloth of silver ; buskins, swords, and hats alike, and in 
 their hats each of them an Indian bird for a feather, with 
 some jewels. 
 
 " The Twelfth-day the French ambassador was feasted 
 publicly, and at night there was a play in the Queen's pre- 
 
 1 This was a famous and clever was the ascent of St. Paul's steeple ! 
 horse called "Morocco," which be- 2 This was William Herbert, third 
 
 longed to one Bankes in the reign of Earl. His mother was the famous 
 
 Queen Elizabeth. His shoes, it is said, " Subject of all verse, Sidney's sister, 
 
 were of silver, and one of his exploits Pembroke's mother." 
 
1 6 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 sence, with a masquerade of certain Scotchmen, who came 
 in with a sword dance, not unlike a matachin, and performed 
 it cleanly ; from thence the King went to dice, into his own 
 presence, and lost 500 crowns, which marred a gamester ; for 
 since he appeared not there, but once before was at it in the 
 same place and parted a winner. The Sunday following 
 was the great day of the Queen's masque, at which was pre- 
 sent the Spanish and Polack ambassadors with their whole 
 trains, and the most part of the Florentines and Savoy- 
 ards, but not the ambassadors themselves, who were in so 
 strong competition for place and precedence, that to dis- 
 please neither it was thought best to let both alone. The 
 like dispute was betwixt the French and the Spanish am- 
 bassador, and hard hold for the greatest honour, which the 
 Spaniard thinks he hath carried away by being first feasted 
 (as he was the first holiday and the Polack the next) and 
 invited to the greatest masque, and the French seems to be 
 greatly discontented that he was flatly refused to be admitted 
 to the last, about which he used unmanly expostulations 
 with the King, and for a few days troubled all the Court ; 
 but the Queen was fain to take the matter upon her, who as 
 a masquer had invited the Spaniard, as the Duke before 
 had done the French, and to have them there could not be 
 without bloodshed." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ROYAL MASQUE— VISION OF THE TWELVE GODDESSES. 
 
 The Day of the Grand Royal Masque — Profanation of the British Sabbath — 
 Excitement in the Palace — Appearance of the Great Hall — The Scenery — The 
 King enters — Brilliant Spectacle — The Masque begins — " Night " appears — 
 "Sleep" awakened— "Iris"— "The Sibyl" — "The Three Graces" — "The 
 Twelve Goddesses * — The Procession down the Mountain and up the Hall — 
 The Songs and Dances — The Ladies' Dresses — The Goddesses retire — The 
 Supper after the Masque — Scramble for Seats — Renewed Jealousies of the 
 Ambassadors — Pirated Edition of the Masque — Plea for the Revival of the Old 
 English Masques. 
 
 OW at last " the great day," as Dudley Carleton 
 calls it, towards which the Court had been look- 
 ing forward for a full month, had come. It was 
 on Sunday, the 8th of January, 1604, m tne Great 
 Hall of the Palace, that the grand representation 
 of Daniel's " Vision of the Twelve Goddesses," took place. 
 It may surprise some that a Sunday was chosen for so 
 profane an entertainment ; but it should be remembered 
 that in England, until the days of the Puritans, the 
 Sabbath was not observed with the rigour that it was 
 afterwards. Plays, revels, bear-baiting, dancing, leaping, 
 archery, &c, were not only allowed, but encouraged. For 
 King James, soon after the time we are treating of, pub- 
 
1 8 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 lished his " Book of Sportes " for the use of his subjects, in 
 which he declared these and many other recreations to be 
 lawful on Sunday, and stigmatized the puritanical mode of 
 observing the day as leading to " filthie tippling and drun- 
 kennesse." 
 
 The time was about nine or ten o'clock in the evening, 
 and towards that hour the guests would be seen coming 
 from their lodgings in various parts of the Palace, or from 
 lodgings outside the gates, along the cloisters, preceded by 
 their attendants bearing torches. They would pass up the 
 large wooden staircase which leads from the cloisters to the 
 Hall, through the doors now closed, but which then opened 
 under the minstrel gallery. Others would arrive under the 
 archway beneath the clock, and go up the stone staircase, 
 the usual entrance now, also leading into the Hall under 
 the minstrel gallery. The King, the Prince, and the 
 ministers and great Lords of State, on the other hand, would 
 approach from the Great Watching Chamber at the upper 
 end of the Hall, which then communicated directly with the 
 galleries and chambers belonging to the State Rooms. 
 
 The whole appearance presented by the Hall must have 
 been very imposing. On both sides, the seats for the spec- 
 tators were arranged, rising doubtless in tiers one above an- 
 other, and leaving a large space in the middle of the room 
 for the procession of the Goddesses to advance, and ample 
 scope for them to execute their " measures/' At the lower, 
 or minstrel gallery end, was reared an elaborate piece of 
 scenery, representing a mountain, rising high into the roof, 
 and concealing the whole of the end wall ; at the upper end 
 of the Hall on the left-hand side, on the dais, was built the 
 " Temple of Peace," with a lofty cupola, and in the interior 
 an altar tended by the Sibylla. Not far from the Temple 
 was the cave of Somnus, " Sleep." 
 
 When everything was ready, and all the company as- 
 
1604] 
 
 Brilliant Spectacle in the Hall. 
 
 19 
 
 sembled, the doors at the top of the Hall would be flung 
 open, and the heralds proclaiming aloud " The King," would 
 sound a loud blast on their trumpets, at which the whole 
 
 The Great Hall. 
 
 company rising would make obeisance to the King, who 
 entered with a throng of courtiers, and counsellors, and am- 
 bassadors. He sat beneath the canopy of state, placed near 
 the beautiful south oriel window. 
 
20 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 The spectacle must have been brilliant in the extreme. 
 The beautiful scenery for the masque, the splendid and 
 costly dresses of the crowd of courtiers and ladies, the gor- 
 geous colours and marvellous workmanship of the tapestry 
 hangings, " than which the world can show nothing finer," 
 the rich decorations of the exquisitely moulded windows, 
 filled with lustrous stained glass, and above all the glorious 
 gothic roof, with its maze of delicately carved and softly- 
 tinted beams, spandrels, and corbels, amid the pierced tra- 
 cery of which flickered hundreds of little lamps, must have 
 combined to produce an effect never experienced in modern 
 times. Milton surely had some such scene in his mind when 
 he wrote the lines : — 
 
 From the arched roof, 
 Pendent by subtle magic many a row 
 Of starry lamps and blazing cressets fed 
 With naphtha and asphaltus yielded light 
 As from a sky. 
 
 And when we consider who were present on that night : 
 all the beauty, rank, and state of the Courts of England and 
 Scotland ; ambassadors of foreign Powers ; statesmen on 
 whom hung the present and future destinies of the British 
 Empire ; and beyond all, both the greatest philosopher, 
 Bacon, and the greatest poet, Shakespeare, that the world 
 has ever known — we feel that the interest of the occasion is 
 not undeserving of notice. 
 
 And now the masque began : — 
 
 First appeared " Night," decked in a black vesture, set 
 over with glittering stars. She rose up by a sort of trap- 
 door arrangement in the middle of the floor from the cellars 
 below, and marched slowly up to the cave, where her son, 
 " Sleep," lay, awakening him in a speech beginning " Awake, 
 dark Sleep," &c. : — 
 
1604] 
 
 Vision of the Twelve Goddesses. 
 
 21 
 
 Awake, dark Sleep, rouse thee from out this cave, 
 Thy mother Night, that bred thee in her womb, 
 And fed thee first with silence and with ease, 
 Doth here thy shadowing operations crave ; 
 And therefore wake, my son, awake, and come, 
 Strike with thy horny wand the spirits of these 
 That here expect some pleasing novelties, &c. 
 
 Her son at once obeyed her summons, and at her request, 
 consented to call forth a Vision to gratify the assembled 
 Court, which he forthwith proceeded to do by an invocation 
 and a waving of his wand, and then retired to slumber again. 
 As soon as he had gone, Iris, the messenger of the God- 
 desses, appeared on the top of the mountain, clad in a robe 
 striped with all the colours of the rainbow, and descending, 
 advanced to the Temple of Peace. Here she announced to 
 the Sibyl, the priestess thereof, the approach of a " celestial 
 presence of Goddesses," and at the same time gave her a 
 scroll, in which she might read a description of them, and of 
 the symbolical meaning of their several attires. 
 
 The Sibyl taking the scroll then read the " prospective " 
 set forth in it, of which we will give two stanzas as a speci- 
 men : — 
 
 Juno. 
 
 First here imperial Juno in her chair, 
 With sceptre of command for kingdoms large, 
 Descends all clad in colours of the air, 
 Crown'd with bright stars, to signify her charge. 
 
 Pallas. 
 
 Next warlike Pallas, in her helmet dress'd, 
 With lance of winning, target of defence, 
 In whom both wit and courage are express'd, 
 To get with glory, hold with providence. 
 
 As soon as the Sibyl had finished reading the description 
 of the Twelve Goddesses, there were seen at the top of the 
 
22 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 mountain the three Graces in silver robes, emerging from 
 the rocks and trees, and coming down the winding pathway- 
 hand in hand, with stately step, to the sound of a loud 
 march, played by minstrels attired as satyrs, or sylvan gods, 
 and seen half disclosed amid the rocks. Next came the 
 Twelve Goddesses, three and three, in various coloured 
 dresses, which are fully described in Daniel's explanatory 
 introduction to the masque, each followed by a torchbearer 
 dressed in a flowing white robe, studded over with golden 
 stars, their heads bespangled with the same, and carrying 
 long gilded waxen tapers. 
 
 Thus in order the whole procession wended its course 
 down the mountain's sinuous pathway, the whole being so 
 arranged as to admit of all the performers being seen on the 
 mountain at once. The first three Goddesses were Juno, Pallas, 
 and Venus, the characters being represented respectively by 
 Lady Suffolk, 1 the Queen, and Lady Rich. The next three 
 were Diana, Vesta, and Proserpine, represented by Lady 
 Hertford, Lady Bedford, and Lady Derby. The next were 
 Macaria, Concordia, and Astraea, by Lady Hatton, Lady 
 Nottingham, and Lady Walsingham. And lastly, Flora, 
 Ceres, and Tethys, by Lady Susan Vere, Lady Dorothy 
 Hastings, and Lady Elizabeth Howard. 
 
 The parts of the Graces, Iris, the Sibyl, Night, and 
 Somnus, as they involved speaking and singing, were pro- 
 bably, according to the custom that prevailed in Court 
 masques, entrusted to professional actors, of whom there 
 were plenty in the Palace at this time. 
 
 When the Goddesses reached the foot of the mountain, 
 they marched up the centre of the Hall towards the Temple 
 of Peace, while the Graces stood aside on the dais, and sang 
 a song of three stanzas, the first of which we append, to the 
 
 1 For a sketch of the lives of the tion to the reprint of The Vision of the 
 performers, see the author's Introduc- Twelve Goddesses. 
 
1604] Description of the Masque and the Masquers. 23 
 
 concert music which played in the dome of the Temple, out 
 of sight : — 
 
 Desert, Reward, and Gratitude, 
 The Graces of Society ; 
 
 Do here with hand in hand conclude 
 
 The blessed chain of amity : 
 
 For we deserve, we give, we thank, 
 Thanks, Gifts, Deserts, thus join in rank. 
 
 In the meanwhile the Goddesses went up one by one, and 
 presented their gifts to the Sibyl, and then turning, came 
 down into the midst of the Hall. 
 
 Then, when the Graces had finished their song, they 
 danced their measures, as Daniel says, " with great majesty 
 and art, consisting of divers strains, framed into motions, 
 circular, square, triangular, with other proportions exceed- 
 ing rare and full of variety," and then pausing, " they cast 
 themselves into a circle." The Graces hereupon sang 
 another song, while the Goddesses prepared "to take out 
 the Lords," which they did as soon as the song was finished, 
 and danced with them those " galliards " and " corantoes," 
 that have been described above. 
 
 After this Iris appeared again, and announced to the 
 Sibyl that " these Divine Powers " were about to depart, 
 and then they " fell to a short parting dance, and so re- 
 tired up the mountain in the same order as they came 
 down." 
 
 The above account has been given, with details from two 
 or three sources, that the reader might have a consecutive 
 description of the masque. But the following extract, in 
 continuation of Dudley Carletons letter, though he omits 
 some particulars, will give as vivid an idea of the enter- 
 tainment as could be desired : — 
 
 " The Hall was much lessened by the works that were in 
 it, so as none could be admitted but men of appearance ; the 
 
24 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 one end was made into a rock, and in several places the 
 waits placed, in attire like savages. Through the midst 
 from the top came a winding stair of breadth for three to 
 march ; and so descended the masquers by three and three ; 
 which being all seen on the stairs at once was the best pre- 
 sentation I have at any time seen. Their attire was alike, 
 loose mantles and petticoats, but of different colours ; the 
 stuffs embroidered satins and cloth of gold and silver, for 
 which they were beholding to Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe. 
 
 " Their heads by their dressing did only distinguish the 
 difference of the Goddesses they did represent. Only Pallas 
 had a trick by herself, for her clothes were not so much 
 below the knee but that we might see a woman had both 
 feet and legs, which I never knew before. She had a pair 
 of buskins set with rich stones, a helmet full of jewels, and 
 her whole attire embossed with jewels of several fashions. 
 Their torchbearers were pages in white satin loose gowns, 
 set with stars of gold ; and their torches of white virgin wax 
 gilded. Their demarch was slow and orderly ; and first they 
 made their offerings at an altar in a Temple which was built 
 on the left side of the Hall towards the upper end. The songs 
 and speeches that were there used I send you here enclosed. 
 Then after the walking of two rounds fell into their measures, 
 which for variety was nothing inferior, but had not the life, 
 as the former. For the common measures they took out 
 the Earl of Pembroke, the Duke, the Lord Chamberlain, 
 Lord Henry Howard, Southampton, Devonshire, Sidney, 
 Nottingham, Monteagle, Northumberland, Knollys, and 
 Worcester. For galliards and corantoes they went by 
 discretion, and the young Prince was tossed from hand to 
 hand like a tennis-ball. The Lady Bedford and Lady 
 Susan took out the two ambassadors ; and they bestirred 
 themselves very lively ; especially the Spaniard, for his 
 Spanish galliard showed himself a lusty old reveller. The 
 
1604] The Pi'ocession, Dances, and Supper. 2 5 
 
 Goddesses they danced with did their parts, and the rest 
 were nothing behindhand when it came to their turns, but 
 of all for good grace and good footmanship Pallas bare the 
 bell away. 1 They retired themselves towards midnight in 
 order as they came, and quickly returned unmasked, but in 
 their masquing attire. 
 
 " From thence they went with the King and the ambas- 
 sadors to a banquet provided in the Presence, which was de- 
 spatched with the accustomed confusion : and so ended that 
 night's sport with the end of our Christmas gambols." From 
 the last few lines we gather that the ladies wore masks. 
 This surviving element of the old masquerade, which can 
 scarcely have added to the effect, was soon afterwards given 
 up. The " accustomed confusion " with which, according to 
 Dudley Carleton, the banquet was despatched, was charac- 
 teristic of the times. In the same year, on St. Johns day, 
 at the masque by Ben Jonson, acted by the Queen and her 
 ladies at Whitehall to celebrate Lady Susan Vere's marriage, 
 the riot at supper was so great that, in the general scramble 
 for food, " down went tables and trestles before one bit 
 was touched." " There was no small loss that night of 
 chains and jewels, and many great ladies were made 
 shorter by their skirts, and were very well served that they 
 could cut no better : " so says a Court chronicler in a news- 
 letter. 2 
 
 To return to the masque. No small stir, as can be 
 imagined, was made by this the first royal dramatic repre- 
 sentation ever witnessed in England. Several accounts of 
 it were written ; one by a Mr. Philippes purporting to be 
 from Ortelio Renzo to Gio. Ant. Frederico, the Spanish 
 Ambassador, preserved among the State Records, deserves 
 
 1 Bells, instead of cups, used to be " to be the best." 
 given to winners of horse-races; 2 Winwood's Memorials, vol. ii., 
 whence the meaning of this phrase : p. 44. 
 
26 History of Hanipton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 perhaps to be cited. 1 It is dated January the 31st, 1604, 
 and is as follows : — 
 
 "The Court is yet at Hampton Court, where his Majesty, 
 
 Entrance to the Buttery under the Pantry and Great Hall. 
 
 the Queen, and Prince have continued all these holidays. 
 Now the Prince is gone to Oatlands, and about a fortnight 
 
 1 This letter, with others, is endorsed be counterfeited." See State Papers, 
 by Cecil thus : " Letters writen by M r . James vol. vi., No. 36. 
 Phelippes, and suggested by him to 
 
1604] W rangl ings of the Am bassadors. 2 7 
 
 hence the King and Queen purpose a remove to Whitehall. 
 The holidays were passed over with the accustomed Christ- 
 mas recreation, as playing, dancing, masking, and the like. 
 Two masques were famous, the one acted by the Queen and 
 eleven honourable ladies the Sunday after Twelfth day. 
 The French ambassador was present at the first and the 
 Spanish solemnly invited came to the second, albeit much 
 against the French his will, who laboured all he could to 
 have crossed him. All the ambassadors were feasted at 
 Court this Christmas, first the Spanish and Savoyer, 2, the 
 French and Florentine, 3, the Polonian and Venetian, and 
 all highly pleased but the French, who is malcontent to see 
 the Spaniard so kindly used, and it is plainly perceived 
 that he and the Florentine, and in some sort the Venetian, 
 labour all they can underhand to divert us from making 
 peace with Spain." On this topic of the ambassadors and 
 their quarrel Dudley Carleton adds in his letter quoted 
 above : — " Since, the Savoyard hath dined privately with the 
 King, and after dinner was brought out into the great cham- 
 ber to see the Prince dance, and a nimble fellow vault. He 
 then took his leave, but is not yet gone, and some doubt 
 his leave-taking was but cozenage to steal a dinner from the 
 Florentine, who expected to be first entertained. The 
 Spaniard and Florentine have not yet met, for they both 
 stand upon terms ; the one of his greatness, the other 
 upon custom that the first comer should salute the other 
 welcome. The Polack doth this day feast the Spaniard : 
 he hath taken his leave and is presented with jewels and 
 plate to the value of 2,000 crowns. The valuation of the 
 King's presents which he hath made to ambassadors since 
 his coming into England comes to 25,000 crowns." 
 
 On the 2nd of February Lord Worcester writes to Lord 
 Shrewsbury : 1 — " Whereas your Lordship saith you were 
 
 1 Progresses of James vol. i., p. 317 ; and Lodge, vol. iii., p. 227. 
 
28 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 never particularly advertised of the masque, I have been at 6d. 
 charge with you to get you the book, which will inform you 
 better than I can, having noted the names of the Ladies 
 applied to each Goddess. . . . This day the King dined with 
 the Florentine ambassador, who taketh now his leave very 
 shortly. He was with the King at the Play at night, and 
 supped with my Lady Rich in her chamber." 
 
 The " book " for which Lord Worcester had been at " 6d. 
 charge " was a surreptitious edition of the masque, published 
 without the authors permission or name, and which seems 
 to have given some offence to Daniel and the Court. It 
 was printed in small quarto with the following title : — 
 
 " The True description of a Royal Masque presented at 
 Hampton Court upon Sunday night, being the eighth of 
 January, 1604, an d personated by the Queens most excel- 
 lent majesty, attended by eleven Ladies of Honour. Lon- 
 don, Printed by Edward Allde, and are to be sold at the 
 Long Shoppe adjoining unto S. Mildred's Church in the 
 Poultrye, 1604/' This was the " unmannerly presumption of 
 an indiscreet printer, who, without warrant, hath divulged the 
 late shew at Court, and the same very disorderly set forth," 
 complained of by Daniel, which obliged him to issue an 
 edition of his own, correcting the errors of the unauthorized 
 copy, and giving elucidations of the more obscure parts. Of 
 this the author's edition in octavo — whose title is " The 
 Vision of the Twelve Goddesses presented in a masque at 
 Hampton Court, the 8 of January, etc. Printed by T. C. 
 for Simon Waterson. 1604" — there are only two copies, one 
 in the Bodleian Library, and one which was sold to Mr. 
 Pickering, in 1866, for nearly £g. Of the surreptitious 
 edition there are three copies in the British Museum, but 
 no other extant. It is in one of these, the copy belonging 
 to the King's Library, that the names of the performers are 
 inserted in a handwriting of the time; and as this hand- 
 
1604] Various Editions of Daniel } s Masque. 29 
 
 writing bears a close resemblance to Lord Worcester's, it 
 seems highly probable that this is the identical copy which 
 he speaks of in the letter above. This little pamphlet of 
 seven leaves, for which Worcester gave sixpence, would 
 fetch now, it need hardly be said, almost its weight in five 
 pound notes, and many times its weight in gold. 
 
 With regard to the literary merit of this masque : although 
 in it Daniel has not attained to the degree of excellence Ben 
 Jonson subsequently reached in these pieces, and although 
 he has not infused into it such exquisite poetry as we find in 
 the " Masque of Queens," the " Masque of Beauty," or the 
 " Masque of Oberon," still we recognize in it an ingenious 
 fancy, and that accuracy of versification and lucidity of ex- 
 pression, which earned for him the name of " the well- 
 languaged Daniel." The coming of Iris, the " many-coloured 
 messenger that ne'er doth disobey the wife of Jupiter," to 
 announce the approach of the goddesses Juno, Ceres, &c, 
 will remind the reader of the masque in the " Tempest," 
 where the same incident occurs. 
 
 Enough has now, probably, been given to enable the 
 reader to picture to himself a Court masque in the olden 
 time. Unfortunately, the career of the masque, though 
 brilliant, was short-lived. With the decay of the drama in 
 Charles I .'s reign, masques entirely died out, and were not 
 revived when the taste for the theatre returned with 
 Charles II. 
 
 But the suggestion forces itself upon the mind that, in 
 these days of revivals of whatever is beautiful in the past, 
 these exquisite creations of fancy should not be allowed to 
 slumber. Their later development is so peculiarly English, 
 if their origin was not, and they are so superior in structure 
 to the Italian opera, that it ought to be a point of national 
 pride to restore, and still further develop them. Certainly, 
 no play is so adapted for private theatricals as these English 
 
30 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 lyrical dramas. Though the number of them preserved in 
 our old literature is few — being at the utmost about thirty or 
 forty — yet among them will be found some to suit every 
 variety of circumstance and taste. In these entertainments, 
 too, all can take part. There are speeches, dialogues, and 
 situations, involving nice discriminations of character, for 
 actors ; songs for the musical ; and dances, dresses, and 
 show for the rest ; and they are always full of a rich store 
 of imagery, and instinct with the spirit of true poetry. The 
 time has gone by when critics, knowing nothing at all about 
 them, sneered at and disparaged them. Isaac D' Israeli, 
 Gifford, and others have placed them before the world in 
 their true light. They have shown that representations, for 
 which Ben Jonson took special pleasure in writing the 
 librettos, and which even Shakespeare did not despise, for 
 which Inigo Jones was proud of designing the scenery, for 
 which even Bacon, Selden, and other great statesmen and 
 lawyers sat on committees of management, and vied with 
 one another in arranging dances, marches, and other details, 
 and even in taking parts, and in which the refined King 
 Charles and his Court took particular delight, were not the 
 mere " bungling shows " they were alleged to be. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE HAMPTON COURT CONFERENCE BETWEEN ANGLICANS 
 AND PURITANS. 
 
 The Millenary Petition — A Conference granted by King James between the 
 Church of England and the Puritans — James opens the First Day's Proceedings — 
 Rattle of the Dry Bones of Theology — The Puritan Divines called in on the 
 Second Day — Blatant Intolerance of the Bishop of London — The Authorized 
 Version of the Bible determined on — James's Display of Biblical Learning — 
 Grows impatient of the Arguments of the Puritan Divines — They are insulted 
 and browbeaten — " Away with your Snivelling " — " May you want Linen for your 
 own Breach " — The Episcopalians declare the King to speak by Inspiration of 
 the Holy Spirit — Fulsome Flattery of the Archbishop of Canterbury — The Bishop 
 of London throws himself on his Knees in Adoration — " Such a King never 
 known since the Time of Christ " — Effects of the Conference — Delight of the 
 Royal Pedant — " I have peppered them soundly." 
 
 H E gaieties that we have described in our pre- 
 ceding chapter were soon, however, to give way 
 to more serious affairs. The religious question, 
 which in the general excitement of the accession 
 of the new King had fallen somewhat in the 
 background, was now coming forward again for attention 
 and settlement. The Puritans, who, relying on the fact of 
 the King having been educated among Presbyterians, were 
 looking forward to a policy of conciliation on his part, had 
 
32 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 framed, in the autumn of 1603, the famous "Millenary 
 Petition " — so called from the number of those whose 
 sentiments it expressed — stating their grievances and crav- 
 ing various reforms. Their demands, however, opened too 
 many debatable points to be granted or refused without 
 much consideration. James, therefore, consented that a 
 conference should take place, in which all the questions at 
 issue should be discussed between the representatives of the 
 two parties — the Bishops and Deans on the part of the 
 Church of England, and several divines deputed to speak 
 the mind of the general Puritan body. The discussion was 
 to take place in the presence of the King, and the 12th of 
 January was appointed by royal proclamation as the date on 
 which it was to open. The day, however, was afterwards 
 deferred till Saturday the 14th ; and in the meanwhile, on 
 the evening of Friday the 1 3th, those who had been ordered 
 to attend waited on the King, who sent for them " into an 
 inner withdrawing chamber, where in a very private manner, 
 and in as few words, but with most gracious countenance," 
 imparted to them why they had been summoned. 1 
 
 Next day was held the first formal meeting of the Con- 
 ference, in the King's Privy Chamber, one of the large 
 rooms of Henry VIII. 's suite of state apartments on the 
 east side of the Clock Court, which were altered in the 
 reign of George II. 
 
 It seems that the Chapel had been first selected as the 
 place of meeting; but this arrangement was afterwards 
 changed — which was fortunate, considering some of the 
 incidents of the subsequent proceedings. On the first day 
 the Puritans were not called in ; but the matters to be 
 
 1 Barlow's Sum and Substance of Hutton, Archbishop of York, in Strype's 
 
 the Conference, 1603, reprinted in The Whitgift, Appendix of Records, book 
 
 Phoenix. See also Fuller's Church iv., No. xlv. Dodd's Church History, 
 
 History, book x., p. 267, and letter of vol. iv., p. 21. 
 Toby Matthew, Bishop of Durham, to 
 
1604] Conference between Anglicans and Puritans. 33 
 
 discussed with them were virtually decided on in conference 
 between the King and the Episcopalian party, powerfully 
 represented in the persons of the Lords of the Privy 
 Council, the Bishops and five Deans, " who being called in, 
 the door was close shut by my Lord Chamberlain. After 
 a while his excellent Majesty came in, and having passed 
 a few pleasant gratulations with some of the Lords, he sat 
 down in his chair, removed forward from the cloth of state 
 a pretty distance." His seat was of course at the head of 
 the board. The clergy who sat on his left consisted of 
 Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the following 
 Bishops — Bancroft of London, Matthew of Durham, 
 Bilson of Winchester, Babington of Worcester, Rudd of 
 St. Davids, Watson of Chichester, Robinson of Carlisle, 
 and Dove of Peterborough. There were likewise present 
 the Deans of the Royal Chapel, of Westminster, of St. 
 Paul's, of Chester, and of Salisbury, namely, Montagu, 
 Andrews, Overall, Bridges, and Barlow, whose account of 
 the proceedings is the chief authority relied on for the 
 history of the Conference. Other ecclesiastics, namely, the 
 Deans of Christchurch and of Worcester, Ravis and Eedes, 
 and Drs. Field and King, though summoned by letters, and 
 ready waiting in the Presence Chamber, were not called 
 into the Privy Chamber on the first day. All the Lords of 
 the Privy Council, who sat on the right hand of the King, 
 wefe present as spectators, " whereas some at times inter- 
 posed a few words." 1 
 
 The King opened the proceedings by a speech of an 
 hour's duration, in which he began by blessing " God's 
 gracious goodness" (" at which words," says Barlow, 2 " he 
 was observed to put off his hat "), " who hath brought me 
 into the promised land, where religion is purely pro- 
 
 1 Strype's Whitgift, &c, ubi supra. 
 
 2 Barlow's Sum and Substance, &c, p. 142. 
 
A Corner in the Master Carpenter's Court. 
 
1604] James I. holds forth on Theology. 
 
 fessed, where I sit amongst grave, learned, and reve- 
 rend men ; not as before, elsewhere, a. king without state, 
 without honour, without order, where beardless boys would 
 brave us to the face ! " He then went on to assure them 
 that he was altogether opposed to any innovation, but that 
 his purpose was, " like a good physician, to examine and try 
 the complaints," and that " if anything should be found meet 
 to be redressed, it might be done without any visible 
 alteration," and for that purpose he had called them to- 
 gether. Entering next into the points which he meant to 
 take his stand upon, he expressed his own views on the 
 principal topics with great emphasis and force. When he 
 had concluded, Archbishop Whitgift made a few remarks, 
 addressing the King on his knees. After that a general 
 discussion followed, lasting three or four hours, " the King 
 alone," says Dean Montagu, who wrote an account of it to 
 his mother a day or two after, " disputing with the Bishops 
 so wisely, wittily and learnedly, with that pretty patience, 
 as I think never man living heard the like." He also took 
 the opportunity of propounding his panacea for England's 
 standing political difficulty — the state of the Emerald Isle. 
 " For Ireland the conclusion was (the King making a most 
 lamentable description of the state thereof) that it should 
 be reduced to civility, planted with schools and ministers, 
 as many as could be gotten." 1 
 
 So ended the first day's conference, from which it was 
 pretty evident that the King and his advisers had resolved 
 to make very few, if any, concessions ; and certainly none 
 that would be substantial. 
 
 In the meanwhile the representatives of the Puritans — 
 Dr. Reynolds, Dr. Sparks, Mr. Knewstubs, and Mr. Cha- 
 derton — remained outside the door, " sitting on a form." 
 
 1 Winwood's Memorials, vol. ii., p. 74, and see also Nichols' Progresses of 
 James vol. i., p. 314. 
 
36 History of Hampton Court Palace, [1604 
 
 On the following Monday, between eleven and twelve in 
 the morning, the King summoned the four Puritan divines 
 before him into the Privy Chamber, to hear them state their 
 case. The Bishops, except those of London and Win- 
 chester, did not attend on this occasion ; but the Deans and 
 Doctors were admitted, as well as Patrick Galloway, some- 
 time minister of Perth, who was allowed to be present as a 
 spectator. When they were all assembled the King took 
 his seat as on the day before, " the noble young Prince 
 sitting by, upon a stool," and his Majesty delivered himself 
 of " a short, but a pithy and sweet speech to the same pur- 
 pose which the first day he made." He ended by saying 
 " he was now ready to hear at large what they could object 
 or say ; and so willed them to begin. Whereupon they four 
 kneeling down, Dr. Reynolds the Foreman, after a short 
 preamble gratulatory," proceeded to state four points on 
 which they based their requests. 
 
 We need not follow in detail the tedious theological 
 wrangle that ensued — how, when the learned and dignified 
 Puritan was calmly and respectfully, but firmly, propound- 
 ing his view, the intolerant Bishop of London, burning 
 with all the intensity of religious hate, rudely interrupted 
 him, and told him that they should be thankful to the King, 
 for his great clemency, in permitting them to speak against 
 the liturgy and discipline of the Church, as by law esta- 
 blished, and upbraiding them " for appearing before his 
 Majesty in Turkey gowns and not in your scholastic habits, 
 according to the orders of the University;" how the King, 
 for whose especial edification this rancorous outburst of 
 episcopal zeal was designed, felt bound, in his judicial 
 character of Moderator, to reprove the Bishop for his 
 " sudden interruption of Dr. Reynolds, whom you should 
 have suffered to have taken his liberty, for there is no 
 order, nor can there be effectual issue of disputation, if each 
 
1604] The Puritans insulted by the Bishop of London, 37 
 
 party be not suffered, without chopping, to speak at large ; " 
 and how, when Dr. Reynolds dealt with other matters of 
 doctrine and worship, which were vital to the Puritan con- 
 science, but which naturally seemed, " both to the King 
 and the Lords very idle and frivolous, occasion was taken 
 in some by-talk to remember a certain description which 
 Mr. Butler of Cambridge made of a Puritan, viz., A Puri- 
 tan is a Protestant frayed out of his wits." In such a fire 
 of interruption and audibly-whispered sneers had the Puri- 
 tan divine to lay his case before the Head of the Church of 
 England ! 
 
 In the discussion that followed a great many topics 
 were touched upon, among them the translation of the 
 Scriptures ; and it is interesting to note that it was a sug- 
 gestion of the spokesman of the Puritan sect which led to 
 the compilation of the famous English authorized version 
 of the Bible. " May your Majesty be pleased," asked Dr. 
 Reynolds, " that the Bible be new translated, such transla- 
 tions as are extant not answering the original ? " But 
 here the Bishop of London broke in again : "If every 
 man's humour might be followed there would be no end of 
 translating." Fortunately, however, James's instincts as a 
 scholar made him look on this matter in a more liberal 
 spirit. " I profess," said he, " I could never see a Bible well 
 translated in English ; but I think that of all, that of Geneva 
 is the worst. I wish some special pains were taken for a 
 uniform translation ; which should be done by the best 
 learned in both universities, then reviewed by the bishops, 
 presented to the Privy Council, lastly ratified by royal 
 authority to be read in the whole church, and no other." 
 " But it is fit that no marginal notes should be added 
 thereto," interjected the irrepressible Bishop of London ; on 
 which his Majesty observed, " That caveat is well put in, 
 for in the Geneva translation some notes are partial, untrue, 
 
38 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 seditious, and savouring of traitorous conceits ; as when 
 from Exodus i. 19 disobedience to kings is allowed in a 
 marginal note." 
 
 Shortly afterwards "the King arose from his chair, and 
 withdrew himself into his inner chamber a little space. In 
 the meantime a great questioning was among the Lords 
 about that place of Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 10, with which, as 
 if it had been rest and upshot, they began afresh, at his 
 Majesty's return ; who, seeing them so to urge it, and stand 
 upon it, calling for a Bible, first shewed the author of that 
 book who he was ; then the cause why he wrote it ; next 
 analysed the chapter itself, shewing the precedents and con- 
 sequents thereof; lastly, so exactly and divine-like unfolded 
 the sum of that place, arguing -and demonstrating so that 
 the susurrus at the first mention, was not so great as the 
 astonishment was now at the King's sudden and sound and 
 indeed so admirable interpretation." Another point dis- 
 cussed was the objection against interrogatories in baptism ; 
 which, being a profound point, was put upon Mr. Knew- 
 stubs to pursue, " who in a long perplexed speech," accord- 
 ing to the episcopalian Barlow, " said something out of 
 Austin ! " But by this time the King's humour for listening 
 to Puritan arguments was getting exhausted, and he de- 
 clared he did not understand what Knewstubs was driving 
 at, and asked the Lords and Deans if they could either, who 
 of course deferentially declared that they were even more 
 puzzled than his Majesty. And when the divine proceeded 
 to take exception to the cross in baptism, on the ground 
 that " the weak brethren were offended at it," James could 
 stand it no longer, and asked him sharply : " How long will 
 such brethren remain weak ? Are not forty-five years suffi- 
 cient for them to grow strong in ? and who are they that 
 pretend this weakness ? We require not subscriptions of 
 laics and idiots, but of preachers and ministers, who are not 
 
1604] James I. browbeats the Puritan Divines. 39 
 
 still, I trow, to be fed with milk, being enabled to feed 
 others. Some of them are strong enough, if not head-strong. 
 And howsoever they in this case pretend weakness, yet some, 
 in whose behalf you now speak, think themselves able to 
 teach me, and all the bishops of the land!" No wonder 
 when the modest Puritan divine found his temperately pre- 
 ferred arguments met with royal browbeating of this sort, 
 that he became confused and abashed ; a demeanour which 
 was at once complacently taken by the King, and flatteringly 
 declared by his courtiers, to be conclusive evidence how 
 acute and overwhelming was his Majesty's reasoning, and 
 how impotent were the wretched precisian's arguments, when 
 opposed to the theology of the British Solomon ! 
 
 A similar reception was accorded to Mr. Knewstubs' 
 elaborate argument on the power of the Church to add the 
 use of the cross in baptism, 1 with regard to which he said 
 " the greatest scruple is, how far the ordinance of the Church 
 bindeth, without impeaching Christian liberty" — on which 
 James burst out, " I will not argue that point with you, but 
 answer therein, as Kings are wont to speak in Parliament, 
 Le Roy savisera;" adding, "It smelleth very rankly of 
 Anabaptism, and is like the usage of a beardless boy (one 
 Mr. John Black), who, the last conference I had with the 
 ministers of Scotland, told me, ' That he would hold con- 
 formity with me for matters of doctrine ; but for matters of 
 ceremony, they were to be left in Christian liberty to every 
 man, as he received more and more light from the illumi- 
 nation of God's spirit — even till they go mad with their own 
 light. But I will none of that ; I will have one doctrine, 
 and one discipline, one religion in substance and cere- 
 mony ; and there I charge you never to speak more to that 
 point (how far you are bound to obey) when the Church 
 hath ordained it. Have you anything else to say ? ' " 
 
 1 Barlow's Stim and Substance, &c, p. 166. 
 
AO History of Hampton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 In spite of this rather discouraging style of discussion, 
 Dr. Reynolds, after objecting to the use of the surplice, 
 took exception to the words in the marriage service, " With 
 my body I thee worship." To this, however, James 
 answered that it was a usual English term, as " a gentle- 
 man of worship/' &c, and the sense agreeable to the Scrip- 
 tures — " Giving honour to the wife." Then turning to the 
 doctor, who happened to be an unmarried man, he laughed 
 and jeered at him, saying, " Many a man speaks of Robin 
 Hood, who never shot in his bow. If you had a good wife 
 yourself, you would think all the honour and worship you 
 could give her were well bestowed ! " 
 
 So far James had listened with some show of tolerance ; 
 but when the Puritan divine had the audacity to proceed to 
 express a desire that the clergy should have meetings every 
 three weeks for prophecyings, " His Majesty was much 
 stirred, yet, which is admirable in him, without passion or 
 shew thereof, exclaimed, ' If you aim at a Scottish presby- 
 tery, it agreeth as well with monarchy as God and the 
 Devil. Then Jack and Tom and Will and Dick shall meet, 
 and at their pleasures censure me and my Council and all 
 our proceedings. Then Will shall stand up, and say, "It 
 must be thus." Then Dick shall reply, and say, " Nay, 
 marry, but we will have it thus." And, therefore, here I 
 must once more reiterate my former speech, Le Roy 
 savisera. Stay, I pray you, for one seven years, before you 
 demand that of me ; and if you find me pursy and fat, and 
 my windpipes stuffed, I will, perhaps, hearken to you. For 
 let that government be once up, I am sure I shall be kept 
 in breath ; then shall we all of us have work enough — both 
 our hands full. But, Dr. Reynolds, till you find that I grow 
 
 lazy, let that alone No Bishop, no King ! " And 
 
 then, for it was already night, asking Reynolds abruptly if 
 he had any more to object, and the doctor wisely saying, 
 
1604] 
 
 "No Bishop, No King" 
 
 4i 
 
 " No," he appointed the following Wednesday for both 
 parties to meet him. Then, " rising from his chair, as he was 
 going to his inner chamber, ' If this be all/ quoth he, 'they 
 have to say, I will make them conform themselves, or I will 
 harry 1 them out of this land, or else do worse.' " 
 
 Such is the toned-down official account by Dr. Barlow, 
 who was present reporting, of the second day's proceedings, 
 " which," he adds, " raised such an admiration in the Lords, 
 in respect of the King's singular readiness and exact know- 
 ledge, that one of them said he was fully persuaded his 
 Majesty spake by the instinct of the spirit of God. My 
 Lord Cecil acknowledged that * very much we are bound to 
 God, who had given us a King of an understanding heart.' 
 My Lord Chancellor, passing out of the Privy Chamber, 
 said unto the Dean of Chester, standing by the door, 1 1 
 have often heard and read that Rex est mixta persona cum 
 sacerdote ; but I never saw the truth thereof till this day.' 
 Surely," adds Barlow, on his own account, " whoever 
 heard his Majesty might justly think that title did more 
 perfectly fit him, which Eunapius gave to that famous 
 rhetorician in saying that he was ' a living library and a 
 walking study.' " 
 
 A rather different version, however, of what passed is 
 given by another eye-witness, Sir John Harrington, in a 
 letter to his wife, written in the evening of the day on which 
 these proceedings had taken place: 2 — " The King talked 
 much Latin, and disputed with Dr. Reynolds; but he rather 
 used upbraidings than arguments ; and told them they 
 wanted to strip Christ again, and bid them away with their 
 snivelling. Moreover he wished those who would take 
 away the surplice, might want linen for their own breech ! 
 The Bishops seemed much pleased, and said his Majesty 
 
 1 To harry is to chase with harriers. 
 
 2 Harrington's Breefe Notes in Nugce Antiques, vol. i., p. 181. 
 
42 History of Hampton Court Palace. [_ l6o 4 
 
 spoke by the power of inspiration. I wist not what they 
 mean ; but the spirit was rather foul-mouthed." 
 
 On Wednesday, January 18th, the third sitting of the 
 Conference was held, and was attended by all the Privy 
 Councillors and all the Bishops and Deans. The principal 
 matter of debate on this occasion was the Court of High 
 Commission and the oath ex officio, on which account the 
 Knights and Doctors of the Arches — Sir Daniel Dunne, Sir 
 Thomas Crumpton, Sir Richard Swale, Sir John Bennett, 
 and Dr. Drury— were also summoned ; but the Puritans, 
 the other party to the suit as it were, who were the most 
 interested in the matters debated, were not admitted until 
 the close of the sitting. After the King had propounded 
 these matters for discussion in a brief speech, one of the 
 Lords, with seeming audacity, ventured to characterize the 
 proceedings of that court as " like unto the Spanish In- 
 quisition, and that by the oath ex officio they were forced to 
 accuse themselves." This remark was probably made by 
 arrangement, in order to give King James an opportunity of 
 defending both institutions, which he did in an elaborate 
 and carefully prepared impromptu speech, " so soundly and 
 in such compendious but absolute order," according to the 
 official report, " that all the Lords and the rest of the present 
 auditors stood amazed at it." 
 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury did not hesitate to declare 
 that " undoubtedly his • Majesty spake by the special assis- 
 tance of God's spirit ; " while the Bishop of London, not to 
 be outdone by any fellow ecclesiastic in fulsome flattery, 
 threw himself upon his knees, protesting before the whole 
 company that " his heart melted within him (as so, he 
 doubted not, did the hearts of the whole company) with joy, 
 and made haste to acknowledge unto Almighty God the 
 singular mercy we have received at his hands, in giving us 
 such a king, as since Christ's time the like had not been ! " 
 
1604] Fulsome Flattery of the Bishops. 43 
 
 "Whereunto," continues the report, "the Lords, with one 
 voice, did yield a very affectionate acclamation ; " and the 
 Doctors of the Civil Law " confessed that they could not, in 
 many hours' warning, have so judicially, plainly, and accu- 
 rately, and in such a brief, described it." 
 
 All this, of course, gratified the royal pedant immensely ; 
 and he then proceeded to commit " some weighty matters 
 for them to be consulted of," the last of which was " for the 
 sending and appointing of preachers into Ireland, 'whereof,' 
 saith his Majesty, ' I am but half a king, being lord over 
 their bodies ; but their souls seduced by Popery ! ' " 
 
 At this stage, when everything had been practically con- 
 cluded and decided on, Dr. Reynolds and his fellow-Non- 
 conformist divines were called in, and told what had been 
 determined on ; and, after some desultory consultation, " his 
 Majesty made a gracious conclusion, which was so piercing," 
 says Barlow, " that it fetched tears from some on both sides. 
 My Lord of London ended all, in the name of the whole 
 company, with a thanksgiving unto God for his Majesty, 
 and a prayer for the health and prosperity of his Highness, 
 our gracious Queen, the young Prince, and all the Royal 
 issue. His Majesty then rose, and retired to the Inner 
 Chamber ; and all the Lords then went to the Council 
 Chamber, to appoint Commissioners for the several matters 
 before referred." 
 
 Thus ended the famous Hampton Court Conference, so 
 momentous in its results, which convinced the Puritans that 
 they had nothing to hope for from King James, and which 
 showed him that they were not to be won over by minor 
 concessions in matters of detail. Henceforth the two parties 
 stood out opposite each other in an attitude of uncom- 
 promising hostility, which was to develop later on into the 
 death-struggle of the Great Rebellion. Had James been 
 more anxious to conciliate the Dissenters than to display his 
 
44 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 own learning, mutual concessions might have been arrived 
 at, which would have doubled the power of the Church of 
 England, fixed his throne on an unshakable basis, and 
 saved his son's head. 
 
 Fortunately, perhaps, for the cause of civil and religious 
 liberty, no such strengthening of the forces of absolutism 
 and ecclesiasticism resulted from the Conference, and the 
 Puritans were left free and unfettered to work out, in their 
 own rough and somewhat uncouth way, the political and 
 religious emancipation of England. The direct effects of the 
 Conference were, in fact, but trivial and insignificant, and 
 have been summed up in the pithy sentence, " that the 
 King went above himself; that the Bishop of London ap- 
 peared even with himself ; and that Dr. Reynolds fell 
 beneath himself." 
 
 The Puritans, as is usual with discomfited disputants, 1 
 blamed their representatives, who, they declared, were not 
 of their nomination or choosing, which was probably true 
 enough ; and, besides, complained, with more justice, that the 
 points in controversy, instead of being discussed, had been 
 privately determined on between the King and the Bishops, 
 and then nakedly propounded for acceptance, so that the 
 Puritans had only been brought forward to be made a 
 spectacle to their enemies, to be browbeaten and threatened, 
 and borne down by dictates of royal authority. Indeed, we 
 cannot but wonder at the hardihood of the four dissenting 
 divines, in accepting so unequal a contest, with the King as 
 moderator, who was himself the most bitter and violent 
 partisan of all. Needless to say that they equally objected 
 to the garbled account of the proceedings, which was put 
 forth by the Court party, and which — partial as it proves the 
 conduct of the royal moderator to have been, and insulting 
 and humiliating as it shows his treatment of the Puritans 
 
 1 Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. ii., p. 19. 
 
Results of the Conference. 
 
 45 
 
 to have been — yet throws a careful veil over the less credit- 
 able incidents and the grosser expressions of the King. 
 
 The whole conference was probably determined on by 
 James with no other object than of gratifying his pedantic 
 vanity, and exhibiting himself in the character of a learned 
 and subtle disputant. Of his own estimate of his achieve- 
 ments at Hampton Court we get a glimpse from a letter he 
 wrote, a day or two after its close, to a friend of his in Scot- 
 land. 1 " We have kept," says he, " such a revel with the 
 Puritans here this two days, as was never heard the like : 
 quhaire I have peppered thaime as soundlie as yee have done 
 the Papists thaire. It were no reason, that those that will 
 refuse an airy sign of the cross after baptism should have 
 their purses stuffed with any more solid and substantial 
 crosses. They fled me so from argument to argument, 
 without ever answering me directly, ut est eorum moris, as I 
 was forced at last to say unto thaime, that if any of thaime 
 had been in a college disputing with thair scholars, if any of 
 their disciples had answered thaime in that sort, they would 
 have fetched him up in place of a reply ; and so should the 
 rod have ply ed upon the poor boy es buttocks I I have such a 
 book of thaires as may well convert infidels, but it shall 
 never convert me, except by turning me more earnestly 
 against thayme." 
 
 1 Strype's Whitgift, Appendix iv., No. xlvi. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 JAMES I.'S VISITORS — PRESBYTERIANS PREACHED AT. 
 
 The Court go to London — Henry, Prince of Wales, comes to reside at the Palace 
 — His Fondness for Athletic Exercises — Curious Picture of him out Stag-hunting 
 — Fond of Tennis — Return of James and his Queen — Lady Arabella Stuart — 
 Proposed matrimonial Alliances for her — "The Fair Maid of Bristol" — Visit of 
 Christian IV. of Denmark — "The King keeps Wassail" — The Ladies become 
 intoxicated — Plays acted before the Royal Dane — Another Rattle of the Dry 
 Bones of Theology — The Scotch Presbyterian Ministers summoned to a Con- 
 ference and preached and prated at — Passive Obedience the First Duty — Visit of 
 the Prince Vaudemont. 
 
 ARLY in February, 1604, the Court left Hamp- 
 ton Court for Royston, whence it shortly after 
 moved to Whitehall, and thence to the Tower, 
 preparatory to the triumphal passage of the 
 King and Queen through the City of London, 
 which took place with much pageantry and festivity. After 
 this, Henry, Prince of Wales, came down to reside at Hamp- 
 ton Court with some of his household and attendants ; and 
 here, for the following eight or nine months he devoted him- 
 self to his studies and artistic pursuits, and to the athletic 
 exercises in which he so much delighted and excelled. Of 
 horses and all belonging to them he was particularly fond, 
 and though preferring hunting for the pleasure he took in 
 
Henry, Prince of Wales, and the Earl of Essex. 
 
 From the picture at Hampton Court. 
 
1604] 
 
 The Prince of Wales Sports. 
 
 47 
 
 galloping rather than for the sport, he often went out stag- 
 hunting in the parks, and was an unerring shot with the 
 bow. Of this taste there is an interesting reminiscence in a 
 curious old picture at Hampton Court, painted about this 
 time, when the young Prince was eleven years old, repre- 
 senting him as just drawing out his sword from the scab- 
 bard to cut the throat of a stag after hunting. 1 Opposite to 
 him is his friend and companion, Robert Devereux, Earl of 
 Essex, kneeling on one knee, and holding the stag by the 
 antlers. They are both dressed in green hunting suits, and 
 behind the Prince are his horse and groom and a dog. H e also 
 spent much of his time in tossing the pike, leaping, shooting 
 at the butts, throwing the bar, vaulting and playing at bowls 
 and tennis, for all which sports there was every convenience 
 and facility at Hampton Court. Of his skill at tennis there 
 is frequent mention, 2 and a curious print exists of his play- 
 ing at that game in the tennis court of one of the royal 
 palaces, which may perhaps represent that at Hampton 
 Court. It may have been here also that his companion Essex, 
 one day when they were playing at tennis together, threatened 
 to strike him across the head with his racket for calling him 
 " the son of a traitor." 3 
 
 The Prince remained at this Palace throughout the sum- 
 mer, and was still here when the King and Queen came back 
 in the autumn, the period of the year at which, from this 
 time forth, the King was accustomed to come and reside 
 here. So uniform, in fact, was he in his movements, as well 
 as in his diet, that Weldon remarks that " the best observ- 
 ing courtier of our time was wont to say, were he asleep 
 seven years, and then awakened, he would tell where the 
 
 1 In the Queen's Audience Chamber. 2 Birch's Me?noirs of Prince Henry, 
 See the author's Historical Catalogue, p. 75. 
 
 No. 400. 3 Secret History of fames I., vol. i., 
 
 p. 266. 
 
4 8 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1604 
 
 King every day had been, and every dish he had at his 
 table/' 1 
 
 With the Court came the Lady Arabella Stuart, who 
 spent her time, according to a letter of William Fowler to 
 her uncle the Earl of Shrewsbury, " in lecture, reading, 
 hearing of service, preaching, and visiting all the Prin- 
 cesses. 2 She will not hear of marriage/' adds he, although 
 Count Maurice was aspiring to her hand. Curiously enough, 
 on the very same day her uncle heard from another source, 
 the Earl of Pembroke, who was also at Hampton Court, of 
 another matrimonial alliance in prospect for his niece. " A 
 great embassy," wrote he, "is coming from the King of 
 Poland, whose chief errand is to demand the Lady Arabella 
 in marriage for his master. So may your Princess of the 
 Blood grow a great Queen, and then we shall be safe from 
 the danger of mis-superscribing our letters." 3 
 
 But, as D' Israeli observes, " To the Lady Arabella 
 crowns and husbands were like a fairy banquet seen at 
 moonlight, opening on her sight, impassable and vanishing 
 at the moment of approach." For the King and Queen in 
 no way favoured her marriage with anyone, and so 
 violently opposed each suggested match that she at last was 
 united clandestinely to Seymour, son of the Earl of Hert- 
 ford, with what sad and fatal results will be well 
 remembered. 
 
 The Court must have been again at Hampton Court at the 
 beginning of 1605 5 f° r > on tne 8 th of February of that year, 
 there was registered by Thomas Pavyer at Stationers' Hall, a 
 copy of " A Commedy called The Fayre Mayd of Bristoe 
 [i.e. Bristol] played at Hampton Court by his Majesties 
 
 1 Anthony Weldon's Character of Hons of English History, vol. iii., p. 
 King fames. See Secret History of 236, and also Progresses of fames 
 fames vol. ii., p. 5. vol. i., p. 457. 
 
 2 October 3rd. Lodge's lllustra- 3 D'Israeli's Curiosities oj 'Literature. 
 
1606] The Lady Arabella Stuart. 49 
 
 players," 1 — an entry which seems to refer to a recent acting 
 of the piece, though it may well be the case that it had 
 been presented the previous year, during the grand Christ- 
 mas festivities of 1603-4, and that its publication was 
 deferred. The play, of which there was formerly a copy 
 in the Roxburghe Library, 2 and of which there is now one in 
 the Dyce Library in the South Kensington Museum, is 
 printed in black letter with the following title : — " The 
 Faire Maide of Bristow ; as it was plaide at Hampton, 
 before the King and Queenes most excellent Majesties. 
 Printed at London for Thomas Pavyer, and are to be solde, 
 at his shop at the entrance into the Exchange. 1605." 
 
 The King was again at the Palace at the end of Septem- 
 ber, 1605, when, on Michaelmas Day, Bancroft, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, was sworn a Privy Councillor ; 3 and he re- 
 mained here, through October, till just before the meeting 
 of Parliament and the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot ; 
 returning again in December, during the trial of the con- 
 spirators. 4 He was often at this Palace, also, in the February 
 following for a few days in the middle of the week, probably 
 to have some sport in the parks. 5 
 
 In the summer of 1606, Hampton Court was honoured by 
 a visit from the Queen's brother, King Christian IV. of 
 Denmark, who was over in England spending a short time 
 with his relations. He was accompanied by a bodyguard of a 
 hundred men dressed in blue velvet and silver, with twelve 
 trumpeters and twelve pages. He and his suite left Green- 
 wich on August 6th, accompanied by his sister and brother- 
 in-law, to inspect their Majesties' palaces in the neighbour- 
 hood of London and to hunt in the parks. Having gone first 
 
 1 Arber's Transcripts of the Sta- &c, vol. i., p. 577. 
 
 tioners* Registers, vol. iii., p. 283. 4 State Papers, Domestic, James I., 
 
 2 Progresses of James L, vol. i., vol. xv., No. 65. 
 
 p. 495, and vol. iii., p. 1065. 5 Nichols' Progresses, vol. iii., p. 
 
 3 Howe's Chronicle j and Progresses, 1069. 
 # E 
 
5<D History of Hampton Court Palace. [1606 
 
 to Richmond, where they hunted and slept the night, they 
 came over the next day and " dyned at Hampton Court, 
 and there hunted and killed deare, with great pleasures ; 
 and surely the King of Denmark was very much delighted 
 with the gallantnesse of these Royall Pallaces of his 
 Majestie, as did appeare by his earnest noting of them, and 
 often recounting of their pastimes and pleasures." 1 
 
 Of King Christian's personal appearance we may judge 
 from his portrait by Vansomer, in the Kings Second Pre- 
 sence Chamber at Hampton Court, which was painted 
 about this time, and which shows him to have been a tall, 
 fine-looking man. 2 With it may be compared the descrip- 
 tion of him, given by an eye-witness, who tells us that he 
 was " of goodly person, of stature in no extremes ; in face 
 so like his sister that he who hath seen the one may paint 
 in his fancy the other." 
 
 He resembled his sister also in his love of pleasure and 
 gay entertainments, and was, indeed, a thoroughly jolly, 
 good fellow, boisterous and good-tempered, and delighted 
 at having a real rollicking time while over in England 
 with his sister and brother-in-law, who, on their part, 
 made his visit an excuse for a regular " fling," with tilting 
 matches, running at the ring, tennis, hunting, shooting, 
 sports, masques, banquets, and carousals of all kinds. " We 
 had women and wine too," writes Sir John Harrington from 
 Court, " of such plenty, as would have astonished each 
 beholder. Our feasts were magnificent, and the two royal 
 guests did most lovingly embrace each other at the table. 
 I think the Dane hath strangely wrought on our good Eng- 
 lish nobles ; for those whom I could never get to taste good 
 
 1 England's Farewell to the King and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. ii., p. 
 
 of Denmark; Nichols' Progresses 215. 
 
 of fames L, vol. ii., p. 81 ; Von 2 No. 98 of the author's Historical 
 
 Raumer's History of the Sixteenth Catalogue. 
 
1606] The Royal Dane keeps Wassail. 5 1 
 
 English liquor, now follow the fashion and wallow in beastly 
 delights. The ladies abandon their sobriety, and are seen 
 to roll about in intoxication. I have passed much time," 
 continues he, " in seeing the royal sports of hunting and 
 hawking, where the manners were such as made me devise 
 the beasts were pursuing the sober creation, and not man 
 in quest of exercise and food." 1 
 
 At Hampton Court, however, King Christian did not 
 make a prolonged stay, apparently remaining only one night 
 to witness the performance of a play, doubtless in the 
 Great Hall of the Palace, presented by the King's com- 
 pany of actors. Shakespeare, as we have seen, was at this 
 time a prominent member of the company ; and it is highly 
 probable that he was present (if not indeed himself on the 
 boards) when his fellow-actors were performing, perhaps, one 
 of his own plays before the Royal Dane. 
 
 It may have been some knowledge of the King's convivial 
 habits that suggested the lines in " Hamlet" : — 
 
 The King doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse, 
 Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels ; 
 And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, 
 The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out 
 The triumph of his pledge. 
 
 But of the play acted at Hampton Court on this occasion 
 we know nothing, whether as to its title or author. We 
 have only the bare fact, evidenced by the entry in the 
 accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber to James I. : 2 — 
 
 To John Hemynges one of his Ma ts players upon Warrant dated 
 18 October 1606 for three plays before his Ma tis and the King of 
 Denmarke, twoe of them at Greenwich, and one at Hampton Court 
 £xxx. 
 
 1 NugCB Antiques, vol. i., p. 348. Accounts of the Revels at Court, p. 
 
 2 Cunningham's Extracts from the xxxviii. 
 
52 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1606 
 
 After the King of Denmark's departure from England, 
 about a week subsequent to his visit to this Palace, King 
 James came down here for a short stay, during which 
 he knighted Sir Thomas Glover, Ambassador to Turkey, 1 
 and on his return again in September, Sir William Oglander 
 of the Isle of Wight, and Sir George Philpot of Hampshire. 
 
 This was about the time that James, ever occupied with 
 religious subjects, and delighting in " the rattle of the dry 
 bones of theology," was desirous of discussing some arrange- 
 ment to be made with the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. 
 To this end he had sent for several representative Presby- 
 terian ministers from beyond the Tweed, to come and confer 
 with him at Hampton Court, doubtless anticipating with 
 complacency a repetition of the theological wrangles in which 
 he had engaged with the Puritans, and looking forward with 
 delight to another opportunity of displaying his learning to 
 a crowd of ecclesiastical sycophants. The Presbyterians 
 were accordingly summoned to attend at Hampton Court 
 on September 20th ; and four eminent English divines were 
 selected to preach in turn before his Majesty " for the re- 
 duction of the two Melvilles and other Presbyterian Scots 
 to a right understanding of the Church of England." 2 
 
 We can imagine the disgust and vexation of the Scotch 
 "meenisterrs" at having to listen in silence, with patience, and 
 without protest, to the lengthy, tedious, argumentative dis- 
 courses of the Court preachers, in favour of episcopacy, on 
 the duty of passive obedience, and the divine origin of arbi- 
 trary power; 3 while the pedantic King James sat narrowly 
 eyeing them, and noting the effect on them of each text 
 and each argument propounded. 
 
 Dr. Barlow, whom we have spoken of as reporting the 
 
 1 On August 17th. Progresses of vol. ii., col. 507. 
 
 James vol. ii., p. 95. 3 Spotswood's History of the Church 
 
 2 Wood's Athence (ed. by Bliss), of Scotland. 
 
1606] The Presbyterians preached at. 53 
 
 proceedings of the Hampton Court Conference of 1604, and 
 who was now Bishop of Lincoln, led off on the 21st of Sep- 
 tember with a sermon on " the antiquity and superiority of 
 Bishops." The next day the King gave the Scotch ministers 
 a private audience, when he enforced Barlows sermon with 
 arguments from his own theological armoury, and submitted 
 several questions to them bearing on the topic — for instance, 
 as to its being within the King's exclusive province to con- 
 voke and prorogue ecclesiastical assemblies. In reply Mr. 
 James Melville, on behalf of his associates, said that the ques- 
 tions were weighty, and craved time to deliberate together, 
 that they might all give one direct answer. This desire was 
 granted, and " they were commanded to advise and meet to- 
 gether that night, and be ready to answer the next day." The 
 King, however, did not succeed, even by the most persis- 
 tent and rigorous cross-examination, in extracting any but 
 very indirect and evasive replies from the cautious and canny 
 Scots. "I see," he said at last, "that you are all set for 
 maintaining that base conventicle of Aberdeen. . . . But you 
 will not, I trust, call my authority in question, and subject 
 the determination of the same to your assemblies ?" This, 
 they said, was far from their thoughts ; but if his Majesty 
 should be pleased to set down in writing what he required, 
 they should labour to give him satisfaction. 1 
 
 On the 23rd, Dr. Buckeridge followed with a sermon on 
 the words of the text, " Wherefore ye must needs be subject, 
 not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake " (Rom. xiii. 
 5); 2 "in canvassing whereof," says Archdeacon Spotswood, 
 who was present, " he fell upon the point of the King's 
 supremacy in causes ecclesiastical, which he handled both 
 
 1 Spotswood's History of the Church cellent Majestie, 1606." A few copies 
 of Scotland, p. 498. are extant, one of which is in the 
 
 2 " Imprinted at London, by Robert author's Hampton Court Museum. 
 Barker, Printer to the King's Most Ex- 
 
54 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1606 
 
 soundly and learnedly to the satisfaction 1 of all the hearers ; 
 only it grieved the Scotch ministers to hear the Pope and 
 Presbytery so often equalled in their opposition to sovereign 
 princes." 2 
 
 With great wealth of illustration, and a vast amplitude of 
 quotations of texts, citations, and authorities, the erudite 
 and courtly divine clearly established, for the gratification of 
 his pedantic royal master and the edification of the Scotch 
 presbyters, that " kings and emperors, as they have their 
 calling from God, so they admit no superior on earth but 
 God, to whom only they must make account." 3 He warned 
 his hearers, also, that God is more quick to revenge the 
 wrongs and treasons committed against his Lieutenants and 
 Viceroys, than the greatest sins against himself, and im- 
 pressed upon them that the supreme duty of all subjects 
 was to render passive obedience to royal authority. " If he 
 be a good prince, causa est, He is the cause of thy good, 
 temporal and eternal ; if an evil Prince, occasio est, He is an 
 occasion of thy eternal good, by thy temporal evil. Si 
 bonus , nutritor est tuus ; si malus tentator tuus est" and so 
 on through an interminable mass of quotations, until the 
 sermon is almost as much in Latin as in English. 
 
 " If he be a good king he is thy nurse ; receive thy nourish- 
 ment with obedience ; if he be an evil prince he is thy 
 tempter, receive thy trial with patience ; so there's no resis- 
 tance ; either thou must obey good princes willingly, or en- 
 dure evill tyrants patiently." .... It must have been indeed 
 a trial to listen with patience to such intolerable rubbish ! 
 But the learned theologian went on : " The process of this 
 conscience is by way of syllogism ; the proposition is framed 
 by the synderesis of the soule," and so on. 
 
 1 Spotswood's History of the Church 3 See also a letter of Rowland 
 of Scotland, p. 496. Whyte to the Earl of Shrewsbury. 
 
 2 Wood's Athence, vol. ii. 
 
1606] Passive Obedience the First Duty. 55 
 
 This was the sort of thing in which the King delighted, 
 and we are not surprised to find that it was shortly after 
 published by Royal command, with copious marginal notes, 
 references, and elucidations. 
 
 Dr. King, "the King of Preachers" as he was called, fol- 
 lowed a day or two after, with a sermon on " Canticles viii. 
 11, and thereupon discussing of the office of presbyters did 
 prove lay elders to have no place or office in the Church. " 
 And lastly, Launcelot Andrews, Bishop of Chichester, held 
 forth on Sunday the 28th of September, " concerning the 
 right and power of calling assemblies," taking his text from 
 Numbers x. 1, 2: " Then God spake unto Moses : Make thee 
 two trumpets of silver ; of one piece shalt thou make them, 
 for they shall be for thee to assemble (or call together) the 
 congregation, and to remove the camp." 
 
 This course (that of sending for the Presbyterian ministers 
 to be preached and prated at) "the King took," observes 
 Spotswood, " as conceiving that some of the ministers should 
 be moved by power of reason to quit their opinions and 
 give place to the truth ; but," as he justly adds, " that seldom 
 happeneth when the mind is prepossessed with prejudice 
 either against person or matter. And in effect they returned 
 to Scotland of the same opinion still, no good end having 
 been served by their visit." 
 
 During the time that the Presbyterian ministers were 
 being catechised by the King and preached at by the Bishops, 
 there arrived at the Palace, on a visit to the Court of Eng- 
 land, Francis, Prince of Vaudemont, third son of Charles, 
 Duke of Lorraine, who came with a great retinue of a seven 
 Earles, tenne Barons, fortie gentlemen of quallitie, and six 
 score common persons. All the Lords and gentlemen," re- 
 marks the chronicler, " were very brave and cumlie in their 
 apparel, and as civil in their behaviour." 1 They came by 
 
 1 Howe's Chronicle in his continuation of Stow, p. 887. 
 
56 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1606 
 
 coach from London, and on the day of their arrival, the 24th 
 of September, Rowland Whyte wrote to the Earl of Shrews- 
 bury from Hampton Court, " The lost stag was found, and 
 bravely killed, and his head brought in great pomp to the 
 Privy Chamber, which hath made an end of all displeasure 
 
 A Garden on the Top of the Palace. 
 
 with hounds and huntsmen. . . . This night the Earl of 
 Vawdemont will be here, with his crew, plus clinquant que le 
 soleiir 1 
 
 When his coming to England was originally made known, 
 there was some consultation as to whether the King should 
 defray the expenses of his entertainment ; and it was in the 
 
 1 Progresses of James vol. ii., p. 96. 
 
1606] The Prince de Vaudetnont. 57 
 
 first instance decided that he should not. This determina- 
 tion, however, was departed from, and it was resolved that 
 he should be received with the most sumptuous hospitality, 
 " a diet of two hundred dishes being appointed to be served 
 all the while he abides here." His stay at Hampton Court 
 lasted a whole fortnight, during which time " they were all 
 very royally entertained and feasted, and rode a hawking 
 and hunting with the King to divers places, and then re- 
 turned." 1 Of one of the balls given in his honour at Hamp- 
 ton Court Palace, Rowland Whyte, in a letter dated the 4th 
 of October, gives this report: — "At Hampton Court, in the 
 Queen's Presence Chamber, there was dancing : the King, 
 Queen, Prince, and Vawdemont were by. My Lady Pem- 
 broke was taken out by a French Cavagliero to dance a 
 carrante : her Ladyship took out our noble Prince. At 
 last it came to a galliard : the Prince took out my Lady 
 Pembroke, and she the Earl of Perth : no lady there did 
 dance near so well as she did that day ; so she carried away 
 the glory, and it was given her by the King, Queen, and 
 others. Vawdemont danced ; the Queen danced ; Lady 
 Essex, Lady Knollys, Lady Levingston, the maids." 
 
 From the same letter-writer we hear in the following year 
 of a visit the Queen paid to the Palace after the death of 
 her infant daughter Mary, when she completely secluded 
 herself from all state ceremonial, so that, as Whyte wrote to 
 Lord Shrewsbury, " The Court officers had leave to play, 
 and are gone every one to his own house, only Lord Salis- 
 bury went to Hampton Court to comfort the Queen." 2 
 
 1 Howe's Chronicle, p. 887. 
 
 2 Lodge's Illustrations, vol. iii., p. 324. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 JAMES I.'S STAG-HUNTING IN THE PARKS. 
 
 King James's Keenness for Stag-hunting — Will not forego his Pleasure for 
 Business — His Unpopularity — Threat to poison his Hounds — His Savageness 
 against Poachers — Issues a lecturing Proclamation on the Subject— Commends 
 the conduct of " the Better Sort " — Condemns " the Corrupt Natures and Inso- 
 lent Dispositions of the Common People" — His violent Rage against Spectators 
 of his Sport — Issues a Proclamation against them — " The bold and barbarous 
 Insolency of Multitudes of Vulgar People" — Severe Punishment threatened 
 against them — Dissatisfaction at his Selfishness — He takes Pot-shots at Tame 
 Deer in the Park — The Duke of Saxe-Weimar entertained with a grand Hunting 
 Party — Description of the Sport — James' Hunting Costume. 
 
 MONG the ideas concerning the functions of the 
 kingly office with which James I. was strongly 
 imbued, was the one that it was essential to 
 his royal dignity to maintain the noble sport of 
 stag- hunting ; and even to revive something of the 
 stringency of the earlier game laws, which made indulgence 
 in any field sports the exclusive prerogative of the crown 
 and the aristocracy. That James was really a genuine 
 sportsman, or that he was adapted in physical constitution 
 to the endurance of the dangers or the fatigues of the chase, 
 we need not at all suppose. Still, he was sufficiently keen 
 to be " earnest, without any intermission or respect of 
 
1606-9] James I!s Delight in Hunting. 
 
 59 
 
 weather, be it hot or cold, dry or moist, to go to hunting or 
 hawking." 1 And to this sport he thought everything should 
 give way. Once, when Lord Salisbury came to him, and, 
 in the name of his Council, implored his Majesty on his 
 knees to postpone a hunting party for a few days, until some 
 important matters of business were disposed of, he fell into 
 a great passion, crying out : " You will be the death of me, 
 you had better send me back again to Scotland." 2 Conduct 
 of this sort did not add to his personal popularity, nor to 
 that of his royal sports, and the writer of an anonymous 
 letter threatened him that unless he thought more of the 
 good government of his people instead of " for ever running 
 after wild animals," his hounds would all be poisoned. But 
 he paid no heed whatever to any remonstrances. On the 
 contrary, he showed excessive annoyance, and frequently 
 expressed great anger and vexation at the slight regard 
 his subjects often seemed to him to have for his sylvan 
 pleasures, and their want of due consideration for his ex- 
 jclusive privileges in game. 
 
 His feelings at last found vent in a " Proclamation against 
 Hunters, Stealers and Killers of Deare, within any of the 
 King's Majesties Forests, Chases or Parks," which was " Given 
 at our Honour of Hampton Court, the 9 th day of September 
 Ano. Dmi. 1609." 3 Its quaint phraseology is curiously illus- 
 trative of the familiar and conversational style in which State 
 documents of those times were often worded. " We had 
 hoped," begins his Majesty in a highly offended and reproach- 
 ful tone, " seeing it is notorious to all our subjects how greatly 
 we delight in the exercise of Hunting, as well for our Recrea- 
 tion, as for the necessary preservation of our health, that no 
 
 1 Nichols' Progresses of James teenth and Seventeenth Centuries, 
 vol. ii., p. 160. p. 199. 
 
 2 Van Raumer's History of the Six- 3 State Papers, James I., vol. xlviii.^ 
 
 No. 23. 
 
60 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1609 
 
 man, in whom was either reverence to our person, or fear of our 
 Lawes, would have offered us offence in these our sports ; 
 considering especially," continues the royal pedant, who 
 evidently drafted the document himself, in his lecturing way, 
 " that the nature of all people is not onely in things of this 
 qualitie, but in matters of greater moment so far to con- 
 form themselves to the affection and disposition of their 
 Sovereign, as to affect that which they know to be liking 
 to them and to respect it, and to avoyd the contrary : and 
 we must acknowledge that we have found the gentlemen and 
 persons of the better sort (who know best what becometh 
 their duetie) have restrained their owne humors, and formed 
 themselves therein to give us contentment : yet falleth it 
 out, notwithstanding, that neither the example of them, nor 
 respect of the Lawes, nor duety to us, hath had power to 
 reforme the corrupt natures and insolent dispositions of some 
 of the baser sort, and some other of a disordered life." 
 
 The scolding, domineering tone of this proclamation — so 
 different from that in which Queen Elizabeth would have 
 spoken, in similar circumstances — shows how little King 
 James understood the English character ; while the touch 
 of contempt for the poorer classes betrayed in the contrast 
 drawn between the conduct of " gentlemen and persons of 
 the better sort," and that of " the baser sort," is an instance 
 of a want of sympathy with the mass of the people which 
 goes far to account for his unpopularity. 
 
 After commenting further on, for some paragraphs, with 
 mingled sorrowful reproach and indignant rebuke on such 
 " trespassing against reason," " insolent humour," and " bar- 
 barous uncivil disposition," he proceeds to threaten that un- 
 less there is some amendment in his subjects' conduct, he 
 will have to put into force the ancient forest laws in all their 
 pristine stringency. 1 
 
 1 Shirley's Deer Parks, p. 46. 
 
1609] Proclamation against Vulgar Sportsmen. 61 
 
 Another great cause of annoyance to King James in re- 
 gard to his hunting, was the great number of people, who not 
 only flocked to the Royal meets to see the fun and stare at his 
 Majesty, but who sometimes even ventured, without special 
 permission, to join the sport and follow the hounds. This 
 the King thought most highly reprehensible on the part of 
 populace ; and once, at the beginning of his reign, when his 
 loyal subjects crowded from all sides to catch a sight of their 
 new sovereign, he fell into so violent a passion that he 
 cursed every one he met, and swore that if they would not 
 let him follow the chase at his pleasure he would leave Eng- 
 land. 1 He subsequently issued another proclamation in 
 special reprobation of this practice : — 
 
 " Forasmuch as we have often, since our first coming into 
 England, expressed our high displeasure and offence at the 
 bold and barbarous insolency of multitudes of vulgar people, 
 who, pressing upon us in our sports as we are hunting, do 
 ride over our dogs, brake their backs, spoil our game, run 
 over and destroy the corn, and not without great annoyance 
 and sometimes peril both of our own person and to our 
 dearest son the prince, by their heedless riding and galop- 
 ing our will and pleasure is " that they should be 
 presently apprehended and conveyed to the nearest gaol 
 there to remain during the royal pleasure. 2 
 
 We cannot wonder after all this that James's selfish sport- 
 ing proclivities should have given rise to much discontent. 
 Osborne complains that " one man might with more safety 
 have killed another, than a rascal-dear ; but if a stag had been 
 known to have miscarried, and the authour fled, a proclama- 
 tion, with a description of the party, had been presently 
 penned by the Attorney-General, and the penalty of his 
 
 1 Raumer, vol. ii., p. 202 ; also 2 Verney Papers (Camden Society), 
 Nichols' Progresses of James I., vol. i., p. 117. 
 P. 497- 
 
62 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1613 
 
 Majesty's high displeasure (by which was understood the 
 Star Chamber) threatened against all that did abet, comfort 
 or relieve him — so tragical was this sylvan prince against 
 dear-killers and indulgent to man-slayers." 1 
 
 Weldon, also, another satirist of James and his Court, 
 declared " that the King loved beasts better than men, and 
 took more delight in them, and was more tender over the 
 life of a stag than of a man." 2 
 
 In spite, however, of his keenness for hunting, there was 
 was not much of the true sportsman about him, for he would 
 perpetrate acts so unsportsmanlike, according to our modern 
 notions, as to go into his park and take pot-shots from be- 
 hind a tree at the tame deer as they browsed in the shade ; 3 
 while his most desperate runs were usually confined within 
 the fences of enclosed parks or woods. 
 
 " The hunt," says the author of the Travels of John 
 Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who came to England in 
 1 61 3, and who was entertained by the King 4 with a great 
 hunt, and whose visit to Hampton Court we will notice 
 a little further on, " generally comes off in this way : the 
 huntsmen remain on the spot where the game is to be 
 found, with twenty or thirty hounds ; if the King fancies 
 any in particular among the herd, he causes his pleasure 
 to be signified to the huntsmen, who forthwith proceed 
 to mark the place where the animal stood ; they then lead 
 the hounds thither, which are taught to follow this one 
 animal only, and accordingly away they run straight upon 
 his track ; and even should there be forty or fifty deer to- 
 gether, they do nothing to them, but chase only the one, 
 and never give up till they have overtaken and brought it 
 
 1 Traditional Memoirs. See Secret 3 Shirley's Deer and Deer Parks, 
 History of James vol. i., p. 195. p. 44. 
 
 2 Court and Character of Ja?nes I., 4 Rye's England as seen by Fo- 
 Se^ret History, &c, vol. i., p. 364. reigners, p. 154. 
 
James I. taking the Assay. 
 
64 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1613 
 
 down. Meanwhile the King hurries incessantly after the 
 hounds until they have caught the game. There is there- 
 fore," adds the foreigner, " no particular enjoyment in this 
 sport. Two animals only were caught on this occasion : one 
 was presented by the King to his Highness, which was 
 eaten at his lodging. His Majesty now and then uses long- 
 bows and arrows ; and when he is disposed he shoots a deer." 
 
 On such occasions he went to the meet of the hounds 
 dressed in a suit " green as the grass he trod on, with a 
 feather in his cap, and a home instead of a sword by his 
 side : how suitable to his age, calling, or person," remarks 
 one of his censors, " I leave to others to judge from his 
 pictures." 1 This we are enabled to do from the accom- 
 panying print of his Majesty receiving from the huntsman 
 the knife with which he is to " make the assay," that is, the 
 first cut on the stag's breast, to discover how fat he is. This 
 print is a facsimile of a woodcut in Turberville's " Noble Art 
 of Venerie," published in 161 1. 
 
 For tame sport of this sort it was, of course, very neces- 
 sary that the park fences should be kept in good repair, so 
 that the game should not stray from the enclosures, We 
 accordingly find a great number of warrants, directed to 
 various officials, relating to such matters in the parks at 
 Hampton Court, and ordering a new lodge to be erected in 
 the park there. 2 Orders are likewise extant prohibiting the 
 keeper of Bushey Park from hunting deer there without 
 the King's warrant ; and it seems to have been at this time 
 that the custom, which still survives, was first established, 
 of sending game to various cities, towns, and officials. 
 
 1 Osborne's Traditional Memoirs. Secret History of James J., vol. i., p. 195. 
 
 2 July 24th, 161 1. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PALACE DURING JAMES I.'s 
 REIGN — A FORCED MARRIAGE. 
 
 Prince Otto of Hesse — His curious Account of Hampton Court — The King's 
 Hatred of War — "Peace with Honour" — The Palace described — The Eighty 
 Royal Chambers — The Golden Tapestries — The Pictures — Portraits of Our 
 Lord — Of the Cathay Savages — Of Alexander the Great — Curiosities — Henry 
 VIII. 's Dining Table and Camp Bed — Queen Elizabeth's Musical Instrument of 
 Glass — The Queen's Private Chapel — The Duke of Saxe-Weimar's Narrative — 
 The Queen's Sporting Proclivities — She shoots the King's Favourite Hound — 
 Her Portrait at Hampton Court as "the Huntress Queen" — Rise of the Duke 
 of Buckingham — He is made Keeper of the Honour of Hampton Court — Dis- 
 missal of Lord Chief Justice Coke — Proposed marriage of Buckingham's Brother 
 to his Daughter — Her Mother intervenes and carries her off — Coke in Pursuit 
 — He captures his Daughter — Her Wedding in the Chapel at Hampton Court — 
 Uproarious Proceedings on the Marriage Night. 
 
 O amply did the King stock the parks at 
 Hampton Court with game, and so renowned 
 did the place consequently become, that to have 
 a day's hunting here was considered by all tra- 
 vellers visiting the Palace to be "the thing to 
 do," and foreigners of distinction, especially, liked to be 
 able to boast that they had witnessed "le sport Anglais" 
 in King James's famous preserves at Hampton Court. One 
 
66 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. 
 
 [1611 
 
 of these travellers was the son of the Landgrave Maurice of 
 Hesse, Prince Otto, of whose visit to England in the year 161 1, 
 when he was aged only seventeen, there is in the library of 
 Cassel, a curious manuscript narrative which contains a valu- 
 able description of the Palace. 1 After telling us that his visit 
 to Hampton Court took place on the 26th of July, when he 
 rode over here with Prince Henry from Richmond Palace, 
 and hunted in the Park, he notes : — " Hampton Court was 
 built by Cardinal Wolsey, who said and wrote ' Ego et Rex 
 meus.' Within, in the entrance, on the right, on a partition 
 of boards is — 
 
 Ut pix admotam subito rapit undique flammam 
 Six praeceps fertur fervidus in choleram. 
 
 And on the left — 
 
 Ignis edax superat nullo moderamine pressus 
 Moenia, six tumidus si sinis hostis erit. 
 
 "The King lies on a sack full of straw (query, a straw 
 mattrass) : we saw the place. Queen Elizabeths motto : 
 ' Dominus mihi adjutor! 2 
 
 " In the King's porch on a tablet is the inscription : — 
 
 Nihil pace commodius et sanctius. 
 
 Tamen cum bella vitare non possumus, interdum suscipienda : 
 sed pax servanda semper. 
 
 This Latin stanza in commendation of peace is very cha- 
 racteristic of King James, who, as the French Ambassador 
 observed, " hated war from habit, principle and disposition, 
 and would (to use his own words) avoid it like his own dam- 
 nation. For he was born and bred up with a base and weak 
 
 1 See England as seen by Foreigners, 
 p. 144, by Mr. W. B. Rye, who has 
 kindly communicated to me a tran- 
 script of the part of the narrative that 
 
 concerns Hampton Court. See also 
 Nichols' Progresses, vol. ii., p. 424. 
 
 2 A mistake. It is Wolsey 's motto. 
 See vol. i., p. 51. 
 
i6n] 
 
 " Peace with Honour." 
 
 6 7 
 
 heart, and imagines (after the manner of princes who devote 
 themselves to religion, the sciences, and sloth) that he can 
 never be forced into a war against his will, by duty or con- 
 science, or forcible and legitimate reasons." 1 
 
 This reluctance to engage in any warlike enterprises, and 
 especially his backwardness in intervening on behalf of the 
 struggling Protestants on the Continent, increased his un- 
 popularity with the people, who could not but despise a 
 king with no other foreign policy than the negative one of 
 non-intervention. His satirist, Weldon, also severely blames 
 him for preferring diplomatic to military methods, and de- 
 clares that James would rather "spend ^100,000 on 
 embassies to keep or procure Peace with Dishonour, than 
 ;£ 10,000 on an army that would have forced Peace with 
 Honour 2 — a sentence, by the way, which shows that a 
 famous modern phrase had been coined several centuries 
 earlier than is generally supposed. 
 
 To continue Prince Otto's narrative : — 
 
 " This Palace of Hampton Court has 700 rooms, as the 
 Vice-Chamberlain, who led us round, informed us, among 
 which are 80 splendid royal chambers, all decorated with 
 beautiful gold tapestries, the like of which we have not seen, 
 which tapestry was hung up in honour of his Highness 
 the Landgrave Otto, besides other tapestry being under- 
 neath. The golden tapestry, which hangs in the Queen's 
 and other apartments, and which Henry VIII. bought, 
 is said to have cost ^50 a yard, and to have been offered 
 to many other potentates first, ... so Hampton Court 
 now possesses them. The Palace has seven courts and 
 two fine gardens, and fine parks." 
 
 This manuscript account of Hampton Court also contains 
 
 1 Von Raumer's History of Sixteenth 2 Character of King James, by Sir 
 and Seventeenth Centuries t vol. ii., p. Anthony Weldon. 
 208. 
 
68 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1611 
 
 an ample enumeration of all the remarkable tapestries, pic- 
 tures, and curiosities to be seen in the Palace at the time of 
 Prince Otto's visit, thus affording us a good idea of the fur- 
 niture of the apartments in James I reign. We accordingly 
 append his list, supplementing it by further details from 
 Justus Zinzerling's " Description of England," written in 
 the same year, and Peter Eisenberg's " Notes on England," 
 of about the same date. 1 
 
 Tapestries. 
 
 Splendid tapestries in gold and silver of the History of 
 St. Paul. 
 
 The History of Tobit in beautiful tapestry. 
 
 (One piece of this set is now in the " Horn Room " at Hampton 
 Court.) 
 
 In the Queen's apartments — 
 
 The History of Pompey in tapestry. 
 
 The History of Abraham in splendid tapestry. 
 
 (This is now in the Great Hall. See the account of it in vol. i., 
 p. 240.) 
 
 Pictures. 
 
 "In the Queens bedchamber is a picture of Venus as a 
 lovely young lady, above which is written 1 Imago Amoris* 
 (the Image of Love), on the forehead, ' Procul et Prope y 
 (Far and Near), on the crown, 'Mors et Vita' (Death and 
 Life), at the feet * Hyems et s£stas' (Winter and Summer), 
 and beneath all — 
 
 1 See Rye's England as seen by Foreigners ; pp. 134, 173. 
 
i6n] 
 
 The Treasures of the Palace. 
 
 6 9 
 
 " ' In hac poesi figurantur proprietates Amoris ' (In this 
 verse is figured the properties of Love)." 
 
 " Many beautiful pictures in the galleries, one of our 
 Saviour, with an inscription testifying that the Sultan 
 [Bajazet] had sent this to the Pope [Innocent VIII.] to 
 liberate his brother from captivity." 
 
 On the subject of this picture Mr. Richard Garnett of the 
 British Museum writes : 1 — 
 
 You will remember, in one of the German travellers' descriptions 
 of Hampton Court, mention of a supposed portrait of our Saviour, 
 sent according to tradition by one of the Sultans to the Pope, to 
 obtain the release of his brother. You said that the picture had 
 disappeared from the Palace without leaving any trace. We then 
 referred to Burcardus's account of Bajazet II.'s embassy to 
 Pope Innocent VIII. in 1492, to obtain, however, the safe custody, 
 not the liberation, of his brother Zim. On this occasion he sent 
 the Pope what was represented to be the head of the lance by which 
 Christ's side was pierced, but Burcardus does not mention any 
 other relic. Now, going over Warwick Castle this morning [June 
 15, 1863], I observed with much surprise a small portrait, painted 
 in the Byzantine manner on a gold ground, and superscribed in 
 capitals : " This present figure is the similitude of our Lord I H S, 
 our Saviour, imprinted in an emerald by the predecessor of the 
 great Turke, and sent to Pope Innocent VIII. for a token to redeem 
 his brother that was taken prisoner." This shows that the inscrip- 
 tion must have been written in the time of Sultan Selim 1512-20. 
 I can have little doubt this is the picture referred to by the German : 
 the wonder is, how it could have got from Hampton Court to 
 Warwick." 
 
 Mr. Rye adds, " This portrait of the Saviour would, how- 
 ever, appear to be one of many pretended ' true portraits.' 
 Old copies are alluded to in the ' Antiquarian Repertory,' 
 iii. (where one is badly engraved) ; also in ' Notes and 
 Queries ' for 1864. Photographs of 'the only true likeness 
 
 1 See Rye's England, p. 273. 
 
yo History of Hampton Court Palace, [1611 
 
 of our Saviour' — a very beautiful head, certainly — have 
 lately been exhibited in the shops of London." 
 
 " Portrait of Edward VI., when young." 
 
 " Picture of Savages of Cathay, carrying their children on 
 their backs, in a field." 
 
 This is evidently the same picture as is referred to by the Duke 
 of Wirtemberg in his account of his visit to Hampton Court in 
 1592, which is quoted in vol. i., p. 329, of this work. It was a 
 picture, or pictures, of the wild man and woman whom Sir Martin 
 Frobisher found in his second voyage to the North- West in 1577, 
 and brought over to England. There is a document still extant 
 containing notes of the payments made to the painter, Ketel ; for 
 instance — "Paid Cornelius Kettell.payntar Ducheman,for making 
 a great picture of the whole bodye of the strange man in his garments ; 
 £ 5 ; and the Joyner for a frame and case for it, which was given the 
 Queen's Majesty, 1 3 s. ^d. 
 
 In the inventory of Charles's effects sold after his death, 1 a picture 
 of " A Cataia, or Island Man/' with a " Cataia Woman," at Hampton 
 Court, was sold for £6. They afterwards appear in the catalogue 
 of James II. 's pictures, and were again at Hampton Court. 2 
 Whether they still exist, and, if so, where they now are, is un- 
 known. 
 
 " Picture of Alexander the Great, sitting on a throne, and 
 keeping an attentive ear to an accused man." 
 
 " The portrait, when unmarried, of Margaret, grand- 
 mother of James I., and mother of Mary." 
 
 " Lucretia portrayed, over which is set : — 
 
 Amissa pudicitia superstes esse nequeo. 
 
 (I am unwilling to survive the loss of my honour.) 
 
 Curiosities, 
 
 " Map of the World, woven in cloth most cunningly, and 
 dedicated to Edward VI." 
 
 1 Harl. MSS. 4898. See post 2 Harl MSS. 1890, fol. 79. 
 
i6n] Pictures and Curiosities, 7\ 
 
 " Henry VIII. s dining-table." 
 
 " French Bible, printed on vellum at Antwerp in the year 
 1548." (It was printed by Jean Loe.) 
 
 " The whole Passion very finely cut in mother-o'-pearl." 
 
 " The common bedstead which Henry VIII. had with: 
 him when he laid siege to Boulogne in France." 
 
 " A very fine instrument of glass, upon which were these 
 verses : — 
 
 Cantabis, moneo, quisquis cantare rogaris 
 Vivat in aethernos Elisabetha dies. 
 
 and also : — 
 
 Phcebeades et modulos cum tractat pollice Princeps, 
 Fac resonet placid urn tinnula cordamelos. 
 
 This instrument was presented to the Princess Elizabeth by 
 an English melord!' 
 
 The writer is probably mistaken in saying that this instrument 
 was given to Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I.; it had 
 doubtless belonged to Queen Elizabeth, and would seem to be the 
 same musical instrument, all of glass, except the strings, mentioned 
 by Hentzner, as belonging to Queen Elizabeth, and being at 
 Hampton Court in 1598. (See vol. i., p. 335.) 
 
 " A Cabinet, in the centre of which are these words in 
 French : 'Si tu as maistre, serves le bien, di bien de luy, 
 gardes le sien, quoy qu'il fage, soys humble devant sa 
 face.' " 
 
 The narrative of Prince Otto's visit also makes mention 
 of " The Queen's Private Chapel " in her Gallery ; of 
 another apartment in the same suite in which was hung the 
 tapestry of " The History of Pompey ;" of " The Queen's 
 Presence, or Privy Chamber," in which was hung " The 
 History of Abraham ; " of " The Paradise Room, within 
 which almost all the tapestry is stitched with pearls and 
 
7 2 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [^13 
 
 mixed with precious stones;" 1 and "the Room in which 
 Edward VI. was born ;" while Justus Zinzerling likewise 
 notices " The Chapel and Hall, the vaulted roof of Irish 
 wood, which will bear nothing poisonous, consequently 
 not even spiders " — a legend by no means borne out by 
 present facts. 2 
 
 Another visitor to Hampton Court Palace about this 
 time, of whose impressions a record still exists, was 
 Ernest, Duke of Saxe- Weimar, who, as we have mentioned 
 above, travelled in England in the year 161 3. A transcript 
 of this portion of his diary has been kindly transmitted to 
 the author by Mr. Rye. 
 
 " Hampton Court is also a royal pleasure house, and 
 lies a short English mile from the little town just 
 mentioned [Kingston] ; it is built with wonderfully great 
 magnificence, in a plain near the Thames, of bricks, with 
 many towers round it. It has two courts [meaning two 
 main courtsj. The inner one [the then Fountain and pre- 
 sent Clock Court] is laid out with square flag-stones. In 
 the middle stands a fountain, with beautiful large marble 
 pillars. On this is also a pillar work of marble, with many 
 fine gilded figures, and the royal arms, on which are borne 
 a lion and dragon. 3 Over the gate, on the inside, stands, on 
 a tower, a fine large clock, on which may be seen in what 
 gradus the sun and other heavenly bodies are making 
 their course, as well as the waxing and waning of the 
 moon. 4 
 
 " The apartments are, for the most part, hung with 
 
 1 See ante, vol. i., pp. 328, 335. p. 430. 
 
 2 The King was at Hampton Court 3 Compare Hentzner's account of 
 a good deal in the autumn of 161 1, and this court and the fountain in it, cited 
 on the 2nd of October of that year, he in vol. i., p. 334, and the Duke of 
 gave an audience there to Sir Robert Wirtemberg's description of them in 
 Sherley, who was employed by the Shah ditto, p. 326. 
 
 of Persia as Ambassador to King * See the account of the clock in 
 
 James. Nichols' Progresses, vol. ii., vol. i., p. 217. 
 
1613] The Dukes Description of the Palace. 
 
 73 
 
 golden and silken tapestries, and, indeed, more magnificent 
 than at any other royal residence. Among others there are, 
 hanging in one apartment, several pieces containing the 
 stories of Hagar's delivery, how Abraham is about to offer 
 up his son Isaac, how Isaac courted, &C. 1 The dress, land- 
 scapes, buildings, and the like are in gold, silver, and varie- 
 gated silks, so artistically worked as though they had been 
 carefully painted with colours. In the same way the story 
 of Tobit hung in another chamber. Further, in another 
 room, the History of the Creation of the World in several 
 pieces ; these were old, but also of silk and gold. The 
 Deity was represented as three old persons in episcopal 
 robes, with crowns on their heads, and sceptres in their 
 hands. In all the state chambers stood a royal throne, a 
 seat, and a canopy above, either of golden work or satin. In 
 the rooms stood large beds, nine feet long and as many 
 wide, adorned in the most costly fashion. In one room, 
 which is called the ' Paradise Room,' 2 is to be seen a great 
 treasure of gold tapestry and royal robes, and a beautiful 
 large unicorn's horn ; all the apartments and galleries were 
 laid with rush matting. The pleasure gardens, also, are 
 very beautiful here as everywhere, and laid out in the best 
 manner." 
 
 The Duke of Saxe-Weimar's account of his hunting ex- 
 periences with James I. we have already noticed. This, 
 however, recalls the fact that the Queen, who occasionally 
 shared the King's sports and shot deer like him, mistook 
 her mark one day at Theobalds, just before Saxe-Weimar's 
 visit, and, instead of the stag, killed Jewel, " the King's most 
 principal and special hound, at which he stormed exceedingly 
 awhile ; but after he knew who did it, he was soon pacified, 
 and with much kindness wished her not to be troubled with 
 it, for he should love her never the worse, and the next day 
 
 1 See ante, vol. i., pp. 239, 240. 2 See ante, vol. i., p. 335. 
 
74 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [ l6l 3 
 
 he sent her a diamond worth ,£2,000 as a legacy from his 
 dead dog." 1 
 
 An interesting reminiscence of her sporting tastes still 
 exists at Hampton Court in Vansomers curious picture of 
 her Majesty as the " Huntress Queen," as Ben Jonson 
 flatteringly calls her. She is standing by the side of a fat 
 sorrel steed, with a cream-coloured mane, behind which is a 
 negro groom in red holding the bridle. In a leash she holds 
 two small greyhounds, while another is jumping up to her ; 
 they wear little ornamental collars embroidered in gold, 
 with the Queen's initials, A.R. In the background is seen 
 the Palace of Oatlands. Her hunting costume is somewhat 
 fantastic, consisting of a dark green velvet skirt of cut 
 velvet, with a bodice of the same material, very tight at the 
 wrist and very low cut ; the whole trimmed with lace and 
 red ribbons. On her head she wears a conical hat of grey 
 felt with a red plume. Above is a scroll inscribed : — 
 
 LA MIA GRANDEZZA DAL ECCELSO, 
 
 and in the left-hand corner Vansomer has imitated a slip of 
 paper stuck on with two red wafers or wax, with the words : — 
 
 Anna D. G. Magnae Britannise Franciae et Hibernian Regina. 
 /Etatis suae 43. Anno Dm. 161 ?. 2 
 
 The whole composition recalls the lines of Dryden : — 
 
 The graceful goddess was arrayed in green, 
 About her feet were little beagles seen, 
 
 Who watched with upward eyes the movements of their queen.* 
 
 The print here inserted is taken from this portrait. 
 
 The King and Queen were both at Hampton Court again 
 
 1 Life and Times of fames Z, vol. i., p. 260. 
 
 2 See No. 346 of the author's Historical Catalogue. 
 
 3 Miss Strickland's Life of Anne of Denmark. 
 
Picture of A nne of Denmark. 
 
 75 
 
 at the end of September, 1613, 1 when the news came out 
 that Sir Thomas Overbury had been found dead in the 
 Tower of London, murdered, as it was afterwards proved, 
 by the Countess of Somerset and her husband ; 2 and they 
 were again here in the month of December of the following 
 year, and at the beginning of the month of April, 16 15 — 
 the King having removed from London, " not finding the 
 air or business of that town to agree with his constitution." 3 
 It was about this period that George Villiers, afterwards 
 Duke of Buckingham, was rising into prominence as the 
 new favourite of the King ; and we find the annals of this 
 Palace testifying to his advancement in the fact that he was 
 appointed on the 14th of June, 1616, to the office of 
 "Keeper of the Honour of Hampton Court for life" 4 — a 
 post always held by some person of distinction. Another 
 emphatic demonstration of his increasing influence and im- 
 portance in the State was afforded by an event that took 
 place in the Palace on Michaelmas Day of the following 
 year. This was the marriage of his elder brother, Sir John 
 Villiers, afterwards Viscount Purbeck, to Frances, daughter 
 of Lord Chief Justice Coke, by his second wife, Lady 
 Hatton, and heiress presumptive to all her mothers vast 
 estates. It appears that this marriage had been in nego- 
 tiation at the end of the year 16 16, 5 both just before, and 
 immediately after, Coke's dismissal from the Chief Justice- 
 ship, his deprivation of his seat in the Council, and his dis- 
 grace at Court, for his manly and determined stand against 
 
 1 It was from this palace that on the 3 State Papers, Domestic, James I., 
 20th of September he wrote the order vol. lxxviii., No. 79, Dec. 22nd, and 
 to the Dean of Peterborough for the vol. lxxx., No. 74, April 7th. 
 removal of the remains of Mary Queen 4 State Papers, Domestic, James I., 
 of Scots to Westminster. — Appendix vol. lxxxvii, Grant Book, p. 187. 
 
 to Stanley's Memorials of Westminster 5 Nichols' Progresses of James 
 Abbey. vol. iii., p. 225. 
 
 2 State Papers, Domestic, James I., 
 vol. lxxvi., No. 60, Sept. 28th, 161 3. 
 
7 6 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [*6i3 
 
 the encroachments of the royal prerogative, and for frus- 
 trating the grasping cupidity of Buckingham, who had sought 
 to have a flagrant job perpetrated in his own favour. 1 
 At first the ex-Chief Justice could not bring himself to con- 
 sent to the match, though the prospect was held out to him 
 that by means thereof he might regain the royal favour. 
 " If he had had the grace," writes the ever-sagacious Mr. 
 Chamberlain to his correspondent, Sir Dudley Carleton, on 
 the 1 5th of March, 16 17, " to have taken hold of the match 
 offered by Sir John Villiers, it is assuredly thought that 
 before this day he had been Lord Chancellor. But stand- 
 ing upon terms to give but 10,000 marks with his 
 daughter, when £* 10,000 were demanded, and sticking at 
 £1,000 a year during his life, together with some idle words 
 that he would not buy the Kings favour too dear, being so 
 uncertain and variable, he hath let slip the occasion." 2 
 Eventually, however, he was led to forego all his scruples 
 and objections, perceiving that by this alliance only could 
 he ever hope to ingratiate himself with Buckingham, and 
 thus regain the goodwill of the Court. 
 
 Accordingly in the summer of 161 7 he went to Sir John 
 Villiers, and offered to hand over his daughter to him, 
 agreeing to do so on terms even still more onerous than 
 those originally demanded of him, namely, " ,£20,000 ready 
 portion, 2,000 marks yearly maintenance during his life, and 
 £"2,000 land after his decease." 3 
 
 But in the meanwhile old Coke was reckoning without his 
 host. For when his wife, Lady Coke, who detested her 
 elderly and crabbed husband with all her heart, and loved to 
 thwart him on every opportunity, heard of his having arranged 
 this match without so much as informing her, and without 
 
 1 Campbell's Lives of the Chief Jtistices, vol. i., p. 286, &c. 
 
 2 Nichols' Progresses of James L, vol. iii., p. 255. 
 
 3 Do., p. 371. 
 
t 6 1 3] Chief- J ustice Cokes Daughter. 7 7 
 
 considering, in the slightest, the inclinations of her daughter, 
 who was already attached to Sir Robert Howard, she burst 
 into high resentment. She declared she never would be 
 induced to consent to the marriage ; and on the evening of 
 the very day on which she heard of it, secretly carried off 
 her daughter from her father's house, and hid her in a 
 house, tenanted by a cousin of hers, near Oatlands, and not 
 far from Hampton Court, where they lay concealed for some 
 days. 1 
 
 " Meanwhile Sir Edward Coke, having ascertained the 
 retreat of the fugitives, applied to the Privy Council for a 
 warrant to search for his daughter ; and, as there was some 
 difficulty in obtaining it, he resolved to take the law into his 
 own hands. Accordingly the ex-Chief Justice of England 
 mustered a band of armed men, consisting of his sons, his 
 dependants, and his servants ; and, himself putting on a 
 breastplate, with a sword by his side, and pistols at his 
 saddle-bow, he marched at their head upon Oatlands. When 
 they arrived there they found the gate leading to the house 
 bolted and barricaded. This they forced open without 
 difficulty ; but the outer door of the house was so secured 
 as long to defy all their efforts to gain admission. The 
 ex-Chief Justice repeatedly demanded his child in the 
 King's name, and laid down for law that ' if death should 
 ensue, it would be justifiable homicide in him, but murder 
 in those who opposed him.' One of the party gaining 
 entrance by a window, let in all the rest ; but still there were 
 several other doors to be broken open. At last Sir Edward 
 found the objects of his pursuit secreted in a small closet, 
 and without stopping to parley, lest there should be a 
 
 1 Chamberlain in his letter to Carle- himself, however, speaks of it as " a 
 
 ton says, " The daughter was first house near Oatland, which Sir Thomas 
 
 carried to Lady Withipole's, from Withipole had taken for the summer 
 
 thence privily to a house of the Lord of my lord Argyle." — Campbell's Lives 
 
 of Argyle's at Hampton Court." Coke of the Chief Justices •, vol. i., p. 298. 
 
78 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1613 
 
 rescue, he seized his daughter, tore her from her mother, 
 and placing her behind her brother, rode off with her to his 
 house at Stoke Pogis in Buckinghamshire. There he secured 
 her in an upper chamber, of which he himself kept the 
 key." 1 
 
 We need not follow out the details of what afterwards 
 occurred ; how proceedings were commenced against Coke 
 in the Star Chamber for riots at Oatlands ; how Lady 
 Coke also was prosecuted for her part in the affair, and 
 kept in strict confinement; how Bacon, who had at first, 
 from jealousy of Coke, opposed the match, at a later stage, 
 fearing the King's and Buckingham's displeasure, warmly 
 took it up ; and how the young lady was placed first with 
 Lady Compton, Sir John Villiers's mother, then in the 
 custody of the Clerk of Council, next sequestered to Mr. 
 Attorney, and lastly sent to Hatton House, " with order 
 that the Lady Compton and her son should have access to 
 win and wear her. 2 
 
 "Worn down" at last, indeed, by the imperious impor- 
 tunity of her father and the influence of the Court, the poor 
 girl was at length induced to protest that " she liked Sir 
 John Villiers better than anyone else in the world," and to 
 sign a paper declaring that " being a mere child, and not 
 understanding the world nor what is good for myself," she 
 was ready to marry him. 3 In these circumstances, by means 
 of judiciously exercised royal pressure, her mother's acqui- 
 escence was also obtained ; and so the marriage was solem- 
 nized, as we have said, on Michaelmas Day, in the Royal 
 Chapel at Hampton Court, by the Bishop of Winchester, in 
 the presence of the King and Queen and all the royal 
 family and the whole Court. Coke brought his daughter and 
 
 1 Campbell's Lives of the Chief Justices, vol. i., p. 298. 
 
 2 Progresses of James /., vol. iii., p. 372. 
 
 3 Campbell's Lives of the Chief Justices, vol. i., p. 302. 
 
Marriage in the Chapel. 
 
 79 
 
 his relations over from his son's house at Kingston town's 
 end in eight or nine coaches, but Lady Coke was not 
 present. The King himself gave the bride away, after she 
 had been three times solemnly asked whether she assented 
 to the match. 1 
 
 When the ceremony was concluded there was a splendid 
 banquet, and in the evening a masque ; after which, accord- 
 ing to the curious custom of the age on the occasion of 
 weddings, the King and his courtiers indulged in a regular 
 uproarious night's amusements, wandering about the Palace 
 in their night attire, playing the usual pranks of storm- 
 ing bedrooms, " sewing up sheets," " casting off the bride's 
 left stocking, with many other petty sorceries," as an old 
 writer calls them ; and then going in the early hours of the 
 following morning to visit the bride and bridegroom in their 
 bedroom, when the King in his shirt and nightgown gave 
 the bridal pair a " reveille matin," as it was called, before 
 they were up, jumping and rolling on the bed ! 2 
 
 The marriage, however, did not turn out a happy one, 
 for not long afterwards the poor woman, who had been so 
 shamelessly bought and sold, left her husband, and united 
 herself to the man of her affections, Sir Robert Howard. 
 
 1 Nichols' Progresses, vol. iii., p. and see Progresses of James I., vol. i., 
 440. p. 471. 
 
 2 Campbell's Lives, vol. i., p. 303 ; 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DEATH OF QUEEN ANNE OF DENMARK. 
 
 Anxiety about the Queen's Health — She suffers from Gout, Dropsy, and 
 Phthisis — Nearly choked in her Sleep — Raleigh's Cordial — She lingers for two 
 Months — The Archbishop and Bishops come to her Bedside — Prince Charles is 
 brought into her Room^-She will not believe she is dying — She is urged to 
 make her Will — The Prince receives her blessing — Her Last Hours — Five or 
 six little Groans — She dies — Ominous stopping of the Palace Clock — Burial in 
 Westminster Abbey — Her Will — Her Wishes disregarded by James — He bears 
 her Death with " Exemplary Fortitude " — Goes to Newmarket Races three 
 Weeks after her Death — Writes an Epitaph on the Queen — Wears Mourning for 
 a Month only — His Portrait by Vansomer — His Dress and Appearance — Inigo 
 Jones at Hampton Court — Count Gondomar applies for Apartments in the 
 Palace — Censure on Dr. Whiting — Rupture with Spain — Death of James I. 
 
 OON after the events narrated in our preceding 
 chapter, the King left Hampton Court on a short 
 progress in the eastern counties ; while the 
 Queen, whose state of health was beginning to 
 give rise to a good deal of anxiety at Court, re- 
 mained behind, moving a few days after to her favourite 
 residence of Oatlands, in the air of which place she seems 
 to have thought she might recover. Her expectations, 
 however, were disappointed. " The Queen," writes Mr. 
 Chamberlain on October 25th, " continues still indisposed; 
 
1 6 1 8] Illness of A nne of Denmark . 8 1 
 
 and though she would fain lay all her infirmities on the 
 gout, yet most of her physicians fear a further inconvenience 
 of an ill habit or disposition through her whole body." 1 
 She was suffering, in fact, from a complication apparently 
 of gout, dropsy, and phthisis, and continued to grow worse 
 during her residence in London all through the winter. 
 In the following autumn her health still declining, she re- 
 moved, after a short stay at Oatlands, to the Palace of 
 Hampton Court, 2 where she was seized one night with such 
 a bad attack of spitting of blood that she was nearly choked 
 in her sleep, and her physicians had to be sent for in great 
 haste. Ill as she was, however, she did not neglect her 
 old protegi Sir Walter Raleigh, 3 who was now under sen- 
 tence of death, and about to perish on the scaffold, and 
 who in his extremity addressed the following appeal to her 
 in verse : — 
 
 Then unto whom shall I unfold my wrong, 
 Cast down my tears, or hold up folded hands ? 
 To her to whom remorse does not belong ; 
 To her who is the first, and may alone 
 Be justly termed the Empress of Briton ! 
 Who should have mercy, if a Queen has none ? 
 
 She was probably not unmindful of the fact that in one 
 of her former illnesses Raleigh had cured her with a medi- 
 cine of his own preparation, called " Raleigh's cordial," when 
 her own physicians were at their wit's end to know what 
 to do. 
 
 Accordingly she wrote a supplicatory letter to Bucking- 
 ham asking him to prevail on the King to pardon him. But 
 her intervention on his behalf was of no avail, and on the 
 
 1 Progresses of James I., vol. iii., 3 Sir Anthony Weldon's Court and 
 p. 44 1 . Character of James I. j Secret History 
 
 2 Camden's Annals. of James vol. i., p. 349. 
 
82 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace, [1618 
 
 29th of October, 16 18, " the gallantest worthie that England 
 ever bred," was beheaded on Tower Hill. 
 
 " The Empress of Briton," as Raleigh styles her, or " the 
 Empress of the North," as she is entitled in an old print, 
 seems at first to have derived some good from the air of 
 Hampton Court, for a few days before this we read that 
 " the Queen began to recover ; 1 and her advisers were 
 urgent that she should remain at this Palace, as it seemed to 
 suit her so well." 2 On Christmas Day she was able to hear 
 a sermon from the Bishop of London, 3 " in the chamber 
 next Paradise ; " and a few days after she received a visit 
 from Buckingham and Prince Charles, while the King came 
 to see her twice a week. 4 The rally, however, was but of 
 short duration. On January the 2nd Chamberlain writes to 
 Carleton : 5 — " We begin now to apprehend the Queen's 
 danger, when the physicians themselves begin to speak 
 doubtfully ; but I cannot think the case desperate as long 
 as she was able to attend a whole sermon on Christmas Day, 
 preached by the Bishop of London in her inner chamber. 
 Yet I hear the courtiers lay about them already and plot for 
 leases of her lands, for the keeping of Somerset House, and 
 the rest for implement and movables, as they were to divide 
 the spoil ; but I hope they may come as short as they that 
 made an account of the bears skin : yet we cannot be out 
 of fear till we see her past the top of May Hill." 
 
 Still she lingered on for exactly two months after this ; 
 and it was not till the 22nd of February that she began to 
 grow rapidly worse, and the symptoms showed that her 
 dissolution was now near at hand. One of her attendants 
 
 1 Nichols' Progresses of James I., Progresses, &c, vol. iii., pp. 494, 495, 
 vol. iii.,p. 493, Oct. 24th. 497, and State Papei's, James /., vol. 
 
 2 State Papers, James L, vol. civ., cv., No. 1, Jan. 1st, 16 19. 
 
 No. 5, Dec. 3rd, 161 8. 5 State Papers, James I., vol. cv., 
 
 3 Dr. John King. No. 2. Printed in the Progresses, vol. 
 
 4 Camden's Annals, and Nichols' iii., p. 498. 
 
1619] " The Empress of Britain " grows worse. 83 
 
 writing to some lady abroad after her Majesty's death, 
 gives an ample and detailed account of her last illness, 1 
 which we think it best to give in its original quaintness, un- 
 paraphrased. 
 
 " Whereas your Ladyship desires to be satisfied of the 
 form of her Majesty's death it was thus. She was reason- 
 ably well recovered to the eyes of all that saw her, and came 
 to her drawing-chamber and to her gallery every day 
 almost ; yet still so weak of her legs, that she could not 
 stand upon them, neither had she any stomach for her meat, 
 the space of six weeks before she died. But this was known 
 to none but your countryman Pira (Pierrot, her Danish per- 
 sonal attendant), and the Dutch woman (her Danish lady's 
 maid Anna) that serves in her chamber. They kept all 
 close from the physicians, and everybody else ; none did see 
 her eat but they two." Her physicians were Dr. Atkins, 
 Dr. Turner, and the famous Sir Theodore Mayerne, who 
 had attended Prince Henry in his last illness, and of whom 
 there is a portrait at Hampton Court. 2 " In this meanwhile," 
 continues the lady's narrative, "she was making prepara- 
 tion for the King of Denmark at her house at Oatlands this 
 summer, and on the 22nd of February she took a flux 
 (cough) vehemently, which she has had all this winter, which 
 is now seen to be the cough of the lungs by a consumption. 
 She took her bed, and caused set up the bed she loved 
 best." 
 
 On Monday the 1st of March, it was evident to those 
 about her that her end was near at hand ; and the news being 
 
 1 Printed in the Miscellany of the dore Mayerne is generally unfortunate 
 Abbotsford Club, vol. i., pp. 81-84. It with his patients." He was of the Dr. 
 has been thought best to modernize the Sangrado school, and very fond of 
 broad Scotch spelling of the original. frequent blood-letting. His manuscript 
 
 2 See No. 711 of the author's His- note-books are in the British Museum 
 torical Catalogue. In a letter dated (See Calendars of State Papers, and 
 Oct. 31st, 1617, it is said, " Sir Theo- Ellis's Letters). 
 
8 4 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace, [1619 
 
 quickly known " all the Lords and Ladies almost about this 
 town (London) went to Hampton Court, but very few were 
 admitted/' 1 The Lord Privy Seal (the Earl of Worcester), 
 however, and the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Abbot), 
 and the Bishop of London (Dr. King), were allowed to enter 
 her room, when they knelt by her bedside and addressed 
 her, " Madame, we hope that as your Majesty's strength 
 fails outwardly, your best part groweth strong." They then 
 said a prayer which she followed word by word ; after which 
 the Archbishop said, " Madame, we hope your Majesty 
 doth not trust to your own merits, nor to the mediations of 
 saints, but only by the blood and merits of our Saviour 
 Christ Jesus you shall be saved ?" They put these ques- 
 tions to her because they were aware of the current rumours 
 that she had secretly embraced the Catholic faith. " I do," 
 she answered, " and withal I renounce the mediation of all 
 saints, any my own merits, and do only rely upon my Saviour 
 Christ, who has redeemed my fault with His blood." " This 
 being said," continues the eye-witness whom we are quoting, 
 ' gave great satisfaction to the Bishops, and to the few that 
 heard her. Then the Prince was brought in to her, and she 
 made him welcome, and asked him how he did. He answered, 
 ' At her service,' and two or three questions merrily. Then 
 she bade him go home. ' No,' he says, ' I will wait upon 
 your Majesty.' She answered, * I am a pretty piece to wait 
 upon, servant ! ' (for she ever called him so). She bade him 
 go to his chamber, and she would send for him again ; he 
 went. Then the Archbishop of Canterbury came to her, 
 and says to her, ' Madame, all I have to say to your 
 Majesty is, to set your heart upon God, and remember your 
 poor servants ' (meaning that she should make her will). 1 I 
 pray you,' she says, ' go home now, and I will see you upon 
 Wednesday/ This was Monday in the afternoon. He 
 
 1 Letter of Chamberlain. Progresses of James vol. Hi., p. 531. 
 
1619] Anne of Denmark's Deathbed. 85 
 
 went away. Then the Bishop of London, a very good man, 
 says to her, 1 Madame, set your heart upon God, and forget 
 these transitory things.' ' I do/ she answered. She bade 
 him go home till Wednesday. ' No,' he answered, ' Ma- 
 dame, I will wait upon your Majesty this night.' Her 
 desire to have them gone was because there was no lodgings 
 for them there, neither did she find such weakness in herself. 
 
 " The Prince went to his supper," continues our informant, 
 " the Bishop of London went to his ; the Lords that were 
 there to theirs, and the Ladies ; the Earl of Worcester, the 
 Earl of Leicester, the Lord Carey. The ladies were the 
 Countess of Arundel, the Countess of Bedford, the Lady Ruth - 
 ven, the Lady Carey. These were all, and the Countess of 
 Derby, that came that same day in the afternoon. And the 
 Queen being unwilling to speak to any, she sent to her, and de- 
 sired to have the honour to see her once. She was denied, 
 yet she did importune the Queen. Then she was brought 
 in, and the Queen did ask her two or three merry questions, 
 and bid her go to her supper. After supper the Prince was 
 brought to her, but did stay no time. The Lords were very 
 desirous to have her make her will. She prayed them to 
 let her alone till the morrow, and then she would, they did 
 imagine because Monday was a dismal day," that is to say, 
 an unlucky day, according, perhaps, to some Danish super- 
 stition. " Still her voice was strong, but all her body cold, 
 and feet. None durst go into her for fear to offend her. 
 We stayed all in the chamber next to her bedchamber till 
 she sent a command to us to go to bed, and would not suffer 
 us to watch that night ; only the physicians in the night 
 came to her." 
 
 " About twelve o'clock she calls for the wench (Danish 
 Anna) that sat by her, and bids her fill some drink to wash 
 her mouth. She brought her a glass of Rhenish wine 
 that she drank out, and says to the woman, ' Now have I 
 
86 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [ 1 6 1 9 
 
 deceived the physicians.' Then she bids the woman sleep 
 by her, and in seeing her sleep, she would sleep. But within 
 a quarter of an hour after she again called to the woman, and 
 bids her bring some water to wash her eyes, and with the water 
 she brought a candle, but she did not see the light, and asked 
 the woman for a light. She answers, ' There is one here, 
 Madame ; do you not see it ? ' ' No,' says the Queen. Then 
 the woman called in the physicians, and they gave her a 
 cordial, and sent for the Prince, and for the Lords and Ladies. 
 This was about one o'clock. She laid her hand upon the 
 Prince's head, and gave him her blessing. The Lords pre- 
 sented a paper to her (her will), and she did sign it as she 
 could, but her sight was gone, which was to leave all to the 
 Prince, and withal her servants to be rewarded. Then the 
 Bishop of London made a prayer, and we all sat about her 
 bed and prayed. And when her speech was gone, the 
 Bishop calls to her, ' Madame, make a sign that your 
 Majesty is one with your God, and longs to be with Him.' 
 She held up her hand, and when the one hand failed her, 
 she held up the other, till they both failed. To the sight of 
 all that looked on her, her heart, her eyes, her face, was 
 fixed upon God, and her tongue, while she had breath, 
 expressed so much ; and when that failed, her hands. 
 And when all failed, the Bishop made another prayer, 
 and she lay so pleasantly in the bed smiling, as if she had 
 no pain ; only, in the last, she gave five or six little groans, 
 and had the pleasantest going out of this world that 
 ever anybody had ; and two days after looked as well as 
 she did at any time this two years." 
 
 She breathed her last at about four o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, 1 passing away, according to an ancient tradition long 
 current in the Palace, just as the old clock struck the hour. 
 
 1 See Chamberlain's account of her her attendant. — Progresses of James I., 
 death, which tallies exactly with that of vol. iii., p. 531. In the Report on the 
 
1619] Death and Burial of the Queen, 87 
 
 It is added that ever since that time the clock has always 
 stopped whenever a death of any old resident occurs in 
 in the Palace. Those curious in such superstitions declare 
 that several undoubted cases of this coincidence have 
 occurred within recent years. 
 
 Before the Queen was laid out a post mortem examination 
 was held, and "upon her opening, she was found much wasted 
 within, specially her liver, as it were quite consumed." The 
 corpse was then embalmed, and on the 6th of March it was 
 taken by water in a royal barge to Somerset House, where 
 it lay in state till May 13th, when it was buried with much 
 funeral pomp in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 The accounts as to the Queen's making her will, and as to 
 the amount of property she left, vary somewhat. By some it 
 was stated that " she made none other than a nuncupatory 
 will, or by word of mouth," and that it " was rather in answer- 
 ing and saying ' yea' to anything that was demanded of her, 
 than in disposing of aught herself, so that it is doubted by 
 some already how far it will stand good and firm, specially if it 
 fall out that the movables amount to better than ^400,000, 
 as is generally reported, and her debts not ^40,000 ! " 1 The 
 testimony of the eye-witness, who alleges that she did put 
 her signature to the will, is probably the more trustworthy 
 version of what occurred. 
 
 But, indeed, whatever may have been the fact, it had but 
 small influence on the result ; for the King paid no more 
 heed than he chose to her wishes, and disposed of a large 
 portion of her jewels and effects to Buckingham — bestow- 
 ing on him in addition £ 1,200 in land, and the keeping of 
 Somerset House. Prince Charles, however, was allowed to 
 
 Royal Archives of Denmark, printed giving him intelligence of his sister's 
 
 in the Appendix of the forty-sixth Re- death. 
 
 port of the Deputy- Keeper of the Public 1 Letter of Mr. Chamberlain. Pro- 
 
 Records, p. 14, there is a Latin letter gresses of James I., vol. iii., pp. 531- 
 
 of James I., written to Christian IV., 532. 
 
88 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1619 
 
 enjoy the grants or monopolies on cloths and sugar, which 
 had been lately given to the deceased, and which were 
 worth about ^13,000 a year. 1 But the bulk of her personal 
 estate, which was reckoned by one authority as worth as 
 much as ^*8oo,ooo, 2 was added to the property of the 
 crown ; her jewels and plate (valued at ^400,000 and 
 ^90,000 respectively) being brought to the King's palace 
 in four large carts. As much as ^36,000 worth of the 
 jewels, however, were declared to be missing ; and Pierrot, 
 the Queen's personal attendant, and Danish Anna, her 
 faithful lady's maid — both of whom have been mentioned 
 above as alone having the entrde of her sick-room during 
 her illness and last hours — were accused of embezzling 
 them, and were straightway sent to prison. The charge, 
 however, was not substantiated, though it derived some 
 colour from the jealousy with which they kept everyone 
 from their mistress's bedside, which, it was supposed, was 
 done to screen their malpractices. 
 
 But, in addition to her jewels and plate, she left in " ready 
 coin 80,000 Jacobus pieces; 124 whole pieces of cloth of 
 gold and silver, besides other silks and linen for quantity 
 and quality beyond any Prince in Europe, and so for all 
 kinds of hangings, bedding, and furniture answerable." 3 
 
 All this, together with the saving of nearly ^90,000 a 
 year for the expenses of her household and her jointure, 
 caused the news of her demise, which King James received 
 in the midst of a round of amusements at Newmarket, 
 to be much less of a blow to his Majesty than one might 
 have supposed. In fact, he bore it with such exemplary 
 fortitude and kingly equanimity, that he thought it only 
 proper to show how bravely he was bearing up, by going 
 
 1 Letter of Mr. Chamberlain. Pro- 2 Letter of Sir Edward Howard. 
 gresses ofJa?nes. L, vol. iii., p. 546. Progresses, ubi supra, p. 531, n. 
 
 3 Do., p. 532. 
 
1619] The cheerful Widower James. 89 
 
 to the races within three weeks of her death, even before 
 the funeral had taken place ! 1 
 
 He was ready enough, however, to seize the occasion to 
 emphasize his favourite notions of the divine and sacred 
 nature of royal personages, and their mystic kinship with 
 the Deity. This he did in an epitaph, in which he claimed 
 the comet, which had recently blazed in the sky, as a 
 heavenly portent of the Queen's death : — 
 
 Thee to invite the great God sent His star ; 
 
 Whose friend and nearest kin good princes are ; 
 
 Who, though they run their race of men, and die, 
 
 Death serves but to refine their majesty. 
 
 So did my Queen her Court from hence remove, 
 
 And left this earth to be enthroned above ; 
 
 She is changed, not dead, for sure no good prince dies, 
 
 But, like the sun, sets only for to rise. 2 
 
 Nevertheless, in deference to human custom, the divine 
 King James thought it best to don mourning for awhile, as 
 though his wife's death was like that of any other mortal. 
 To this period may, therefore, perhaps be referred Vanso- 
 mer's portrait of him (now in the Queen's Bedchamber at 
 Hampton Court), in which he is dressed entirely in a " melan- 
 choly suit of solemn black." In his right hand he holds the 
 " George " of the Order of the Garter ; his left rests on the 
 corner of a table, on which are the crown, sceptre, and orb ; 
 while on the ground lie a breastplate and other armour. 3 
 
 The picture, however, if it was painted at this time, can 
 scarcely have been dry, when, just a month after his Queen's 
 funeral, his mourning was discarded for " a suit of watchet 
 satin, laid with blue and white feathers, insomuch," observes 
 
 1 Camden's Annals. 
 
 2 State Papers, Domestic, James 
 Imp. MSS. No. 2, fol. 27. 
 
 3 No. 308 of the Historical Cata- 
 logue. It is inscribed "Jacobus D. G. 
 
 Magn(se Britanniae) Franc, et Hiber 
 (niae Rex)," with a date, possibly 1615, 
 but probably 161 8, indicating it to 
 have been painted not later than the 
 24th of March, 16 1 J. 
 
90 History of Hampton Court Palace. [^19 
 
 the satirical John Chamberlain, " that all the company was 
 glad to see him so gallant, and more like a wooer than a 
 mourner. But what decorum it will be, when ambassadors 
 come to condole (as here is one from the Duke of Lorraine 
 with two or three and twenty followers, all in black), let 
 them consider whom it concerns ! " 1 
 
 Vansomer's picture, whether painted at this time or not, 
 is, at any rate, interesting on account of the rarity of original 
 portraits of this King ; who, according to Weldon, was 
 always very reluctant to be painted. The caustic pen of the 
 same author draws a description of his person, which may 
 aptly be compared with this portrait: " He was of middle 
 stature, more corpulent through his clothes than in his 
 body, yet fat enough, his clothes ever being made large 
 and easy, the doublets quilted for stiletto proof ; his 
 breeches in great pleats and full stuffed. He was natu- 
 rally of a timorous disposition, which was the reason of 
 his quilted doublets ; his eyes large, ever rolling after any 
 stranger that came in his presence, insomuch, as many 
 for shame have left the room, as being out of counte- 
 nance. His beard was very thin ; his tongue too large for 
 his mouth, which ever made him speak full in the mouth, 
 and made him drink very uncomely, as if eating his drink, 
 which came out into the cup of each side of his mouth. His 
 skin was soft as taffeta sarsenet, which felt so because he 
 never washed his hands, only rubbed his finger ends slightly 
 with the wet end of a napkin." 2 There is also at Hampton 
 Court another picture of James I., likewise attributed to 
 Vansomer, which represents the King in royal robes of 
 crimson, lined with ermine, with the crown on his head, 
 holding the sceptre in his right hand and the orb of empire 
 in his left. He is standing in one of the rooms of the old 
 
 1 Progresses of James I., vol. iii., p. 552. 
 
 2 Sir A. Weldon's Court and Char., Secret History, vol. ii., p. 2. 
 
King James I. 
 
 From the portrait at Hampton Court, by Vansomer. 
 
1620] Portraits of King James — Inigojones. 91 
 
 palace of Whitehall, through a lattice window of which is 
 seen Inigo Jones' Banqueting House. This fixes the date 
 of the picture to be 1620; for the Banqueting House was 
 begun in 16 19, and Vansomer died on January 5th, 1621. 
 
 The mention of Inigo Jones reminds us that he had been 
 appointed surveyor of his Majesty's works in 161 5 ; and in 
 that capacity the palace of Hampton Court came more or 
 less under his supervision. In his copy of Palladio, still 
 preserved in the library of Worcester College, Oxford, is 
 the following note on a fly-leaf : " The First Court of 
 Hampton Court is 166 fo. square. The Second Fountaine 
 Court is 92 fo. broade, and 1 50 fo. longe. The Greene 
 Court is 108 fo. broade, and 116 fo. longe, the walkes or 
 cloysters ar 14 fo. betweene the walles. September the 
 28th, 1625." 1 
 
 And it happens that it was in relation to the preparing 
 of rooms here for the Spanish ambassador — the famous Count 
 Gondomar — that he wrote the only letter which has been 
 preserved from his pen. The granting of lodgings within 
 the precincts of the royal palace to any ambassador was a 
 privilege long resisted and refused by the King, in spite of 
 persistent solicitations on their excellencies' part ; and it was 
 conceded to Gondomar on the occasion in question, only, as 
 a very exceptional and special favour, limited to the summer 
 months of the current year, 2 1620, and granted to him then 
 merely because James was desirous of winning his good- 
 will in favour of his cherished project of the Spanish match. 
 Even so, the apartments allotted to him were not in the 
 main building, but in one of the detached towers of the 
 palace, a distinction which greatly diminished his excel- 
 lency's gratification. The following is Inigo Jones' letter 
 on the subject : — 
 
 1 Collier's Life of Inigo J 'ones, Shake- 2 State Papers, fames I., vol. cxvi., 
 speare Society, p. 17. No. 61, August 20th, 1620. 
 
92 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace* [1620 
 
 Right Honourable, 1 
 
 In my journey to London I went to Hampton Court, where 
 I heard that the Spanish ambassador came to Kingston and sent 
 his steward to Hampton Court, who looked on the lodgings in- 
 tended for the ambassador, which were in Mr. Huggins his rooms ; 
 but the steward utterly disliked those rooms, saying that the 
 ambassador would not lie but in the house ; besides, there was no 
 furniture in those rooms, or bedding, or otherwise, neither for the 
 ambassador or his followers. So the steward returning to his lord, 
 he resolved only to hunt in the park and so return. 2 But the keeper 
 answered, he might not suffer that, he having received no order for 
 it ; so the ambassador went back discontented, having had some 
 smart sport in the warren. But since, my lord of Nottingham 3 
 hearing of this, sent to the ambassador, to excuse the matter, which 
 the ambassador took very well, and promised to come and lie at 
 Hampton Court before his Majesty's return. But in my opinion, 
 the fault was chiefly in the ambassador, in not sending a day or 
 two before, to see how he was provided for, and give notice what 
 
 would please him 4 
 
 Thus, with my humble dutye, I rest 
 
 Your Honours ever to be commanded 
 
 Inigo Jones. 
 
 Y e 17 of August, 1620. 
 
 The King's return to Hampton Court took place, as usual, 
 in the autumn ; and in the month of January following, per- 
 haps in order to allay any jealousy that might be aroused 
 by the civilities shown to the Spanish ambassador at 
 Hampton Court, the French ambassador was " nobly enter- 
 tained with hawking and hunting " at the same place. 5 
 
 After this we find nothing to record in the annals of the 
 Palace until September, 1623, when a certain Dr. Whiting 
 
 1 Inigo Jones' letter was addressed to this matter. State Papers, James I. 
 to the Earl of Arundel and Surrey. vol. cxvi., No. 65. 
 
 2 This was on August 4th. State 4 Collier's Inigo Jo7ies, p. 23. 
 Papers, Ja?nes I., vol. cxvi., No. 61. 5 Camden's Annals; and State 
 
 3 On August 13th a letter was writ- Papers, James I., vol. cxix., No. 24, 
 ten to him "directing him to take Jan. 13th, 162 1 ; and Progresses, Sec, 
 especial care of the King's game about p. 632. 
 
 Hampton Court" — evidently in relation 
 
1623] The Spanish Ambassador at the Palace. 93 
 
 incurred the severe displeasure of the King for some 
 sermon he preached before his Majesty in the chapel in the 
 Palace. 1 What was the nature of the remarks that gave 
 such great offence we do not know, though we may suspect 
 that it was either some inadequacy in the recognition of the 
 doctrine of the divine right of kings, or some other of James's 
 pet dogmas, or an attack on the Spanish match, which, on 
 the score of religion, was naturally very distasteful to 
 the clergy. At any rate, the preacher's delinquency was 
 thought so grave, that it resulted in his being had up before 
 the Council, who wrote that they " found him penitent and 
 submissive ; yet his offence requiring exemplary justice, 
 they had committed him ; although the happy return of the 
 Prince makes this day more fit for grace and gladness." 2 
 In effect, Dr. Whiting was very soon after liberated, though 
 on condition of being inhibited from preaching. 3 
 
 " The happy return of the Prince " was from his famous 
 romantic expedition into Spain, whither he had gone with 
 Buckingham, to sue in person for the hand of the Infanta. 
 The most complete cordiality was now supposed to be 
 established between the two countries ; and in anticipation 
 of the completion of the match, the fulfilment of which was 
 now looked upon as a certainty, the Spanish ambassador was 
 entertained by King James and Prince Charles, at a grand 
 banquet. Though Hampton Court does not happen to have 
 been the scene of this festivity, the print commemorative of 
 the event, which was engraved at the time, is so illustrative 
 of many similar entertainments that took place in this palace 
 during this reign, that we have introduced a copper plate 
 facsimile of it as a frontispiece to this volume. 
 
 The " entente cordiale " was, however, but of short dura- 
 
 1 State Papers, James vol. cliii., 3 Do., No. 22 ; Conway's Letter 
 No. 14 ; Conway's Letter Book, p. 87. Book, p. 88. 
 
 2 Do., No. 20, October 6th, 1623. 
 
94 
 
 History of Hampton Cowt Palace. [1624 
 
 ation ; and the match, very soon after the Prince's return, 
 was entirely broken off ; so that when, at the end of Sep- 
 tember, 1624, the Spanish agent, who was acting as charge* 
 d'affaires during the absence of the ambassador, came to 
 Hampton Court, he was pointedly slighted and scarcely any 
 notice being taken of him ; except that " Sir John Finett 
 (the master of the ceremonies), as if he had met him by 
 chance at his coming into the court, did bring him up to 
 the Council Chamber, and so carried him in to the privie 
 lodgings to repose himself." 1 Prince Charles, who had had 
 a severe fall out hunting about a fortnight before at Hamp- 
 ton Court, was laid up in the Palace from its effects at this 
 time. 2 
 
 This is the last reference to Hampton Court that we find 
 during the reign of James I. Instead of Charles' marriage 
 with the Infanta, a match was negociated with the daughter 
 of the King of France. But before the preliminaries were 
 finally settled, " the Wonder of the World," as James is 
 styled in the dedication of the authorized version of the 
 Bible, was no more. 
 
 1 State Papers, James vol. clxxiii., 2 Progresses of James vol. iii., 
 Nos. 12 and 23, Oct. 4th and 6th, 1624. p. 1005. 
 
Charles I. 
 From a rare old print in the British Museum. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CHARLES I. S QUARREL WITH HIS QUEEN. 
 
 Charles I. retires to Hampton Court — His Dislike of the Queen's French 
 Attendants — Madame de Saint-Georges — She is slighted by the King — 
 Buckingham's Insolent Behaviour towards the Queen — His request that his 
 Relatives should be made Ladies of her Bedchamber refused — The Court 
 removes to Windsor — Madame de Saint-Georges again slighted — The Plague — 
 Two French Priests put into Quarantine in the Tilt Yard Tower — The Quarrel 
 between Charles and Henrietta — Intolerable Conduct of the French Ecclesiastics 
 — The Queen's Confessor insists on saying Grace — Proclamation prohibiting 
 Communications between London and Hampton Court — The French Ambas- 
 sador intrigues to get Apartments in the Palace — At last succeeds — " Gives 
 much Trouble to the Household " — The Expense of his Board. 
 
 HARLES I., in the earlier part of his reign, 
 frequently visited Hampton Court, either for plea- 
 sure or to entertain distinguished foreigners, or 
 sometimes to avoid the danger of the plague, 
 which was on several occasions raging in London, 
 when all communication between that city and the palace was 
 forbidden. On this latter account it was that he came to 
 make his first stay here as king about the 6th of July, 
 1625, three months after his accession to the throne, and 
 two or three weeks after his marriage. 1 
 
 1 The exact date of the King's re- precisely stated. The Comte de 
 tirement to Hampton Court is nowhere Tillieres {Memoires, ed. Hippeau, 1862, 
 
9 6 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1625 
 
 Accompanying him, of course, was his newly-married 
 wife, Henrietta-Maria of France, daughter of Henri IV. 
 and Marie de Medicis, then only fifteen years of age, who 
 brought with her a large train of French followers and 
 servants, consisting of a hundred and six persons, both men 
 and women, and lay as well as clerical. At the head of the 
 clergy, who numbered some thirty priests, was Daniel du 
 Plessis, Bishop of Mende, the Queen's Grand Almoner, and 
 Father Berulle, her confessor, while her lay attendants in- 
 cluded two ambassadors — the Marquis d'Effiat and M. de la 
 Ville-aux- Geres — the Comte de Tillieres, her chamberlain, 
 and many lords and ladies in waiting. 1 Among her ladies 
 was one deserving of special notice, namely, a certain 
 Madame de Saint-Georges, who had been the Queen's 
 companion and friend in her childhood, and who by the 
 overweening and pernicious influence she had acquired over 
 the mind of the Queen, had already made much mischief 
 between the newly-married pair. Charles, in fact, soon 
 recognized in her one of those intriguing, confidential female 
 friends, who so often fasten themselves on weak-minded 
 women, and ruin the happiness of so many homes. He, 
 therefore, quickly formed the determination of banishing 
 her from Court altogether on the first provocation ; and in 
 order to lose no time in marking his dislike to her, he 
 declined, when starting for Hampton Court, to get into the 
 large coach provided for himself, his wife, and her suite, 
 that he might take instead a small one, where there was 
 
 p. 92), says that Charles, " s'en alia a Domestic, Charles Z, vol. iv., No. 13) ; 
 
 Hampton Court peu de temps avant and he was certainly here by the 7th, 
 
 son Parlement," which we find was on which day he received in this 
 
 adjourned on July nth {Parliamen- Palace a "Petition concerning Reli- 
 
 tary History, vol. iv., p. 353). He gion," delivered by a deputation from 
 
 had, perhaps, arrived on July 6th, both Houses of Parliament (Do., No. 
 
 when Sir Thomas Lewkenor, Master 20, and Pari. Hist., vol. iv. p. 377). 
 
 of the Ceremonies, came here with the 1 Henriette- Marie, par le Comte de 
 
 Venetian ambassador {State Papers, Baillon, p. 61. 
 
1625] Charles I!s Disagreement with his Wife. 97 
 
 only room for two or three English Court ladies, but no 
 seat for Madame de Saint-Georges. 1 
 
 This slight offered to her friend so annoyed the Queen, 
 that she could not refrain from showing her resentment, 
 though she had the tact to use expressions more playful 
 than offensive. 
 
 Of this incident the Duke of Buckingham, if he was 
 not a witness, was at any rate speedily informed by 
 Charles, who made his favourite his confidant in everything, 
 allowed him to interfere in his most private concerns, and 
 made him the medium of communicating his wishes to his 
 young wife. Accordingly, at once after their arrival at this 
 Palace, Buckingham sought an interview with the Queen to 
 expostulate with her on her conduct towards Charles. As 
 soon as he was ushered into her presence, he began in threat- 
 ening language to tell her that the King, her husband, could 
 no longer endure the way in which she lived with him ; 
 that if she did not change her demeanour towards him, 
 means would be found to make her do so, which would 
 render her the most miserable woman in the world ; adding 
 that as for himself, he understood well enough that he was 
 in no great favour with her, but that he did not care a rap 
 on that account, as he possessed the goodwill of his master, 
 and that her illwill towards him would not benefit herself. 
 
 This extraordinary outburst, by which Buckingham 
 seems to have hoped to terrify the Queen, and to acquire 
 an ascendency over her youthful mind, surprised her greatly ; 
 but she answered calmly and prudently enough, that she 
 was not aware of having given the King, her husband, any 
 cause to be angry with her, nor would she ever ; and that, 
 such being the case, she could not conceive that he should 
 bear her any grudge ; that to him only she looked for her 
 joy and happiness ; and that as to Buckingham, so far from 
 
 1 Mtmoires du Comte de Tillieres, p. 93. 
 H 
 
98 History of Hampton Court Palace. [ l62 5 
 
 wishing to be his enemy, she was anxious to treat him with 
 all the consideration which was his due, if only he would 
 behave towards her as he ought." 1 
 
 Next day the Duke, as though oblivious of his conduct 
 of the day before, or as if he imagined that his insults were 
 acts of courtesy, came again to her and coolly begged her to 
 accept his wife, his sister, and his niece as ladies of her bed- 
 chamber. She replied that the late Queen of England had 
 had but two ladies attending her in that capacity, and that 
 she had brought three with her from France, with whom she 
 was quite contented ; but that nevertheless she was willing 
 to refer the matter to the French ambassadors. On re- 
 ceiving this answer, Buckingham at once had recourse to 
 them himself, and represented to them, as strongly as he 
 could, how great might be the services he should render to 
 the Queen and to France. They could not disregard the 
 force of these considerations, and they were already arrang- 
 ing means whereby to satisfy him, when the Bishop of 
 Mende overruling them, made them consider seriously how 
 hazardous it would be, for a young Queen like her, to put 
 heretical women about her at her first coming into Eng- 
 land, how scandalized all Catholics would be, both in 
 England and abroad, and what the Pope would say. So 
 convincing, indeed, did his arguments seem to them, that 
 they put an end to the scheme, to the great annoyance of 
 Buckingham, who, from that moment, conceived the most 
 bitter hatred against him. 
 
 After the Queen had stayed a short time at Hampton 
 Court, she went with the King to Windsor Castle, on 
 account of the increase of the plague, which had now 
 extended to the neighbourhood of Hampton Court, though 
 it did not break out within the precincts of the Royal Manor, 
 an immunity probably due to the admirable sanitary arrange- 
 
 1 De Tilltires, ubi supra. 
 
1625] Charles, Henrietta Maria , and Buckingham. 99 
 
 ments, with which it had been endowed by Cardinal 
 Wolsey. 
 
 On this occasion a similar scene took place in regard to 
 Madame de Saint-Georges, as had occurred on their coming 
 to this Palace. For Charles, who had gone to Oatlands to 
 shoot, and who was to proceed thence to Windsor to await 
 the arrival of the Queen, unexpectedly returned instead to 
 join her at Hampton Court. He did this at the instigation 
 of Buckingham, with no other object than of again having 
 the opportunity of pointedly excluding Madame de Saint- 
 Georges from his coach. Of this plan the Count de Tillieres, 
 her chamberlain, as he was conducting the Queen down the 
 steps of the Great Hall, heard the Duke speaking to the 
 King ; and Charles, to emphasize the slight put upon Her 
 Majesty's favourite, made the Marquis of Hamilton take 
 a seat inside the coach instead of her, to the Queens 
 unconcealed and bitter annoyance. It is even stated by her 
 in her own Memoirs, that when Madame de Saint-Georges 
 thrust herself forward to try and get into the coach, 
 Charles was so ungallant as to push her back with his own 
 hand. 1 
 
 While the Court was at Windsor Castle, the plague broke 
 out in the Royal borough, and two deaths occurred in the 
 very house where two of Queen Henrietta Marias French 
 priests lodged, whereupon the Court moved to Beaulieu 
 and Titchfield, and the priests were sent to Hampton Court, 
 and put into quarantine in one of the towers in the Tilt Yard. 
 
 After they had been kept there three weeks, and it 
 appeared that there was no longer any danger of infection 
 from them, they were " suffered to go away and shift for 
 themselves." 2 
 
 1 Memoirs of Henrietta - Maria, vol. iv., Nos. 94, etc., July 20th and 
 1671, p. 13. August 14th, 1625. 
 
 2 State Papers, Domestic, Charles!., 
 
ioo History of Hampton Court Palace. [1625 
 
 The King and Queen remained away from Hampton 
 Court for about two months, during which time the bickerings 
 between Charles and Buckingham on one side, and Hen- 
 rietta-Maria and Madame de Saint-Georges on the other, 
 
 Old Tower in the Tilt Yard. 
 
 continued unabated. One of the chief sources of contention 
 was the onerous nature of the stipulations in the marriage 
 treaty for the free practice by the Queen and her attendants 
 of the Catholic Religion, and the reluctance the King 
 showed to fulfil them, on account of their exceeding un- 
 popularity in England. 
 
1625] Misbehaviour of the French Suite, 1 o 1 
 
 Equally productive of trouble was the injudicious way in 
 which the French ecclesiastics flaunted their exemption 
 from the penal laws in the face of everyone. This was 
 especially the case with the Queen's confessor, Father 
 Berulle, who was always by her side, and whose aggres- 
 siveness led to more than one discreditable scene. 
 
 One day when the King and Queen were dining toge- 
 ther in public in the Presence Chamber, " Mr. Hacket 
 (chaplain to the Lord Keeper Williams), being there to say 
 grace, the confessor would have prevented him, but that 
 Hacket shoved him away ; whereupon the confessor went 
 to the Queens side, and was about to say grace again, but 
 that the King, pulling the dishes unto him, and the carvers 
 falling to the business, hindered. When dinner was done, 
 the confessor thought, standing by the Queen, to have been 
 before Mr. Hacket, but Mr. Hacket again got the start. 
 The confessor, nevertheless, begins his grace as loud as 
 Mr. Hacket, with such a confusion, that the King in great 
 passion instantly rose from the table, and taking the Queen 
 by the hand, retired into the bedchamber." 1 
 
 Another complaint of the Kings against his wife had 
 relation to her coldness and indifference towards him, the 
 nature of which is pretty plainly told in De Tillieres 
 Memoirs. Conduct of this sort he, of course, put down to 
 the malign influence of Madame Saint-Georges ; and it 
 made him more than ever resolved to rid himself of the 
 whole crew, to which end he accordingly began to work 
 immediately after his return to Hampton Court at the be- 
 ginning of the month of November. 2 
 
 At this time the plague was still raging violently not 
 only in London, but also in the neighbourhood of Kingston; 
 
 1 Letter from Mr. Mead to Sir Mar- 2 State Papers, Domestic, Charles 
 tin Stuteville Oct., 1625 {Sloane MSS., vol. viii., No. 37, and vol. ix., No. 2. 
 4177)- 
 
102 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1625 
 
 and a proclamation was issued, prohibiting all communica- 
 tions between London, Southwark and Lambeth, and this 
 Palace. 1 
 
 Following his Majesty hither was the French ambas- 
 sador, the Marquis of Blainville, who was very anxious 
 to be lodged in the palace during his attendance on the 
 Court, and who tried every manoeuvre he could think of 
 to effect his purpose. 2 Sir John Finett, the Master of the 
 Ceremonies, gives an amusing account of his efforts to this 
 end. " I, finding," he says, " his ambition to lodge in the 
 King's house there, acquainted my Lord Chamberlain with 
 it (who had already given orders for his Lodging at 
 Kingston) and received from his Lordship answer ' That 
 his Majesty would never allow any ambassador to be lodged 
 so near him.' Whereupon, letting the ambassador know (as 
 dextrously as I could) what order had been already taken 
 for his residence at Kingston ; his answer at first was 
 * What was his Majesty's pleasure should be his obedience ; ' 
 but proceeding, asked, ' The plague having been (as I am 
 told) so much and so lately in that town, may I not be 
 lodged within the King's House at Hampton Court ? ' I 
 replied, ' it had not been the custom for ambassadors to be 
 so lodged.' 1 Yet,' said he, ' the Duke de Chevereux had 
 his lodging in the house at Richmond, and so had the 
 Marquesse de Fyat.' " To this Finett did not reply, but sent 
 a message to the King, who directed him to explain the 
 exceptional circumstances of those cases, and that the King 
 was absent from the palace when they were put up. In 
 conclusion Finett declared that " neither his Majesty nor the 
 King his father had ever lodged any ambassador in their 
 houses while they themselves lodged in them, and that his 
 Majesty now would be loth to make a ' President ' that would 
 
 1 Rymer's Fcedera, vol. xviii. p. 198. 
 
 2 Memoir es du Comte de Tillieres, p. 101. 
 
1625] The French A mbassador intrigues for Apartments. 103 
 
 hereafter beget him so great a trouble as this was like 
 to be, and that therefore his Majesty hoped that the am- 
 bassador would not take it in ill part if he did not in this 
 correspond with his desires." 
 
 There for a time the matter rested, but Blainville did 
 not relax his efforts, and continued to intrigue and suppli- 
 cate to get a footing in the palace, until at last, at the urgent 
 solicitation of the Queen, his request was granted, and he 
 was allowed to reside in Hampton Court Palace. But even 
 then he was not admitted into the main building ; the rooms 
 assigned to him being " all those next the river, in the 
 garden, which were sometime the Lady Elizabeth's " 1 — that 
 is, Charles I.'s sister, the Queen of Bohemia — the building 
 being the same "Water Gallery" in which Queen Elizabeth, 
 when Princess, was lodged by her sister Queen Mary as a 
 state prisoner. 
 
 The presence of his Excellency in the Palace, especially 
 as it involved providing him and his suite with board at the 
 expense of the King, was viewed with great disfavour by 
 the officials at Court ; and in a letter to the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham, 2 written from Hampton Court about this time, 
 Mr. Secretary Conway freely dilates on the expense and in- 
 convenience thus occasioned. " The ambassador," 3 writes 
 he, ''gives much trouble to the household here. He hath 
 procured from his Majesty a lodging in this house, and so 
 his diet comes to be divided here for himself, and at Kings- 
 ton for his company ; so an increase of several new demands 
 came in, for wood, and coals and twenty other things ; and 
 so for Madame St.-Georges, the Bishop, and that train, 
 which makes the white staves to scratch where it itcheth 
 not. It must come to be examined by commission ; if I am 
 one, I will never give my consent to additions." 
 
 1 Finett's Philoxenis, p. 166. 2 Dated Nov. 30th. 
 
 3 Hardwicke's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 6. 
 
104 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1625 
 
 This shows commendable zeal on the part of Mr. Secre- 
 tary Conway for economy in the public expenditure, the 
 necessity of which becomes apparent when we learn that 
 the charges for the ambassador's household amounted in a 
 month or two to over ^2,000/ 
 
 1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I., from France, with such further sum 
 vol. ix., No. 54, Nov. 12th, 1625. as shall be needful. The writers cer- 
 " Cofferers of the Household for the tify that ^1,230 has been already ex- 
 diet and expenses of the Marquis de pended over and above the said ,£500, 
 Blainville, Ambassador Extraordinary and request payment accordingly." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DISMISSAL OF HENRIETTA-MARIA's FRENCH SUITE. 
 
 The Queen's undutiful Behaviour to her Husband — Quarrels with him about 
 her Household — His Complaints to the Queen-Mother — He resolves to dismiss 
 the French Suite — His Letters to Buckingham on the Subject — The Duke's 
 Resentment against the French — He foments the Dissensions between Charles 
 and his Wife — The Queen refuses to be Crowned with the King — The French 
 Suite expelled from England, Bag and Baggage — Visits of Paul Rozencrantz 
 and Bethlem Gabor — Bassompierre's Mission to England — His Interview with 
 Buckingham — A private Audience arranged — He is received by the King — 
 Charles breaks his Promise — Indignation of Bassompierre — "The Arrogance 
 of the English " — The King grants him an Audience — " Puts himself into a 
 great Passion" — Impudence of Buckingham — Abortive Results of Bassom- 
 pierre's Embassy. 
 
 WO days after the return of the Court to Hampton 
 Court, the disagreement between Charles and 
 his wife broke out in another direction, over the 
 settlement of the Queen's household, 1 Henrietta 
 maintaining that it was her prerogative, under 
 the marriage treaty, to bestow the offices connected with 
 the management and the collection of the revenues of 
 her dowry, on her French followers. This, whatever 
 may have been the correct interpretation of the treaty, was 
 
 1 TilliereSy p. 108. 
 
106 History of Hampton Court Palace. [^25 
 
 certainly an aggressive attitude for her to take up ; and 
 Charles, in a letter which he wrote to the Queen-Mother 
 of France, complained much of her undutiful conduct 
 in this regard, attributing it to Madame de Saint- Georges, 
 " who taking- it in distaste because I would not let her 
 ride with us in the coach (when there were many women 
 of higher quality), claiming it as her due (which in Eng- 
 land we think a strange thing), set my wife in such a 
 humour against me, as from that very hour to this no man 
 can say she has behaved two days together with the respect 
 that I have deserved of her. As I take it, it was at her first 
 coming to Hampton Court that I sent some of my council 
 to her, with the regulations that were kept in the Court of 
 the Queen my mother, and desired the Comte de Tillieres 
 that the same might be kept. The answer of Queen Hen- 
 rietta to this deputation was, 1 I hope I shall be suffered to 
 order my own house as I list.' Now if she had said," con- 
 tinued the King, " that she would speak with me herself, not 
 doubting to give me satisfaction, I would have found no 
 fault in her, for whatsoever she had said I should have im- 
 puted it to her ignorance of business ; but I could not 
 imagine her affronting me so by refusal publicly. After 
 this answer, I took my time when I thought we had leisure 
 to dispute it out by ourselves, to tell her both her fault in 
 the publicity of such answer, and her mistakes ; but she gave 
 me so ill an answer that I omit to repeat it. Likewise I 
 have to complain of her neglect of the English tongue, and 
 of the nation in general." 
 
 In another letter, also addressed to her mother about this 
 period, he renewed his complaints. " One night, after I was 
 a-bed, my wife put a paper in my hand telling me ' It was a 
 list of those she desired to be officers of her revenue.' I 
 took it, and said that ' I would read it next morning ; ' but, 
 withal, I told her * that, by agreement in France, I had the 
 
1625] Charles Complains to his Mother-in- Law. 107 
 
 naming of them.' She said, ' There were both English and 
 French in the note.' I replied, that ' Those English whom 
 I thought fit to serve her, I would confirm ; but for the 
 French it was impossible for them to serve her in that 
 capacity.' She said, ' All those in that paper had breviates 
 from her mother and herself, and that she would admit no 
 other.' Then I said, ' It was neither in her mother's power, 
 nor hers, to admit any without my leave ; and if she relied 
 on that, whomsoever she recommended should not come in/ 
 Then she plainly bade me 1 take my lands to myself, for since 
 she had no power to put in whom she would into those places, 
 she would have neither lands or houses of me ; ' but bade 
 me 'give her what I thought fit by way of pension.' I bade 
 her remember to whom she spoke, and told her ' she ought 
 not to use me so.' Then she fell into a passionate discourse, 
 1 how she is miserable, in having no power to place servants; 
 and that business succeeded the worse for her recommenda- 
 tion.' When I offered to answer, she would not so much as 
 hear me, but went on lamenting, saying ' that she was not of 
 such base quality as to be used so ! ' But," continued 
 Charles, " I both made her hear me, and end that dis- 
 course." 1 
 
 In all this affair Charles, in the opinion of De Tillieres, 
 showed " une bassesse bien grande et une arrogance insup- 
 portable ; " 2 but in that of his own courtiers he was only 
 making a very necessary stand for his own dignity, and for 
 the assertion of his proper authority, which they assured 
 him would suffer irremediably unless he kept his wife in 
 subjection, as no one would think a man capable of govern- 
 ing a kingdom who was unable to govern his wife. 
 
 In the meantime the Court continued at Hampton Court, 3 
 
 1 D'Israeli's (?) Commentaries of the 3 State Papers, Domestic, Charles 
 Life and Reign of Charles I. Z, November and December, 1625. 
 
 2 Memoires du Comte de Tillieres, Passim. 
 p. 109. 
 
1 08 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1625 
 
 and it was from this Palace that Charles wrote to Bucking- 
 ham, who was then in Holland on his way to France, to in- 
 form him of his determination to send away the French on 
 the first opportunity. 
 
 Nov: 20. 1625. 
 
 Steenie, 
 
 I writ to you, by Ned Clarke, that I thought I should have 
 cause enough, in a short time, to put away the Monsers [Monsieurs] 
 either by [their] attempting to steal away my wife, or by making 
 plots with my own subjects. For the first I cannot say certainly 
 whether it was intended, but I am sure it is hindered ; for the other, 
 though I have good grounds to believe it I am still hunting after it, 
 yet seeing daily the maliciousness of the monsers, by making and 
 fomenting discontentments in my wife, I could tarry no longer 
 from advertising you that I mean to seek for no other grounds to 
 cashier my monsers, that you may (if you think good) advertise the 
 queen mother [Marie de Medicis] of my intention ; for this being an 
 action which may have a show of harshness, I thought it was fit to 
 take this way, that she [the queen mother], to whom I have had 
 many obligations, may not take it unkindly. And likewise, I think 
 I have done you no wrong in my letter, though in some place of it, 
 I may seem to chide you. I pray you send me word, with what 
 speed you may, whether ye like this course or not, for I shall put 
 nothing of this in execution while [till] I hear from you. In the 
 meantime I shall think of convenient means to do this business with 
 the best mien ; but I am resolved it must be done, and that shortly. 
 So, longing to see thee, I rest 
 
 Your loving, faithful constant friend 
 
 Charles R. 1 
 
 Hampton Court. 
 
 The letter in which Charles, as he says, " may seem to 
 chide " Buckingham, was likewise addressed to his favourite, 
 dated the same day, November 20th, and also written from 
 Hampton Court. It was, however, couched in such a tone, 
 and worded in such a manner, as to make it appear that he 
 
 1 Published in Hardwicke's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 2. 
 
1625] Steenie and the French " Monsers" 109 
 
 was most reluctant to dismiss his wife's attendants, and that 
 Buckingham was using all his influence against his doing so, 
 but protesting that he should be reluctantly compelled to 
 take this course, unless they ceased to set their mistress 
 against him. 1 
 
 All this was, of course, directly at variance with the facts ; 
 and it is evident that the letter was written with a view of 
 being shown to the Queen Mother, in order to prepare her 
 for the step he was contemplating, and to mislead her as to 
 the true state of affairs, especially in regard to Buckingham's 
 real sentiments towards the French. 
 
 This letter, however, the Duke never had an opportunity 
 of showing to Marie de Medicis ; for Richelieu, who knew 
 that his object in desiring to come to Paris was to make love 
 to the Queen, Anne of Austria, for whom he had a romantic 
 attachment, interdicted him from entering France at all. 
 
 In another of Charles's letters to the Duke, without date, 
 but apparently belonging to this time, he says : " As for 
 news, my wife begins to mend her manners ; I know not 
 how long it will continue, for they say it is by advice, but the 
 best of all is they say the Monsieurs desire to return home. I 
 will not say this is certain, for you know nothing they say 
 can be so." 2 
 
 It was while affairs were in this posture that Buckingham 
 returned to England, burning with indignation against the 
 French, and more than ever determined to assist the King 
 in his resolve of expelling them from the kingdom, whereby 
 he would avenge himself for being denied access to France, 
 and rid himself of the only influence likely to dispute his 
 paramount supremacy at Court. 
 
 Accordingly he came down without delay to Hampton 
 
 1 Hardwicke's State Papers, vol. iii. 2 Hardwicke's State Papers, vol. iii. 
 p. 3. See also Bassompierre's Embassy p. 12. 
 to England, Croker's edition, p. 125. 
 
1 1 o History of Hampton Coui't Palace, [1626 
 
 Court, and at once set to work inflaming Charles against 
 them, and fomenting his disagreement with his wife. In the 
 interviews he had with the Queen on Charles's account, he 
 showed the most extraordinary presumption, telling her 
 plainly that unless she gave in to whatever he wished, he 
 would do all he could to put them on bad terms with each 
 other; and actually having the audacity to remind her that 
 " Queens of England had been beheaded before now ! " 1 
 
 All this shows that the Queen, on her part, had much to 
 bear, through the King's excessive partiality for Buckingham, 
 in the license he allowed him in speaking to her, and from the 
 way in which he made him the confidant of all his grievances 
 against her. In this, in truth, she had quite as much ground 
 of complaint as the King had in regard to Madame de Saint- 
 Georges ; and we cannot but feel pity for her, when we 
 remember that she was still a mere girl of sixteen years of 
 age, in a foreign country, and among a people and in a 
 Court, alien in religion and language, and with only her own 
 French attendants to whom she could look for any assistance 
 or sympathy. 
 
 That in these circumstances, she should sometimes have 
 behaved injudiciously is not surprising, especially when we 
 consider the difficult position in which her religion was con- 
 tinually placing her. We have a striking instance of this in 
 her refusal to be crowned with the King by the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, when that ceremony, which had been deferred 
 on account of the plague, took place on February 2nd, 
 1626, about a month after the Court returned to London 
 from Hampton Court. 2 
 
 This act, though it did her credit as a conscientious 
 Catholic, who could not, consistently with her religious pro- 
 fessions, take part in what she regarded as an heretical rite, 
 
 1 Memoires de Madame de Motteville, vol. i. p. 345. 
 
 2 De Tillieres, pp. 114, &c. 
 
1626] The French driven out like Wild Beasts. 1 1 1 
 
 performed by men in revolt against the Church of God, was 
 naturally a cause of deep offence to Charles and his people. 
 Indeed, it was interpreted as an intentional slight offered to 
 the religion of England, which was never forgiven, and 
 which rankled particularly in the breasts of the bitter-hearted 
 Puritans. 
 
 After this, things went on from bad to worse, and at last they 
 reached such a pass that Charles, after removing the French 
 attendants from Court, finally expelled them from the 
 kingdom altogether, bag and baggage. 
 
 The letter to Buckingham, in which he gave the final 
 order for their removal, is too remarkable not to be cited in 
 full :— 
 
 Steenie 
 
 I have receaved your letter by Die Greame. This is my 
 answer. I command you to send all the French away by tomorrow 
 out of the Towne. If you can, by faire meanes (but stike not long 
 in disputing), otherways, force them away, dryving them away lyke 
 so manie wylde beastes, until ye have shipped them, and so the Devill 
 goe with them. Lett me heare no answer, but of the performance 
 of my command. So I rest 
 
 Your faithfull constant loving friend 
 
 Charles R. 1 
 
 Oaking the 7 August 1626. 
 
 So peremptory a measure naturally excited the greatest 
 commotion at the French Court; for, however necessary it 
 may have been politically, it was undoubtedly a flagrant 
 violation of the treaty of marriage, and gave the French 
 only too good reason to rail against " la facilite des Anglais 
 a tout promettre et leur effronterie a ne rien tenir." 2 In 
 fact, it would have at once led to a war between the two 
 countries, had not Richelieu preferred diplomatic measures, 
 and despatched the Marshal de Bassompierre, an accom- 
 
 1 Ellis' Original Letters, vol. iii. p. 224. 2 De Titlieres, p. 129. 
 
112 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace, [1626 
 
 plished and able diplomatist, as a special envoy to try and 
 arrange a compromise. 
 
 Pending his arrival Charles went back again to Hampton 
 Court, and here Paul Rozencrantz, ambassador from Den- 
 mark, who had had his first audience of the King on the 1 ith 
 of July, 1626, 1 had another here on the 21st of September/ 
 when he was received in the Presence Chamber, " although 
 the chapel had been originally assigned for it." About the 
 same time an ambassador from Bethlem Gabor, the adven- 
 turous Prince of Transylvania, also had an audience. " He 
 was received by Lord Compton at the second gate, and there 
 turning up the Great Stairs through the Great Hall and 
 Guard Chamber, the King was already under ' the State ' in 
 the Privy Chamber expecting him." 3 The Court appears 
 to have stayed on at this palace during the rest of the 
 summer, and here, on the 6th of October, Laud began 
 his career of ecclesiastical promotion by being appointed 
 Dean of the Chapel Royal, taking the oath in the vestry 
 before the Lord Chamberlain. 4 About the same time he 
 was secretly informed by the Duke of Buckingham that 
 the King had resolved that he should succeed the then 
 Archbishop of Canterbury — a preferment to which he was 
 advanced six years after. 
 
 In the meanwhile, Bassompierre had arrived in England,, 
 and after spending some days in London, where he con- 
 ferred with Buckingham and other ministers, he came down 
 on Sunday, October 1 ith, 1626, to Hampton Court in one of 
 the King's coaches. A sumptuous dinner had been prepared 
 for him, but he came too late for it, " purposely it was 
 thought," and when " a collation was then set on the table,, 
 it remained untasted by him or his fellows," from which Sir 
 John Finette, the Master of the Ceremonies, inferred that 
 
 1 Finett, p. 181. 2 Do., p. 185. 3 Finett's Philoxenis, p. 187.. 
 
 4 Laud's Diary, Sept. 30th, Oct. 3rd and 6th, p. 84. 
 
Back Court near the Fish Kitchen. 
 
1626] Bassompierre at Hampton Court, 1 13 
 
 he would not receive the King of England's hospitality, 
 and sagaciously predicted War 1 1 Buckingham then came 
 to tell him that the King desired to know beforehand 
 what he purposed saying, " and that the King," says 
 Bassompierre, " would not have me speak to him about 
 any business ; that otherwise he would not give me 
 audience. 2 I said to him that the King should know 
 what I had to say to him from my own mouth, and that 
 it was not the custom to limit an ambassador in what he 
 had to represent to the sovereign, to whom he was sent, 
 and that if he did not wish to see me, I was ready to go 
 back again. He swore to me that the only reason which 
 obliged him (the King) to this, and which made him insist 
 upon it, was that he could not help putting himself in a 
 passion in treating the matters about which I had to speak 
 to him, which would not be decent in the chair of state, in 
 sight of the chief persons of the kingdom, both men and 
 women ; that the Queen his wife was close to him, who, in- 
 censed at the dismissal of her servants, might commit some 
 extravagance, and cry, in sight of everybody. In short, that 
 he would not commit himself in public ; and that he was 
 resolved sooner to break up this audience, and grant me 
 one in private, than to treat with me concerning any busi- 
 ness before everybody." 
 
 The Duke swore vehemently that he was telling the 
 ambassador the truth, and that he had not been able to 
 induce the King to see him under any other conditions, and 
 begged him to oblige him by suggesting some expedient. 
 Bassompierre, who saw it was likely that he would be insulted,, 
 and who was anxious that things should go smoothly, answered 
 that though he could do nothing but what his master the 
 King of France prescribed to him, yet it depended on King 
 
 1 Disraeli's Charles I., and Finett's 2 Embassy to England in 1626, ed. 
 Philoxenis, p. 189. Croker, p. 37. 
 
 I 
 
H4 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1626 
 
 Charles to shorten or lengthen the audience in what manner 
 he chose. He added that Charles might (after having allowed 
 him to make his bow, and after having received, with the 
 French King's letters, his first compliments), as soon as he 
 began to open to his Majesty the occasion of his coming, 
 interrupt him, and say, according to the ambassador s sug- 
 gestion, " Sir, you are come from London, and you have 
 to return thither ; it is late ; this matter requires a longer 
 time than I could now give you. I shall send for you one 
 of these days at an earlier hour, and we will confer about it 
 at our leisure in a private audience. In the meanwhile I 
 shall satisfy myself with having seen you, and heard of the 
 King my brother-in-law and the Queen my mother-in-law, 
 and I will not delay the impatience which the Queen my 
 wife has to hear of them also from you." " Upon which," 
 added Bassompierre, " I shall take my leave of him, to go 
 and make my bow to the Queen." 
 
 Buckingham, who seems to have been anxious at this 
 time to compose the difficulties that had arisen, was en- 
 chanted with this idea, and embracing the ambassador 
 cordially, said, " You know more of these things than we ; I 
 have offered you my assistance in the affair you are come to 
 negotiate, but now I recall the promise I gave you, for you 
 can do very well without me ; " and so he left him, laughing, 
 to go and tell the King of this expedient, who acquiesced in 
 it, and promised punctually to observe it. Buckingham then 
 came back to fetch Bassompierre and introduce him to the 
 King. He found Charles in the Audience Chamber, 
 seated by the side of the Queen, on a stage raised a couple of 
 steps under the canopy of state. 1 They both rose to acknow- 
 ledge the bow he made them on entering. " The company," 
 says Bassompierre, " was magnificent ; the order exquisite. I 
 made my compliment to the King, gave him my letters, and 
 
 1 See also Finett's Philoxenis, p. 187. 
 
1626] Charles s Treatment of the French Envoy, 1 15 
 
 after having said my words of civility, as I was proceeding 
 to those of business, he interrupted me in the same form as 
 I had proposed to the Duke." 
 
 He then saw the Queen, to whom he said but little, 
 because she told him that the King had given her leave to 
 go to London, where she could see him at her leisure. He 
 then withdrew, and was attended to the gateway by the 
 principal lords and officers of state. Just as he was getting 
 into his coach the secretary came up and told him that the 
 King wished him to be informed, that although he had 
 promised him a private audience, he nevertheless would not 
 give him one until he sent back to France Father Sancy, 
 whom he had brought with him, and who was very ob- 
 noxious to the English Court, having formerly belonged 
 to the Queen's suite. Charles added to the message 
 that he had desired him to do so three several times 
 without effect, and that he felt much offended at the 
 disregard with which his request was treated. Bassom- 
 pierre to this answered with what excuses he could, 
 expressing his wish to conform to his request as far as it 
 was consistent with his duty. He ended, however, by say- 
 ing, " If he will not give me an audience, I shall send to 
 the King my master to know what he pleases I should ask 
 after that refusal ; who will not, in my opinion, allow me to 
 grow old in England, waiting till the King takes a fancy or 
 finds leisure to hear me." This he said loud enough for 
 the bystanders to hear, and he then expressed his resent- 
 ment to Buckingham, who was standing by him, begging 
 that he might hear no more of this affair, unless they gave 
 him an order to leave London and the island directly, which 
 he would receive with joy. All this he said with perfect 
 composure, and then quietly entered the coach and drove 
 to London. He had indeed good cause to express annoy- 
 ance, and he ever after bore a grudge against the English 
 
1 1 6 History of Hampton Court Palace, [1626 
 
 for the treatment he received at the Kings hands. " I have 
 received," he said, " condescension from the Spaniards and 
 civility even from the Swiss, but I have never been able to 
 overcome the arrogance of the English." 
 
 The King, however, afterwards waived his objections, and 
 on Thursday, the 15th of October, Bassompierre was sent 
 for to Hampton Court, and received by the King in a long 
 audience, in one of the galleries. His Majesty, according 
 to his excellency, " put himself into a great passion," com- 
 plained of the intrigues and factions of the French — their 
 malice in endeavouring to wean the Queen's affections from 
 him, and their insolence in setting her against England, the 
 language, and everything English. At last he got so angry 
 as to exclaim to the ambassador, " Why do you not execute 
 your commission at once, and declare war ? " To which 
 Bassompierre answered firmly and with dignity, " I am 
 not a herald to declare war, but a Marshal of France to 
 make it when declared." In his account of the interview 
 Bassompierre proceeds to say, " I witnessed there an 
 instance of great boldness, not to say impudence, of the 
 Duke of Buckingham, which was, that when he saw us the 
 most warmed, he ran up suddenly and threw himself between 
 the King and me, saying, ' I am come to keep the peace 
 between you two.' Upon which I took off my hat, and as 
 long as he stayed with us I would not put it on again, 
 notwithstanding all the entreaties of the King and of him- 
 self to do so ; but when he went, I put it on without the 
 King desiring me. When I had done, and that the King 
 could speak to me, he asked me why I would not put on 
 my hat while he was by, and that I did so so freely when 
 he was gone. I answered that I had done it to do him 
 honour, because he was not covered and that I should have 
 been, which I could not suffer ; for which he was much 
 pleased with me, and often mentioned it in my praise. But 
 
1626] Charles I. " in a Great Passion." 1 17 
 
 I had also another reason for doing so, which was, that it 
 was no longer an audience, but a private conversation, since 
 he had interrupted us, by coming in, as a third, upon us. 
 After my last audience was over, the King brought me 
 through several galleries to the Queen's apartments, where 
 he left me, and I her, after a long conversation, and I was 
 brought back to London." 
 
 The negotiations were continued after this for some time, 
 but they resulted in no substantial concessions from Charles. 
 Nevertheless, we cannot but admire the tact and temper 
 with which Bassompierre acted throughout his mission, 
 though he found it impossible to shake the King's determina- 
 tion to be rid of the people who had worked such mischief 
 in his household and in his home. 
 
 "See, Sir," wrote he to the dismissed Bishop of Mende, 
 " to what we are reduced ! and imagine my grief, that the 
 Queen of Great Britain has the pain of viewing my depar- 
 ture, without being of any service to her ; but if you con- 
 sider that I was sent here to make a contract of marriage 
 observed, and to maintain the Catholic Religion, in a country 
 from which they formerly banished it to break a contract of 
 marriage, you will assist in excusing me of this failure." 1 
 
 1 Disraeli's Charles I. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 CHARLES I. AT HAMPTON COURT THE EVE OF THE 
 
 CIVIL WAR. 
 
 Picture of Buckingham and his Family — More Plays at the Palace — Laud 
 supplies Dresses and Scenery — Renewed Outbreak of the Plague — Stringent 
 Regulations against Londoners coming within Ten Miles of Hampton Court — 
 Shakespeare's Plays acted in the Great Hall — Properties for the Play called the 
 "Royal Slave" — Picture of Charles I. Dining in Public — Charles orders the 
 Cutting of the Longford River — The Water Supply for the Palace — His Works 
 of Art — Projects a vast and magnificent Hunting Ground from Hampton Court 
 to Richmond — Unpopularity of the Scheme — Laud opposes it — The King relin- 
 quishes it — The Grand Remonstrance presented to Charles at Hampton Court 
 — Aldermen of the City entertained — A " Heavenly King " — Attempted Arrest 
 of the Five Members — Charles's Flight to Hampton Court. 
 
 ROM the year 1626 1 to 1630, no events of any 
 importance took place at Hampton Court, though 
 Charles was frequently here with his Court, often 
 two or three times a year, and at all seasons. 2 
 On these occasions the Duke of Buckingham, 
 who was now at the summit of his influence, was of course 
 
 1 On Oct. 30th, 1626, the Great Seal 
 was given to Sir Thomas Coventry at 
 Hampton Court. — Kennett, vol. iii., 
 p. 72. 
 
 2 State Papers, Domestic, Charles 
 I., passim j Laud's Diary, 1627, Sept., 
 &c. Hardwicke's State Papers, vol. 
 iii. p. 18. 
 
1 6 26-1 630] Picture of Buckingham and his Family. 1 19 
 
 always in attendance on the King; and to this period belongs 
 the curious picture, of him and his family, attributed to Hon- 
 thorst, which may be seen at Hampton Court, and of which 
 we here insert an engraving. The Duke is in the middle, 
 seated, and holding the hand of his wife, Lady Katherine 
 Manners, the heiress of the Earl of Rutland, " the poor 
 fool Kate," as James I. used to call her. In front of them 
 is their daughter Mary, afterwards Countess of Pembroke 
 and Duchess of Richmond, who was then about seven years 
 old. On the extreme left, near the window, is Bucking- 
 ham's sister, the Countess of Denbigh ; while his mother, 
 the Countess of Buckingham, in a gigantic ruff, is sitting 
 between her two other sons. The eldest, John — created in 
 16 19 Lord Villiers of Stoke and Viscount Purbeck, whose 
 marriage to Lord Chief Justice Coke's daughter took place 
 in the chapel of this Palace, in the circumstances narrated 
 in a former chapter — stands behind his brother the Duke, 
 and is leaning on his chair. The other, Christopher, created 
 in 1623 Baron Daventry and Earl of Anglesea, is on the 
 extreme right, with his hand resting on a table. The child 
 in front, held by a lady kneeling, is Buckingham's eldest 
 son, the witty Duke, who was born in January, 1627, and 
 who cannot have been much more than a year old when 
 this picture was painted, as the great favourite fell a victim 
 to Felton's dagger on August 23rd, 1628. 1 
 
 After the assassination of Buckingham, until the begin- 
 ning of the troubles of the Civil War, Charles paid occa- 
 sional visits to the Palace. He was here, for instance, 
 in November, 1630, when a play, founded " upon a piece of 
 Persian story," which had been performed before the King 
 and Queen at Christ Church, Oxford, in the preceding 
 month of August, and which had given the Court great 
 
 1 For further particulars as to this picture, see the author's Historical 
 Catalogue, No. 58. 
 
120 Histo7 r y of Hampton Court Palace. [1632- 
 
 satisfaction, was, by the Queens express desire, presented 
 again at Hampton Court, as her Majesty wished to see if 
 her own players could act it as well as the University men. 
 Laud, as Chancellor of the University, caused the authorities 
 to send " both the clothes and the perspectives of the stage " 
 to the palace. 1 But though the "strangeness of the Persian 
 habit gave great content/' it was admitted by all that " the 
 players came far short of the University actors." 
 
 In 1632 there were further theatricals, two plays being 
 performed here, £20 being paid for the first to Mr. 
 Joseph Taylor and Mr. Swanston, and the same sum for 
 the second to Mr. Christopher Beeston and the rest of the 
 Queen's players. 2 
 
 Charles and his Court were at the palace again in the 
 summer of the year 1636, when, on June 12th, Strafford 
 kissed hands on his appointment as Lord Deputy of Ireland, 
 and had a final and secret audience before starting for that 
 country. 3 
 
 The plague was again at this time very prevalent in 
 London, and a proclamation was issued forbidding anybody 
 from that place coming within ten miles of the palace, or 
 plying by barge up and down the river, or bringing any 
 goods or commodities to and fro. These prohibitions were, 
 of course, often broken, and the blockade run by adventurous 
 persons who saw their way to making a profit thereby ; and 
 several persons were summoned for this offence before the 
 Lords of the Privy Council, and severely punished. Great 
 complaint was also made that " divers Londoners obtained 
 houses near Hampton Court and Oatlands, and these in 
 habit going daily to and from London, which cannot be 
 without great peril to their Majesties," and the Justices 
 
 1 Diary, Aug. 30th, 1628. 3 State Papers, Domestic, Charles 
 
 2 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I., I., vol. cccxxvi., No. 11. 
 vol. ccxxix., No. 67. 
 
-1637] Plays and the Plague. 121 
 
 were commanded to remove such persons from their houses, 
 and to enjoin those who had settled there before neither to 
 go to London themselves, nor allow their servants to go 
 there, on pain of being turned out, and having their houses 
 shut up. 1 These regulations were strictly enforced ; and 
 the plague having broken out again in Kingston and Ted- 
 dington, arrangements were made for isolating the sick in 
 sheds and hulks built on the neighbouring commons, and 
 for disinfecting all houses which had harboured any of those 
 smitten with the disease. The people of Kingston, however, 
 were rather remiss in carrying out the requirements of the 
 Council, who complained that the bailiffs neither kept the 
 infected houses shut, nor put " the Red Cross nor any other 
 mark on them, nor any watch set to keep the people therein 
 from going forth and visiting others." 
 
 The continuance of the plague kept the Court at Hamp- 
 ton Court all through the autumn and winter, 2 till Christ- 
 mas time ; but the fear of contagion did not prevent 
 the players being summoned from London, and " com- 
 manded to assemble their company, and keep themselves 
 together near the Court, ready to give frequent performances 
 in the Great Hall of the palace." They were given an allow- 
 ance of £20 a week, paid to John Lowen and Joseph Taylor 
 on their behalf, which, beginning from the 1st of November, 
 was continued till the end of January, 1637. 3 
 
 The plays performed at Hampton Court were as follow : 
 the 17th of November, " The Coxcombe ; " the 19th of 
 November, " Beggar's Bush ;" the 29th of November, "The 
 Maid's Tragedy ; " the 6th of December, " The Loyall Sub- 
 ject ; " the 8th of December, " The Moore of Venice ; " the 
 
 1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles place at Hampton Court. Historical 
 I., vol. cccxxx., No. 74, &c, Aug. 27th, Co?nmission, Fourth Report, p. 78. 
 Sept. 1 8th, 19th, 2 1 st, 26th, &c. 3 State Papers, Do?nestic, Charles 
 
 2 One death from the plague took vol. cccxxxvii., Dec. 13th, 1636. 
 
122 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1637 
 
 1 6th of December, " Love's Pilgrimage ; " St. Stephen's Day, 
 " the First Part of Arviragus ; " St. John's Day, " the Second 
 Part of Arviragus ; " the 1st of January, " Love and Honour " 
 (by Davenant) ; the 5th of January, " The Elder Brother;" 
 the 10th of January, "The Kinge and noe Kinge ; " the 
 1 2th of January, "the new playe from Oxford, 'The Royall 
 Slave ' " (by Cartwright) ; the 1 7th of January, " Rollo ; " the 
 24th of January, " Hamlett." 1 
 
 It is interesting to note that here we have conclusive 
 evidence that in the Great Hall of Hampton Court Shake- 
 speare's plays were acted by his own contemporaries before 
 Charles I. and his Court. 
 
 Among other particulars which are likewise of theatrical 
 interest is a warrant, dated April 1 ith, 1637, " to pay ^154, 
 being the charge of the alterations and additions made in 
 the scene, apparel, and properties employed for setting forth 
 the new play called, ' The Royal Slave,' lately acted at 
 Hampton Court, together with the charge of dancers and 
 composers of music, the same to be paid as follows, viz., to 
 Peter le Hue, property-maker, ^"50; to George Portman, 
 painter, ^50 ; and to Estienne Nau and Sebastien la 
 Pierre for themselves and 12 dancers, ^54." 2 
 
 When Charles came to Hampton Court on these occa- 
 sions, we may presume that he sometimes dined in public 
 in the Great Hall or some other of the State Rooms, as he 
 did when in London. At any rate we have an interesting 
 reminiscence of the custom in an old picture preserved at 
 this Palace, which was painted by Van Bassan for Charles, 
 and is inscribed with the date 1637. Though the architec- 
 ture indicates that the chamber depicted was not one at 
 Hampton Court, yet in other points the picture is sufficiently 
 
 1 Cunningham's Revels at Court, p. vol. ccclii., No. 55, April nth, 1637. 
 xxiv. and Collier's Annals of the Stage, vol. 
 
 2 State Papers, Domestic, Charles ii., p. 12. 
 
i6 3 8j 
 
 Charles /. Dining in Public. 
 
 123 
 
 illustrative of similar scenes at this Palace. The King and 
 Queen are seated at the table side by side, with the little 
 Prince (afterwards Charles II.) at the end of the table. 
 They are being served by gentlemen-in-waiting. At the 
 end of the room is a raised and recessed gallery or dais, 
 where the public are looking on. " There were daily," says 
 an old authority, " at Charles I.'s Court, 86 tables well fur- 
 nished each meal ; whereof the King's table had 28 dishes; 
 the Queen's, 24 ; 4 other tables, 16 dishes each, and so on ; 
 in all about 500 dishes, each meal, with beer, bread, wine, 
 and all things necessary." 1 
 
 The Court was again at Hampton Court in the autumn 
 of 1638, when, on the 30th of September, the play of" The 
 Unfortunate Lover," by Sir William Davenant, was played 
 before the King and Queen. 2 On the 2nd of October, King 
 Charles knighted Balthazar Gerbier, who had been nego- 
 tiating at Brussels and the Hague a settlement of the 
 Spanish difficulty, and had also been acting for him in the 
 purchase of works of art. 3 
 
 It was in the same year, 1638, that Charles, on the 26th 
 of September, directed a commission to certain persons, 
 among whom was Lord Cottington, then Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, to consider how part of the waters of the River 
 Colne, in Middlesex, might be taken over Hounslow Heath 
 into the parks at Hampton Court, "for the better accommo- 
 dation of the palace, and the recreation and disport of his 
 Majesty." The object Charles had in view was probably the 
 bringing of water to the ponds in the parks and the fountains 
 in the gardens, and perhaps the furnishing of a supply 
 of drinking water to the palace, additional to that derived 
 
 1 Present State of London, 1681. English Plays. 
 
 2 See G. R. Wright's Archceologic 3 Sainsbury's Original Papers re- 
 and Historic Fragments, p. 10; J. O. lating to Rubens, p. 211 ; Walpole's 
 Halliwell-Phillips, Dictionary of Old Anecdotes of Painting. 
 
124 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1639 
 
 from the Cardinal's conduits at Coombe Hill. The works, 
 which were determined on and begun almost at once after 
 the issuing of the commission, involved the cutting of a 
 channel from Longford to the palace, twenty-one feet wide, 
 two feet deep, and eleven miles long, 1 a great part of the 
 distance being taken up by the deepening, broadening, and 
 banking up of an existing branch of the Colne. The 
 cutting, which was entrusted to the charge of Edward 
 Manning, one of the commissioners, was begun on Octo- 
 ber 8th, and finished July 16th of the following year, 1639, 
 the cost amounting to the sum of ^4,102, which was 
 provided for out of the revenues of the Court of Wards 
 and Liveries. 2 Since then the channel thus regulated 
 has been known as " the King's or Longford River," 
 and it has from that time supplied the ponds and ornamental 
 waters at Hampton Court ; while, from the discontinuance 
 in 1876 of the supply of Coombe water, it has been 
 the sole and exclusive source of drinking water for the 
 palace. 3 
 
 The contract included " the Laying dry of Hampton 
 Court House and the lodgings there, with the sluices, flood- 
 gates, &c, thought needful by the Commissioners for that 
 river." The river afterwards gave rise to much contention 
 between the Government and the inhabitants of the districts 
 through which it was cut, on account of the injury done to 
 their property and lands by the giving way of the banks and 
 the decay of the bridges. 
 
 About the same period Charles gave orders for some im- 
 provements to be made in the gardens of Hampton Court, 4 
 which were decorated with statues, both of the classical and 
 
 1 Lysons' Middlesex Parishes. cord Office. 
 
 2 State Papers, Charles vol. cccc, 3 See vol. i., p. 23, n. 
 
 No. 70, Oct. 22nd, 1638 ; and vol. * State Papers, Domestic, Charles 
 ccccxlii., No. 144, Jan. 28th, 1640. See vol. ccccxv., No. 35, March 25th, 
 also Enrolled Accounts in the Re- 1639. 
 
1639] Improvements at Hampton Court. 125 
 
 Renaissance periods ; and he bestowed much care on the 
 furnishing of the rooms, and their embellishment with 
 pictures and other works of art and curiosities. It was in 
 1639 that he had his catalogue of pictures compiled by Van- 
 derdoort, and in it there are three or four hundred pictures 
 specified as being in this palace at that time — many of 
 which, after having gone through various vicissitudes, are 
 now still to be found here. Among these we would 
 especially note the " Triumph of Julius Caesar," a splendid 
 composition of nine pieces, Mantegna's greatest and richest 
 work, which is still the glory of Hampton Court. 
 
 It must have been about the same time that King 
 Charles, who was fairly fond of sport, conceived the idea of 
 making a great park for red as well as fallow deer between 
 Hampton Court and Richmond, where he had a great deal 
 of wooded land, affording excellent cover for game, and large 
 wastes which, with the domains of the two palaces, would 
 have formed a magnificent and extensive enclosure to serve 
 him as an agreeable and convenient hunting-ground close to 
 London. 1 There were, however, some parishes that had rights 
 of common on the wastes, and many farmers and gentlemen 
 had houses intermingled with them, so that his Majesty ex- 
 perienced considerable difficulty in treating with them for 
 the purchase of their interests. Altogether the scheme, 
 which would have involved the enclosing a tract of country 
 ten miles round, was very unpopular, and he was strongly 
 advised against it by Lord Cottington and other ministers, 
 both on account of the great expense it would have involved, 
 and of the murmurs that were excited among the country 
 people on all sides. The King, however, would not brook 
 opposition to his wishes, and when Lord Cottington tried 
 to dissuade him from it, he declared, " He was resolved to 
 
 1 Clarendon's History of the Rebellion^ vol. i., p. 100. 
 
126 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1639 
 
 go through with it, and had already caused brick to be 
 burned, and much of the wall to be built upon his own 
 land." 1 
 
 But the building of the wall before people had consented 
 to part with their lands or their common, looked as if they 
 were to be by degrees shut out of both, and increased the 
 popular excitement and indignation. At last Archbishop 
 Laud, who was always very anxious for the King to be on 
 good terms with the people, when none of his own " fads " 
 were concerned, undertook to remonstrate with him. Even- 
 tually the King yielded to persuasion, and the project was 
 abandoned : the second royal attempt to create a " new 
 forest" at Hampton Court being thus nullified like the 
 first. 2 
 
 After the year 1639 the excited state of political affairs left 
 Charles but little leisure to amuse himself at Hampton 
 Court. He was residing here, however, at the beginning of 
 August, 1 640, when the plague breaking out, and two or three 
 deaths occurring in the stables, the Court hastily left the 
 Palace. 3 He was here again, also, after his return from Scot- 
 land on the 26th of November, 1 641, to rest awhile from the 
 toil and burden of business ; 4 and he was still at this Palace, 
 when the Grand Remonstrance, which set out in the most 
 powerful language all the errors and misdeeds of his 
 Government, was voted in the House of Commons. This 
 document, which must have been especially mortifying 
 to Charles, as directly appealing to public opinion against 
 him, was presented to his Majesty himself on December 1st 
 
 1 Grove's History of IVolsey, vol. iv., I., vol. cccclxiii., No. 12, Aug. 3rd, 
 p. 186, note. 1640. 
 
 2 As to Henry VIII.'s enclosure of 4 Heath's Chronicle of the Civil 
 the Chase of Hampton Court, and its Wars, p. 25. Also Correspondence of 
 subsequent dechasing in the reign of Sir Edw. Nicholas and King Charles I. , 
 Edward VI., see vol. i., pp. 213-215. appended to Evelyn's Diary, ed. 1827, 
 
 3 State Papers, Domestic, Charles and Clarendon. 
 
1 641] The Grand Remonstrance presented to Charles I. 127 
 
 at Hampton Court. 1 " The King was much concerned at 
 the harshness of it, but promised an answer as soon as the 
 weight of business would permit, and desired there should 
 be no publishing that declaration till they had received his 
 answer to it." To this request, however, they paid no 
 attention ; but immediately blazoned it throughout the king- 
 dom — a course Charles took as an act of great disrespect to 
 himself. 2 
 
 Three days after, perhaps to counteract, to some extent, 
 its effect among the citizens of London, he sent for seven of 
 the City aldermen to Hampton Court; and in response to a 
 petition they brought with them, that he should come up and 
 reside in London, " whereby the trade of the city, which 
 had been so much hindered by the King's long absence in 
 Scotland, might be revived," he promised to leave Hampton 
 Court in a day or two, and come to Whitehall ; while, " to 
 express his extraordinary love to the City," he made them all 
 knights. 3 By such trivial actions does he seem to have 
 thought, in his delusion, that he could stem the tide of dis- 
 affection among his subjects, an opinion which was cer- 
 tainly shared by the courtier-scribe who records the fact, 
 and who exclaims, in a fervour of loyal enthusiasm, " What 
 encouragement can subjects have more to love and obey a 
 King than to have such favour and love shown by a King, 
 for whose prosperous, happy and successive reigne, it be- 
 hoves us all to pray : else there is no question to be made, 
 but that judgment will be showred downe upon our heads 
 by the Heavenly King, for not loving so good a heavenly 
 King." 4 
 
 Whether or not his subjects in general were equally im- 
 
 1 Kennett's History, vol. iii., p. 112. vol. cccclxxxvi. No. 29, Dec. 9th, 1641. 
 
 2 Clarendon and Whitelocke's Me- 4 Civil War Tracts, British Mu- 
 morials, p. 48. seum. See also Clarendon's History 
 
 3 State Papers, Domestic, Charles I., of the Rebellion. 
 
128 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1642 
 
 pressed with " the favour and love " shown them by " so good 
 a heavenly King," mattered little ; for all that went before was 
 forgotten when, exactly two months after, on February 4th, 
 1642, Charles made his memorable attempt to arrest the 
 Five Members in the House of Commons. Six days after, 
 mortified by the failure of his design, and alarmed by the 
 menacing demeanour of the Parliament and the tumult that 
 was raging in London, he suddenly left Whitehall, with his 
 wife and children and all his household, for Hampton Court. 1 
 Here so little preparation had been made for their reception, 
 that Charles and the Queen had to sleep in one room with 
 their three eldest children. 2 
 
 The results of this fatal step — which has been aptly 
 compared to the flight of Louis XVI. from Paris to 
 Varennes — are too well known to be dilated on here. It was, 
 in fact, a throwing down the gage of battle, and the roar of 
 " Privilege of Parliament " that rose from a hundred thousand 
 throats as Charles drove through the streets, was the blast, 
 as it were, that heralded the Great Rebellion. The tactical 
 error of the step had equally far-reaching results : for by 
 this first flight in a life ever afterwards so fugitive, Charles 
 surrendered London without striking a blow, and thus left 
 the Roundheads in triumphant possession of the Tower, the 
 arsenals, and all the offices and departments of state. The 
 shout of exultation that burst from the trained bands as 
 they marched past the deserted Palace of Whitehall, 
 brandishing the " Protestation " on their pikes, showed that 
 they, at any rate, fully gauged the deep significance of the 
 Kings flight. 
 
 The King's adherents, on their part also, began to grow 
 dimly conscious of the altered position of affairs, and Colonel 
 Lunsford, who had escorted the King and Queen to Hamp- 
 
 1 Clarendon's History of the Rebellion. Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 54. 
 2 Gardiner's History of England. 
 
1642] Flight of King Charles to Hampton Court. 129 
 
 ton Court, after seeing them safely lodged in the Palace, 
 went on with his band, two hundred strong, to Kingston, to 
 take possession of a magazine of arms in that town. Here 
 Lunsford and his men were visited next morning by Lord 
 Digby, who drove over from the Palace in a coach and six 
 to thank them in the King's name for what they had done, 
 and to urge them to set about collecting recruits. For 
 doing this Lord Digby was soon after attainted of treason, 
 for " levying war ; " while Lunsford was arrested by the 
 Parliamentarians and lodged in the Tower. 1 
 
 The King's stay at Hampton Court lasted but a few days, 
 for on the 12th of January, overwhelmed with the shame 
 and peril of his situation, he moved to Windsor Castle for 
 greater security. 2 Clarendon describes in pathetic words 
 his " sad condition, as fallen in ten days from a height and 
 greatness that his enemies feared, to such a lowness that his 
 own servants durst hardly avow their waiting on him." 
 
 He was back again here, however, just for one night, 
 when conducting the Queen from Windsor to Dover, on her 
 departure from England at the end of February. After that 
 Hampton Court saw him no more till five years later, when 
 he was brought by the Roundheads as a prisoner to his own 
 Palace. 3 
 
 1 Heath's Chronicle of the Civil 3 State Papers, Domestic, Charles 
 Wars, p. 27. See also Clarendon. I., vol. cccclxxxix. No. 19, Feb. ioth,, 
 
 2 Disraeli's Charles I., vol. ii., p. 1642. 
 333. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE GREAT REBELLION. CHARLES I. A PRISONER AT HAMPTON 
 
 COURT. 
 
 Hampton Court during the Civil War — The Parliament takes Possession of 
 the Palace — Sacrilegious Profanation of the Chapel by the Puritans — The Altar, 
 Sacred Pictures and Stained Glass torn down — Charles brought by the Army to 
 Hampton Court — Resides here in comparative Ease and Dignity — Receives his 
 old Adherents — Allowed to see his Children — Strictly watched by Colonel 
 Whalley — Cromwell visits and confers with him — An Accommodation with the 
 Army discussed — Charles's Intrigues and incurable Duplicity — His Mode of 
 Life at this Time — His Farewell to Sir Richard and Lady Fanshawe — His Fore- 
 bodings of Misfortune — Ominous Rumours of his Danger of Assassination — 
 Withdraws his Pledge not to attempt an Escape — The Guards doubled — Visit 
 of his Daughter the Princess Elizabeth — Disturbed by the Guards in the Gallery 
 —The Eve of Flight. 
 
 mm 
 
 ROM this time forward to the year 1645, the tide 
 of the Civil War rolled over the country without 
 much affecting Hampton Court ; though we may 
 well imagine that the varying fortunes of the two 
 contending factions must have been followed with 
 intense interest by the inhabitants of the Palace, who pro- 
 bably consisted of a few score of royal officials and servants. 
 The principle, however, on which the Parliament proceeded, 
 of still recognizing the existence of the monarchy whilst 
 
1645] 
 
 The Civil War. 
 
 taking up arms against the monarch, probably secured them 
 from any molestation as long as they took no active part in 
 the struggle. 
 
 But in 1645, after the battle of Naseby, which practically 
 decided the fate of the Royalist cause, the Parliament took 
 possession of the Palace, setting seals on the doors of the 
 State apartments. In their intolerant Puritan zeal to sweep 
 away all surviving traces of what they held to be idolatrous 
 worship, they laid a profane and sacrilegious hand on all the 
 religious emblems and artistic decorations of the chapel. In 
 a newspaper of the time we read the following paragraph : — 
 
 " Sir Robert Harlow gave order for the putting down and de- 
 molishing of the popish and superstitious pictures at Hampton 
 Court, where this day the altar was taken down, and the table 
 brought into the body of the church, the rails pulled down, and 
 the steps levelled, and the popish pictures and superstitious images 
 that were in the glass windows were also demolished, and order 
 given for the new glazing them with plain glass ; and among the 
 rest, there was pulled down the picture of Christ nailed to the 
 cross, which was placed right over the altar, and the pictures of 
 Mary Magdalen and others weeping by the foot of the cross, and 
 some other such idolatrous pictures were pulled down and de- 
 molished." 
 
 This order was duly executed ; and notwithstanding the Re- 
 storation and the High Church revival, the windows of the 
 chapel have never been reglazed with anything but " plain 
 glass" to this day. Neither does the original altar appear to 
 have been ever restored, nor the altar rails. Perhaps, how- 
 ever, the beautiful railings of carved oak gilded, which long 
 remained disregarded in an old storeroom of the Palace, and 
 which have been recently placed for public inspection in 
 "the Horn Room," are the identical altar-rails pulled down 
 at this time. They are, at any rate, very fine specimens of 
 wood carving, which seem to belong to this period, and the 
 
132 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1646 
 
 monogram C, surmounted by the crown imperial, points to 
 their having been the property of King Charles. The re- 
 presentation in several of the panels of a sunflower in full 
 bloom, shows that an appreciation of the beauty of this 
 flower was not the " discovery " on the part of our modern 
 "aesthetics," which it is claimed to be. 
 
 The following year, 1 646, saw Charles's flight from the 
 besieged city of Oxford to Newark, where the Scotch were 
 encamped, and where he surrendered himself into their 
 hands — a confidence which they rewarded, not many months 
 after, by selling him to the English Parliament, from whose 
 control he was transferred to the custody of the Army. 
 By them he was treated with much more consideration and 
 
1647] Charles brought Captive to the Palace. 133 
 
 generosity than he had experienced at the hands of the 
 Scotch or the Parliament, and after several removes was 
 eventually installed, on August 24th, 1647, in his Palace of 
 Hampton Court, which had been prepared for his reception, 
 his goods and household servants having been transferred 
 thither from Oxford after the surrender of that city. 1 
 
 Here he remained for a period of some two months and a 
 half, in a state of comparative ease and dignity, " rather as a 
 guarded and attended prince than as a conquered and 
 purchased captive." 2 He dined in public in the Presence 
 Chamber with the same state and ceremony as formerly, 
 and, when dinner was over, any gentleman who wished was 
 admitted to kiss his hand. 3 
 
 Among those who came was John Evelyn the diarist, 
 who records under date October 10th, 1647 : " I came to 
 Hampton Court, where I had the honour to kisse his 
 Majesty's hand, he being in the power of those execrable 
 villains, who not long after murdered him." 
 
 The citizens also flocked from London in considerable 
 numbers, as they had formerly done at the end of a Pro- 
 gress, when the King had been some months absent from 
 London. All his old servants, too, had free access to 
 him, and many cavaliers, who had done him active service 
 in the Civil War, came to pay their respects, and were 
 allowed to confer with him without reservation. Even 
 his two most intimate and faithful followers, Mr. John 
 
 1 Whitelock's Memorials, p. 267. unless it be the Escurial in Spain." 
 
 2 Colonel Hutchinson's Memoirs, 3 The papers of Captain H. G. St. 
 p. 305, ed. 1846 ; and Clarendon. Sir John Mildmay at Hazelgrove House, 
 Thomas Herbert's Memoirs of the Two Somerset, contain a "List of Plate 
 Last Years of the Reign of Charles taken out of the Jewel-House by order 
 p. 47, 48. He was groom of the cham- from the Committee of Revenue for 
 ber to the King, and speaks most the Service of his Majesty at Hampton 
 enthusiastically of Hampton Court as Court," dated Sept. 23rd, 1647. See 
 " a most large and Imperial House 7th Report of the Historical Commis- 
 .... which for beauty and grandeur sion, p. 594. 
 
 is exceeded by no structure in Europe, 
 
134 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1647 
 
 Ashburnham and Sir John Berkeley, who had been voted 
 delinquents by the Parliament, and who had fled beyond 
 the seas, were permitted to return and to take up their 
 abode within the Palace, and to be constantly about the 
 King's person. 1 
 
 He had also the consolation of the spiritual administra- 
 tions of his own divines of the Church of England, who 
 "could administer spiritual comfort according to the rites 
 of that Church." 
 
 But what pleased him most was being allowed access 
 to his children, who were then staying under the care of 
 the Earl of Northumberland at Sion House, whither he was 
 sometimes allowed to ride over to see them, and whence 
 they occasionally came to stay at the Palace with him. 2 It 
 must have been an affecting scene to behold the King, for- 
 getting awhile the cares and troubles that beset him on all 
 sides, amid the domestic joys which formed the one bright 
 spot in his unfortunate career. 
 
 He found relaxation also in hunting in the park, playing 
 at tennis, and in similar recreations. 3 
 
 Nevertheless, he was still so far under surveillance as 
 to have the Parliamentary Commissioners always residing 
 with him in the Palace, as well as a guard of soldiers under 
 Colonel Whalley, one of the officers of the Parliamentarian 
 army, who was always in attendance on him, nominally 
 for his protection only, but in reality more for his super- 
 vision, and with strict injunctions against his removal. 
 
 At the same time the headquarters of the army were 
 now at Putney, a place chosen for the purpose, as being 
 at an equal distance from the Parliament in London, and 
 
 1 Clarendon's History, vol. v., p. 2 Whitelock's Memorials, p. 267. 
 
 470. Heath's Chronicle of the Civil Sir Thomas Herbert's Memoirs, p. 
 
 Wars, p. 147. Sir Philip Warwick's 49. 
 
 Memoirs of the Reign of Charles Z, 3 Heath, Whitelocke, &c. 
 p. 302. 
 
1647] 
 
 The Royal Prisoner's Court. 
 
 135 
 
 the King at Hampton Court ; and from Putney came 
 Cromwell 1 and the other superior officers to pay their 
 respects to King Charles. It was observed that " Fairfax 
 kissed the royal hand ; but Cromwell and his son-in-law* 
 
 View of the North of the Palace in Tennis Court Lane. 
 
 Ireton, though they did not come behind the general in 
 phrases of loyalty, seemed to decline the ceremonial." 2 
 
 1 Whitelock, p. 269. History of the Rebellion^ vol. iii., pp. 
 
 2 Godwin's History of the Common- 52, 67, &c. 
 wealth, vol. ii., p. 395 ; Clarendon's 
 
136 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1647 
 
 There can be little doubt, indeed, that the magnetic 
 influence of royal smiles was beginning to work on the 
 acrid austerity of the Roundhead soldiers. " The King," 
 says Clarendon, "enjoyed himself at Hampton Court much 
 more to his content than of late ; the respects of the chief 
 officers of the army seeming much, greater than they had 
 been. Cromwell himself came oftener, and had long con- 
 ferences with him ; talked with more openness than he had 
 done, and appeared more cheerful." It is interesting to 
 think of Charles I. and his arch-enemy Cromwell pacing 
 the galleries, cloisters and gardens of the Palace, in close 
 converse together, discussing the affairs of the kingdom, 
 which had been so lately torn asunder by their dis- 
 sensions. Charles had also the sagacity to try and win 
 over Cromwell's wife, who was presented to him by his 
 own desire, Ashburnham taking her by the hand and 
 leading her up to Charles, who received her very graciously, 
 and afterwards entertained her, with the wives of Ireton 
 and Whalley, at dinner. 1 
 
 The exact nature of the negotiations that were all this 
 time in progress between Charles and Cromwell have not 
 been positively ascertained. Some have maintained that 
 Cromwell was sincerely and disinterestedly endeavouring to 
 compose the quarrel between the King and the Parliament ; 
 while others have gone so far as to declare that Cromwell 
 was prepared, if it should suit his personal aims to betray the 
 popular cause, to undertake the restoration of the monarch 
 to all his former prerogatives, on condition of receiving for 
 himself the Earldom of Essex and a pension of ,£10,000 a 
 year. 
 
 However this may be, it is certain that the question of 
 an accommodation between Charles and the army was 
 much discussed between them, and that the terms which 
 
 1 Herbert's Memoirs, p. 49, &c. 
 
1647] 
 
 Cromwell 's Conferences with Charles I. 
 
 137 
 
 the officers were ready to offer him were much more 
 favourable than those of the Parliament. Had he but 
 clearly understood his real position and frankly accepted 
 their overtures, and could he only have brought himself 
 to treat them with the same candour with which, it seems, 
 they were dealing with him, there is no reason to suppose 
 that an agreement might not have been come to, which 
 would have led to his being once more firmly esta- 
 blished on his throne, though of course with a much 
 diminished prerogative. 
 
 But while Charles was negotiating with Cromwell, he 
 was, at the same time, dallying with the rival propositions 
 of the Parliament, vainly imagining that by intrigue and 
 kingcraft he could succeed in playing off one party against 
 the other, and act as arbiter between both, to his own 
 advantage. It would be beyond the scope of our narrative 
 to detail the many ins and outs of the negotiations — the 
 nineteen propositions of the army, the counter propo- 
 sitions of the Parliament, the King's answers; 1 and the 
 suggestions, alterations, and modifications 2 that transformed 
 the posture of affairs from day to day. 
 
 Suffice it to say that the rough, straightforward Round- 
 head soldiers found out at last that Charles was utterly un- 
 trustworthy, and that while he was affecting to agree with 
 them, he was in truth playing a double, if not a treble 
 game — intriguing with the Scottish Commissioners for a 
 concerted invasion of England by a numerous army in the 
 spring, as well as bargaining with the Parliament. Accord- 
 ingly they gave up in disgust all idea of an arrangement 
 with him, and gradually ceased to come any longer to 
 Hampton Court. 
 
 1 For his answer to the Parliament, 2 Ashburnham's Narrative, vol. ii., 
 Sept. 9th, see Parliamentary History, p. 98. 
 vol. iii., p. 778. 
 
138 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1647 
 
 They were probably led to take this course not a little 
 also by the murmurs that were beginning to be heard 
 against them in the army, especially among the new sect 
 of Levellers, for their conciliatory dispositions towards " the 
 man of sin, Charles Stuart," and their unholy bargaining 
 with the children of Satan. An impeachment was even 
 threatened against Cromwell. 
 
 Nevertheless, an appearance of friendly feeling towards 
 the King was still kept up by the heads of the army for 
 some time after they had resolved to have no more to do 
 with him. For this they have been accused, and perhaps 
 not unjustly, of duplicity ; but as Ireton himself said, " He 
 gave us words, and we paid him in his own coin, when 
 we found he had no real intention to the people's good, 
 but to prevail by our factions, to regain by art what he 
 had lost by fight." 1 With him, in fact, there was always 
 some mental reservation that nullified the force of any 
 compact which contained concessions to those, who, in his 
 eyes, were nothing else but rebels in arms against their 
 anointed sovereign. As Carlyle forcibly expresses it : 
 " The unhappy Charles, in those final Hampton Court ne- 
 gotiations, shows himself as a man fatally incapable of 
 being dealt with — a man who, once for all, could not and 
 would not understand ; whose thought did not in any 
 measure represent to him the real fact of the matter ; nay, 
 worse, whose word did not at all represent his thought. 
 Forsaken, then, of all but the name of kingship, he still, 
 finding himself treated with outward respect as a king, 
 fancied that he might play off party against party, and 
 smuggle himself into his old power of deceiving both." 
 
 The cast of his mind, in fact, as well as his methods, 
 was distinctly feminine rather than manly, and it was a 
 
 1 Disraeli's Charles I., vol. ii., p. 497. Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson, 
 p. 305. 
 
1647] 
 
 An impending Crisis, 
 
 139 
 
 sort of character excessively obnoxious and irritating to 
 the sturdy, robust, Roundhead soldiers. 
 
 Meanwhile Charles continued the same mode of life at 
 Hampton Court as heretofore, playing tennis, riding or 
 walking in the park, keeping up a voluminous correspondence 
 with his wife in France, and giving audiences to visitors. 
 Nevertheless, he seems to have begun, about this time, to 
 have a presentiment that a crisis was impending in his affairs ; 
 and to his friends who came to him he bade a tender farewell, 
 as though he were parting with them for a long time, if not 
 for ever. 
 
 In the memoirs of Lady Fanshawe, wife of one of his 
 most devoted adherents, there is a very touching account of 
 her last interview with King Charles at this Palace. 
 
 " During the King's stay at Hampton Court," writes she, 
 " my husband was with him, to whom he was pleased to 
 talk much of his concerns. I went three times to pay 
 my duty to him, both as I was the daughter of his 
 servant and wife of his servant. 1 The last time I ever 
 saw him, when I took my leave, I could not refrain weep- 
 ing; when he had saluted me, I prayed God to preserve 
 his Majesty with long life and happy years, he stroked 
 me on the cheek, and said, ' Child, if God pleaseth, it shall 
 be so ; but both you and I must submit to God's will, and 
 you know in what hands I am ; ' then turning to your father, 
 he said, ' Be sure, Dick, to tell my son all that I have said, 
 and deliver those letters to my wife ; pray God bless her ! I 
 hope I shall do well ; ' and taking him in his arms, said, 
 ' Thou hast ever been an honest man, and I hope God will 
 bless thee and make thee a happy servant to my son.' " 2 
 
 1 She was the eldest daughter of Sir at one time the King's Secretary at 
 
 John Harrison, of Balls, who had most War. 
 
 warmly espoused the royal cause. Her 2 Lady Fanshawe's Memoirs, p. 66. 
 husband, Sir Richard Fanshawe, was 
 
140 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1647 
 
 The tone of Charles's conversations with Sir Richard 
 and Lady Fanshawe seems to indicate that he was be- 
 ginning, as we have said, to have forebodings concerning the 
 future, and, as no progress was made in the negotiations to- 
 wards an accommodation with his enemies, he could not 
 but grow uneasy as to his position. Nor could he be indiffe- 
 rent to the ominous rumours current, which were frequently 
 carried to him, that he was in danger of assassination while 
 he remained at Hampton Court, nor to the strong hints, 
 amounting to warnings, which he received on several sides, 
 that it would be wise for him to secure his own safety by 
 flight. 
 
 He had, however, given his word to his custodian, Colonel 
 Whalley, that he would not make any attempt to escape 
 without giving him notice and formally withdrawing his 
 promise. 
 
 Accordingly Charles felt bound in honour before taking 
 any step in the matter, to notify to the colonel that he wished 
 to be held discharged from his pledge. This he did, through 
 Ashburnham, who sought an interview with Whalley, and told 
 him that the King would no longer consider himself bound 
 to his engagement. Whalley asked him the reason, to which 
 Ashburnham replied, " the multiplicity of the Scots about 
 the Court was such, and the agitators in the army so violently 
 set against the King, as (for ought I knew) either party 
 might as well take him from Hampton Court." 1 
 
 This was immediately reported by Whalley at the head- 
 quarters of the army ; and as a result, Ashburnham, 2 who, 
 it may be observed, had used very similar language to 
 Cromwell, was next day dismissed from his post of attendant 
 about the person of the King, and forbidden the precincts of 
 the Palace, while the guards about his Majesty were doubled. 
 
 1 Whalley's Narrative to the Speaker. 
 
 2 Ashburnham's Narrative, vol. ii., p. loo. 
 
1647] Growing Uneasiness at Hampton Court. 141 
 
 Nevertheless, no new restraints were put upon Charles's 
 liberty, and his children were still allowed to visit him as 
 before, as will appear from the following letter — one of the 
 last that Charles wrote from Hampton Court — to his daughter 
 Elizabeth 1 : — 
 
 Hampton Court, Oct. 27th, 1647. 
 
 Dear Daughter, 
 
 This is to assure you that it is not through forgetfulness or 
 any want of kindness, that I have not, all this time, sent for you, 
 but for such reasons as is fitter for you to imagine (which you may 
 easily do) than me to write ; but now I hope to see you, upon 
 Friday or Saturday next, as your brother James can more particu- 
 larly tell you ; to whom referring you, 
 
 I rest, 
 
 Your loving father, 
 
 Charles R. 
 
 The visit of the Princess Elizabeth accordingly took place 
 at the end of the week, and she was lodged in a chamber near 
 the King's, opening on to the Long Gallery. 
 
 Here were stationed two sentinels, who, according to the 
 Princess, made such a noise at night, that she could not sleep, 
 so that Charles, perhaps with the hope that they might be 
 removed, complained to Whalley about it. The Colonel, 
 however, assured him that if the soldiers made any noise it 
 was contrary to his express desire and command, and that 
 he would " double his commands upon them, and give them 
 as strict a charge as he could, not to disturb her Highness." 
 This he did. Notwithstanding, a second complaint was 
 made, when Whalley told the King that stricter commands 
 he could not give, and that the soldiers assured him they 
 came so gently through the gallery and made so little noise 
 that they conceived it impossible for the Princess to hear 
 them. However, li if his Majesty would be pleased to 
 
 1 Ellis, Original Letters, 2nd series, vol. iii., p. 328. 
 
142 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1647 
 
 renew his engagement," he said, " he would place the senti- 
 nels at a more remote distance." This, however, Charles 
 refused to do. " To renew my engagements were a point 
 of honour. You had my engagement ; I will not renew it ; 
 keep your guards." 
 
The Old Pond Garden. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CHARLES I.'s ESCAPE FROM HAMPTON COURT. 
 
 Charles Intrigues to Escape — Further Rumours of Designs against his Life — 
 Ashburnham and Berkeley privately admitted to the Palace — The Plan of 
 Escape settled with Charles — Ominous Letter from Cromwell — The King retires 
 to his Private Chamber — His Flight from the Palace — Drops a Rare Tract — 
 Thomason's Marvellous Bibliographic Collection — Anxiety of Colonel Whalley — 
 Why is the King so long coming out ? — The Door of King Charles's Room 
 broken open — The King gone ! — Documents found in his Room — Letter to 
 Colonel Whalley — His Solicitude for his Works of Art — His Incapacity for 
 appreciating his Real Position — Consternation in the Palace — Excitement in the 
 Army — Cromwell rides over to Hampton Court — Writes to the Speaker of the 
 House of Commons — Charles's Letters to the Parliamentary Commissioners, 
 and to the Parliament — The Detention of the King ordered — Colonel Whalley's 
 Account of the King's Flight — The King arrested in the Isle of Wight — Royalist 
 Rising near Hampton Court — Strange Discovery of Skeletons in the Palace. 
 
 FTER the events narrated in our last chapter, 
 things went on at Hampton Court much as 
 before, except that Charles, having now relieved 
 himself from the obligation of his pledged 
 word, immediately set about scheming how he 
 should effect his escape. He sent Mr. Legge, who was 
 now the only one of his old attendants still permitted to 
 remain with him, to see and confer with Ashburnham, who 
 lingered in the neighbourhood, and who himself afterwards 
 entered into communications with Sir John Berkeley on the 
 
144 History of Hampton Court Palace, [1647 
 
 subject. The result of their discussions was that a meeting 
 between them and the King was arranged to take place one 
 evening in the Long Gallery, to which Ashburnham and 
 Berkeley were to gain access secretly. 
 
 In the meanwhile the rumours as to the peril he incurred 
 in remaining at Hampton Court 1 grew so persistent that all 
 hesitation in Charles's mind as to the wisdom of the step he 
 was about to take was dissipated ere the time for adopting a 
 final resolution arrived. Indeed, on the morning of the very 
 day when the meeting was to take place, he received an 
 anonymous letter signed only with the initials E. R., warn- 
 ing him against a design formed by the agitators to take 
 away his life. 
 
 This was on the 10th of November, 2 on the afternoon of 
 which day Berkeley and Ashburnham were let in through 
 the back way by Colonel Legge, and ushered into the King's 
 presence. 
 
 Ashburnham, who was the chief spirit in the enterprise, 
 began by assuring his Majesty that he was ready to obey 
 him in everything, but still he " did most humbly beg of 
 him that he would be pleased to say whether really and in 
 very deed he was afraid of his life in that place, for his going 
 from thence seemed to them an occasion of a very great 
 change in his affairs." His Majesty "protested to God, 
 that he had great cause to apprehend some attempt upon his 
 person, and did expect every hour when it should bee." 3 
 
 Ashburnham replied that " it did not then become them 
 to make any further inquiry, but to apply themselves to the 
 discharge of their duties, and therefore if his Majesty would 
 be pleased to say whither he would go, they would carry 
 him thither, or lose themselves in the endeavour of it." The 
 
 1 Ashburnham's Narrative, vol. ii., p. III. 
 
 2 Berkeley's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. clxiv. 
 
 3 Ashburnham's Narrative, vol. ii., p. III. 
 
1647] Rumoured Designs against the Kings Life, 145 
 
 King then told them that " he had some thoughts of going 
 out of the kingdom, but for the shortness of the time to pre- 
 pare a vessel to transport him, and for the other reasons 
 Ashburnham had sent him by Major Legge, he was resolved 
 to go to the Isle of Wight." 
 
 The details of the plan were then settled, and Ashburn- 
 ham and Berkeley withdrew to prepare for their execution 
 on the following day. 
 
 Next morning being a Thursday, which was one of the 
 days on which Charles wrote his letters abroad, he remained 
 most of the day occupied in his own room. He granted an 
 audience, however, to Colonel Whalley, who asked to see him 
 in order to show him the following remarkable letter from 
 Oliver Cromwell 1 : — 
 
 For my beloved cousin Colonel Whalley, at Hampton Court, 
 These. 
 
 Putney, November, 1647. 
 
 Dear Cos. Whalley, 
 
 There are rumours abroad of some intended attempt on his 
 Majesty's person. Therefore I pray have a care of your guards. 
 If any such thing should be done, it would be accounted a most 
 horrid act. . . . 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Oliver Cromwell. 
 
 This letter is especially interesting as lending some 
 colour to the accusations brought against Cromwell, that 
 not only was he aware that the King was meditating an 
 escape and took no steps to prevent it, but that he was even 
 fostering it by retailing the alarming rumours current — 
 if indeed he had not himself set them afloat for that very 
 purpose, and was, in effect, treacherously working for this 
 end in order to entrap and ruin him. 
 
 1 Carlyle's Cromwell; Rush worth's Historical Collections, vol. vii., p. 871. 
 
146 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1647 
 
 After showing Cromwell's letter to Charles, Colonel 
 Whalley withdrew, and the King was left alone and undis- 
 turbed to write his letters, it being a mail day, until five or 
 six o'clock. About that hour it was his custom to come out 
 from his bed-chamber to go to evening prayers ; and half an 
 hour after that to go to supper, when Colonel Whalley set 
 guards about his bed-chamber, as his Majesty usually retired 
 early. 
 
 On the day in question, accordingly, Colonel Whalley 
 came as usual at about five o'clock into the anteroom next 
 to the King's bed-chamber, where he found the Parlia- 
 mentary Commissioners and bed-chambermen assembled, 
 waiting for his Majesty. What then ensued had best be 
 told in Colonel Whalley's own words, extracted from his 
 report to the House of Commons : " I asked them," he 
 said, " for the King ; they told me he was writing letters in 
 his bed-chamber. I waited there without mistrust till six of 
 the clock ; I then began to doubt, and told the bed-chamber- 
 men, Mr. Maule and Mr. Murray, I wondered the King was 
 so long a-writing ; they told me he had (they thought) some 
 extraordinary occasion. Within half an hour after I went 
 into the next room to Mr. Oudart, and told him I marvelled 
 the King was so long a-writing. He answered, he wondered 
 too, but withal said, the King told him he was to write 
 letters both to the Queen and Princess of Orange, which 
 gave me some satisfaction for the present. But my fears 
 with the time increased, so that when it was seven of the 
 clock, I again told Mr. Maule I exceedingly wondered the 
 King was so long before he came out. He told me he was 
 writing, and I replied, possibly he might be ill, therefore I 
 thought he should do well to see, and to satisfy both myself 
 and the House, that were in fear of him. He replied, the 
 King had given him strict commands not to molest him, 
 therefore durst not, besides he had bolted the door to him. 
 
1647] Escape of King Charles from the Palace, 147 
 
 I was then extreme restless in my thoughts, lookt oft in at the 
 key-hole to see whether I could perceive his Majesty, but 
 could not; prest Mr. Maule to knock very oft, that I might 
 know whether his Majesty were there or not, but all to no 
 purpose. He still plainly told me he durst not disobey his 
 Majesty's commands." 
 
 While these discussions were going on outside the King's 
 room, the decisive step had already been taken some time ; 
 for as soon as the shades of the dark November evening 
 had fallen, King Charles left his chamber accompanied only 
 by Colonel Legge, and passing through the room called 
 " Paradise," went by the private passage to the river-side. 1 
 
 Here he was met by Berkeley and Ashburnham, and in 
 their company probably crossed the river in a boat to the 
 Surrey side, where they all took horse, and proceeded in 
 the direction of Oatlands, and thence towards Southampton. 
 
 The evening was dark and stormy ; and as Charles was 
 going away, he dropped on the road, in the dirt, a book, 
 which he happened to have with him, and to which the 
 following curious history attaches. While Charles was 
 negotiating at this Palace with the officers of the army, 
 he wanted to refer to a certain rare tract which had been 
 published at an early period in the contest between the 
 King and Parliament. He accordingly requested his faith- 
 ful attendants Colonel Legge and Mr. Arthur Trevor to 
 try and see if they could not procure it for him. After 
 applying at all the ordinary shops and booths where such 
 things were sold, they had recourse to a certain bookseller 
 named George Thomason, who as early as the year 1640 
 had conceived the idea of preserving every tract published 
 by either side, and who was at this time collecting them and 
 continued to do so until the year 1660, with the most extra- 
 ordinary care and perseverance. He was obliged to work 
 
 1 Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 92. See also post, p. 157. 
 
148 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1647 
 
 out his design in secret, with the assistance of confidential 
 servants, as he was known, or suspected to be a Royalist, 
 and it was therefore dangerous for him to be housing 
 treasonable literature against the Roundheads. At first 
 they buried the volumes as they collected them, but the 
 tracts and pamphlets issued during that stirring time 
 amounted to at least thirty thousand pieces, and forming, as 
 they now stand in the British Museum, no less than two 
 thousand volumes, they soon became too numerous to be 
 concealed in this way. " The owner, dreading that the 
 ruling government would seize on the collection, watched 
 the movements of the army of the Commonwealth, and 
 carried this itinerant library in every opposite direction. 
 Many were its removals northward or westward, but the 
 danger became so great, and the collection so bulky, that 
 he had at one time an intention to pass them over into 
 Holland, but feared to trust his treasures to the waves. 
 He at length determined to place them in his warehouses 
 in the form of tables round the room, covered with canvas. 
 It is evident that the loyalty of the man had rendered him 
 a suspected person, for he was once dragged from his bed 
 and imprisoned for seven weeks, during which time, how- 
 ever, the collection suffered no interruption, nor was the 
 secret betrayed." 1 
 
 To this man it was that the King's attendants, who 
 secretly heard of his wonderful bibliographical enterprise, 
 had recourse. In a memorandum that Thomason after- 
 wards wrote in the very volume which he lent to the King, 
 he tells us that he assured them that whatever the King 
 wanted was at his Majesty's disposal, but that he was very 
 loth to part with "a limb of his collection," as it were, 
 which if it were lost it would be impossible to replace. This 
 answer they took back to the King at Hampton Court, 
 
 1 Disraeli's Amenities of Literature, vol. iii., p. 305. 
 
A precious little Tract, 
 
 149 
 
 whereupon they were ordered to go to him again, and tell 
 him upon the word of a King (to use the King's own 
 expression) that they would safely return it," whereupon he 
 immediately sent it to his Majesty. Perhaps it was on 
 account of his kingly pledge that Charles carried it with 
 him in his own hand when escaping from Hampton Court; 
 at any rate, when he dropped it in the mud, he gave it in 
 charge to two of his attendants, with the most solemn 
 command, as they would answer for it another day, 
 speedily and safely to restore it to the owner, and at the 
 same time, in his name, to desire Thomason to go on with 
 the collection he had begun. 
 
 This injunction they scrupulously obeyed, and the precious 
 little quarto, thus sanctified in the eyes of all true Cava- 
 liers, and still bearing " the honours of its mischance," 
 in the deep stains of mud upon its leaves, is now safely 
 lodged, after many vicissitudes, with the rest of Thomason's 
 extraordinary and very valuable collection, on the shelves 
 of the British Museum. The volume in question is num- 
 bered 100. It contains several tracts bound together, one 
 of which bears the significant title, " The Broken Heart/' 
 written by Shawe, a Puritan divine. The collection having 
 belonged to George III., is usually known by the name of 
 the " King's Tracts." 
 
 To resume our narrative. In the meanwhile Colonel 
 Whalley's anxiety as to the King increasing, he went at about 
 eight o'clock to Mr. Smithsby, Keeper of the Privy Lodg- 
 ings, desiring him to go along with him the back way, through 
 the Privy Garden, to the Privy Stairs, where he had sentinels 
 stationed. To resume Whalley's narrative : "We went up 
 the stairs, and from chamber to chamber, till we came to the 
 next chamber to his Majesty's bed-chamber, where we saw 
 his Majesty's cloak lying on the midst of the floor, which 
 much amazed me. I went presently back to the Com- 
 
150 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1647 
 
 missioners and bed-chambermen, acquainting them with it, 
 and therefore desired Mr. Maule again to see whether 
 his Majesty was in his bed-chamber or not ; he again 
 told me he durst not. I replied, that I would then com- 
 mand him, and that in the name of the Parliament, and 
 therefore desired him to go along with me. He desired I 
 would speak to the Commissioners to go along with us. 
 I did. We all went. When we came into the room next 
 the Kings bed-chamber, I moved Mr. Maule to go in. 
 He said he would not, except I would stand at the door. 
 I promised I would, and did. Mr. Maule immediately 
 came out, and said, the King was gone. We all then went 
 in, and one of the Commissioners said, ' It may be the 
 King is in his closet' Mr. Maule presently replied and 
 said he was gone. I then, being in a passion, told Mr. 
 Maule, I thought he was accessory to his going ; for that 
 afternoon he was come from London, it being a rare thing 
 for him to be from Court. I know not that he hath been 
 two nights away since I came to wait upon his Majesty." 
 
 When there was no longer any doubt that the King 
 had fled, the greatest excitement prevailed throughout 
 the Palace, and Whalley at once sent parties of horse and 
 foot to search the lodge in the park and Ashburnham's 
 house at Ditton, while he forwarded despatches to Fairfax 
 and Cromwell at the headquarters at Putney, to apprise 
 them of what had happened. 
 
 On the King's table he found three letters — one ad- 
 dressed to the Parliamentary Commissioners, one to be 
 communicated to both Houses of Parliament, and another 
 to himself, which was as follows : — 
 
 Hampton Court, 11 November, 1647. 
 
 Colonel Whaley, 
 
 I have been so civilly used by you and Major Huntingdon, 
 that I cannot but by this parting farewell acknowledge it under 
 
1647] The King s Escape becomes known. 151 
 
 my hand ; as also to desire the continuance of your courtesie, by 
 your protecting of my household stuffe and moveables of all 
 sorts, which I leave behind me in this house, that they be neither 
 spoiled or embesled : only there are three pictures here which 
 are not mine, that I desire you to restore ; to wit, my wives 
 picture in blew, sitting in a chaire, you must send to Mistris 
 Kirke [one of the Queen's dressers] ; my eldest daughter's picture, 
 copied by Belcam, to the Countess of Anglesey, and my Lady 
 Stannop's picture to Cary Rawley [Carew Raleigh — Sir Walter's 
 son]. There is a fourth which I had almost forgot, it is the 
 original of my eldest daughter (it hangs in this Chamber over the 
 board next to the chimney), which you must send to Lady Au- 
 bigny. So, being confident that you wish my preservation and 
 restitution, I rest, 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 Charles R. 
 
 P.S. — I assure you it was not the letter you shewed me to-day, 
 that made me take this resolution, nor any advertisement of that 
 kinde. But I confess that I am loath to be made a close prisoner, 
 under pretence of securing my life. I had almost forgot to desire 
 you to send the black grew bitch to the Duke of Richmond. 
 
 This letter, while showing how ready Charles was to 
 acknowledge any little attention or kindness, betrays at 
 the same time how constitutionally impossible it was for 
 him to understand facts, and to appreciate his real po- 
 sition. It is almost pathetic to note the way in which he 
 writes of his much cherished works of art and articles de vertu 
 (under the designation " household stuffe and moveables "), 
 as if they were in truth still his, and as if he would shortly 
 re-enter into possession of them all again. 
 
 Everyone else, of course, appreciated the deep signi- 
 ficance of the step Charles had chosen to take ; and the 
 excitement both in London and at the headquarters of 
 the army at Putney, when the news became known, was 
 very great. Among the chief officers of the army the 
 
152 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1647 
 
 feeling was not unmingled with one of gratification that 
 things had at last been brought to a crisis. Cromwell, 
 immediately on receiving the intelligence, rode over post- 
 haste to Hampton Court to learn the particulars for him- 
 self ; and, as soon as he had conferred with Whalley, sat 
 down and indited the following letter to the Speaker of the 
 House of Commons : — 
 
 Sir, 
 
 .... Majesty .... withdrawn himself at nine o'clock. 
 
 The manner is variously reported ; and I will say of it at 
 present but that his Majesty was expected to supper, when the 
 Commissioners and Colonel Whalley missed him ; upon which 
 they entered the room. They found his Majesty had left his cloak 
 behind him in the gallery in the private way. He passed, by the 
 backstairs and vault, towards the waterside. 
 
 He left some letters upon the table, in his withdrawing room, of 
 his own handwriting ; whereof one was to the Commissioners of 
 Pari, attending him, to be communicated to both houses, and is 
 here enclosed. 
 
 Oliver Cromwell. 1 
 
 For the Honourable William Lenthall, Speaker of the 
 
 House of Commons, these. 
 Hampton Court, Twelve at Night, 
 nth Nov. 1647. 
 
 The tone in which Cromwell speaks of Charles's escape, 
 taken with the sending of the warning letter to Whalley, 
 confirms the suspicion that he was not unprepared for what 
 occurred, if, indeed, he had not connived at it and tried to 
 bring it about. Certain it is that the continued residence 
 of the King at Hampton Court had begun to grow very 
 embarrassing to him, and Mar veil the poet, his friend and 
 panegyrist, actually commends him for his cleverness in 
 entrapping Charles into this injudicious act — 
 
 1 Rushworth, vol. vii., p. 871. See also Commons Journals, vol. v., p. 356. 
 
1647] 
 
 Letters to the Parliament, 
 
 153 
 
 And Hampton shows what part 
 He had of wiser art, 
 When, twining subtle fears with hope, 
 He wove a net of such a scope, 
 That Charles himself might chase 
 To Carisbrook's narrow case. 
 
 Charles's letter to the Parliamentary Commissioners was 
 addressed : 
 
 To the Lord Mountague of Boughton. 
 
 MOUNTAGUE, 
 
 First, I do hereby give you and the rest of your fellows 
 thanks, for the civilities and good conversations that I have had 
 from you. 
 
 Next, I command you to send this my message, which you will 
 find on the table, to the two Houses of Parliament ; and likewise to 
 give a copy of it to Colonel Whalley, to be sent to the General. 
 Likewise I desire you to send all my saddle horses to the Duke of 
 York. 
 
 For what concerns the resolution that I have taken, my Declara- 
 tory Message says so much, that I refer you to it ; and so I rest 
 
 Your assured friend, 
 
 C. R. 1 
 
 His Letter or Declaration to the Parliament, which 
 Cromwell enclosed to the Speaker, was a somewhat lengthy 
 and elaborate document, vindicating the step he was taking, 
 and expatiating on the position of affairs. As it has often 
 been printed in full, we now give but a few extracts here. 
 It began thus : — 
 
 Liberty being that which in all time hath been, but especially 
 now is the common Theame and Desire of all men ; common 
 Reason shewes that Kings, lesse then any, should endure Cap- 
 tivity ; and yet call God and the World to Witnesse, with what 
 
 1 Heath's Chronicle, p. 148 ; and Parliamentary History, vol. Hi., p. 786. 
 
154 History of Hampton Court Palace. [ l6 47 
 
 Patience I have endured a tedious Restraint : which, so long as I 
 had any hopes, that this sort of my suffering, might conduce to the 
 peace of my kingdomes, or the hindering of more effusion of blood, 
 I did willingly undergoe : but now finding by too certain proofes, 
 that this my continued Patience, would not only turne to my 
 Personall Ruine, but likewise bee of much more prejudice, then 
 furtherance, to the Publike good ; I thought I was bound, as well 
 by Naturall as Politicall Obligations to seek my safety, by retiring 
 my selfe, for some time, from the public view both of my Friends 
 and Enemies : And I appeale to all indifferent Men, to judge, if I 
 have not just cause, to free myselfe from the hands of those, who 
 change their Principles with their Condition, and who are not 
 ashamed openly to intend the Destruction of the Nobility, by 
 taking away their Negative voice ; and with whom the Levellers' 
 Doctrine, is rather countenanced then punished ; and as for their 
 intentions to my Person ; their changing, and putting more strict 
 Guards upon Me, with the discharging most of all those Servants 
 of mine, who formerly they willingly admitted to wait upon me, 
 does sufficiently declare : Nor would I have this my retirement 
 mis-interpreted ; for I shall earnestly and uncessantly endeavour 
 the settling of a safe and well-grounded Peace, wherever I am, or 
 shall be. 
 
 Much more followed in the same strain, and it ended 
 thus : — 
 
 To conclude let Mee be heard with freedom, honour, and safelie ; 
 and I shall instantly breake through this Cloud of Retirement, and 
 show My Selfe Really to be Pater Patrice. 
 
 Hampton Court, n Novemb. 1647. 
 
 The letter was endorsed — 
 
 For the Speaker of the Lords pro tempore, to be communicated 
 unto the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England at 
 Westminster, and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland, 
 and to all my other subjects of what degree, condition, or calling 
 whatsoever. 
 
1647] 
 
 Charles and the House of Commons, 
 
 155 
 
 The whole document was in truth an appeal to public 
 opinion against the usage to which he had been subjected by 
 the Parliament and the army, and it shows how confident 
 Charles seems to have been that he would be able to retreat 
 to some place of secrecy, whence he might begin, in safety, 
 once more bargaining with, and at the same time intriguing 
 against, his enemies. 1 
 
 These documents, together with Cromwell's own letter to 
 the Speaker, were read when the two Houses met next day 
 —Friday, November 12th — and measures were at once 
 taken to prevent the King's flight to foreign parts by order- 
 ing all the ports to be closed and embargo to be laid upon all 
 ships ; while it was declared to be an offence punishable 
 with loss of estate and life, for anyone to detain the King's 
 person, and not to reveal the fact to both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment. 2 
 
 The House of Commons met again on Saturday the 13th, 
 when " Colonel Whalley was called in and gave a particular 
 relation of all the circumstances of the King's going away 
 from Hampton Court." He also handed in the warning 
 letter from Cromwell, which he had shown to Charles. The 
 House then ordered " that Colonel Whalley do put in writ- 
 ing the said relation, and set his hand to it ; and that he do 
 leave a copy of the said letter from Lieutenant-General 
 Cromwell." 
 
 Whalley accordingly drew up and presented to the House 
 " A More Full Relation of the manner and circumstances of 
 His Majesties departure from Hampton Court," the docu- 
 ment from which we have largely quoted above. 3 In it 
 he vindicates himself against any blame for the King's 
 going away (" for I cannot term it an escape," he says, " be- 
 
 1 Parliamentary History of Eng- 3 It is reprinted in full in Peck's 
 land) vol. xvi., p. 324. Desiderata Curiosa, lib. ix., p. 374. 
 
 2 Commons' Journals, vol. v., p. 358. 
 
156 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1647 
 
 cause he never was in custody as a prisoner"), by laying 
 stress on the fact that the most eminent officers in the army 
 all agreed that he " could no more keep the King if he had 
 a mind to go than a bird in a pound. I was not to restrain 
 him from his liberty of walking, so that he might have gone 
 whither he had pleased ; neither was I to hinder him from 
 his privacy in his chamber, or any other part of the House, 
 which give him an absolute freedom to go away at pleasure. 
 The House is vast, hath 1,500 rooms, as I am informed, in 
 it, and would require a troop of Horse upon perpetual 
 duty to guard all the outgoings. So that all that could be 
 expected from me, was to be as vigilant over the King as I 
 could in the daytime ; and when after Supper he was retired 
 into his Bed-chamber, to set sentinels about him, which I 
 constantly performed, as is well known to the Commissioners 
 and others." 
 
 Whalley's account of what occurred is undoubtedly the 
 most authentic we have ; but it is curious to note that the 
 facts are given somewhat diversely by the various other 
 authorities. Even Cromwell's letter to the Parliament, 
 written on the spot a few hours after the escape and after 
 conferring with Whalley, differs, at any rate in some details, 
 from the information furnished by Whalley himself to the 
 Parliament — notably in saying that his Majesty had " with- 
 drawn himself at nine o'clock," when it is perfectly clear that 
 he must have left the Palace some hours before that. Then 
 we find that the Speaker is reported to have told the House 
 of Commons the morning after he received Cromwell's letter, 
 that the letter gave information " that the King went last 
 night, with nine horses, over Kingston Bridge." 1 While 
 Clarendon, in his " History of the Rebellion," declares that 
 Charles's escape was not discovered till the following morn- 
 ing, an error so palpable and gross that it is impossible to 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. iii., p. 788. 
 
1647] Various Versions of Charles Escape. 157 
 
 conceive how, with the very smallest care, he could have 
 fallen into it. When we add that in the original manuscript 
 he had positively written that the escape took place " about 
 the beginning of September," we may judge what reliance 
 is to be placed on his ungenerous strictures upon Ashburn- 
 ham's conduct and his unjustifiable insinuations against his 
 loyalty. 
 
 Clarendon may have had more warrant, however, for say- 
 ing that " they discovered the treading of horses at a back 
 door of the garden, into which his Majesty had a passage 
 out of his chamber, and it is true that way he went, having 
 appointed his horse to be there ready at an hour." For 
 though the simplest and safest way for the fugitives to 
 make good their escape, would seem to have been at once 
 to put the river between them and their possible pursuers, 
 by crossing in a boat to the Surrey side of the Thames, 1 
 where they could have mounted their horses and made their 
 way through West Molesey to Oatlands, it is not certain 
 that they may have taken horse on the Middlesex side and 
 ridden along the towing-path to Hampton, and thence to 
 Oatlands over Walton bridge. This supposition derives 
 some colour from a paragraph in a newspaper published a 
 week after the event, which we subjoin as a specimen of 
 the journalism of the day. 
 
 1 Kennett, in his History of Eng- 
 land, vol. iii., p. 155, explicitly says 
 that " the King in disguise went from 
 his lodging, through a door into the 
 Park, and taking a boat there laid for 
 him, he crossed over to Thames Ditton, 
 where Sir John Berkeley, Mr. Ash- 
 burnham, and Mr. Legge were placed 
 with horses ready to escape ; " but he 
 gives no authority. Heath in his 
 Chronicle of the Civil Wars, p. 148, 
 says : " Horses being therefore laid 
 ready on the other side of the water, 
 
 the King leaves his chamber, Novem- 
 ber 11 (in a very dark and tempestuous 
 night) with his cloak spread on the 
 floor thereof, and by the backstayrs 
 descends to the vault, and so over the 
 Thames to his company." While Sir 
 Thomas Herbert (p. 53), his groom of 
 the bed-chamber, who was in constant 
 attendance on him during the last two 
 years of his life, says they "passed 
 through a private door into the Park, 
 where no Centinel was, and at Thames 
 Ditton crossed the River." 
 
158 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1647 
 
 Mercurius Anti-Pragmaticus. 
 From Thursday \ Nov. lit/i, to Thursday, Nov. 18th, 1647. 
 
 An exact and perfect relation of his Majesties private 
 departure from hampton court, the eleventh of 
 November at five of the clock in the afternoone, 
 received from the mouth of slr john cooke. 
 
 His Majesty, the day before his departure, was noted not to look 
 with so cheerfull a countenance as he was wont ; to be somewhat 
 heavie and pensive, and on the day he departed, about two of the 
 clock in the afternoone, six men in different habits, leading in their 
 hands six lusty horses, were ferried over from Ditton to Hampton 
 Court, and were seene to take an hill neer adjacent to his Majesty. 
 
 From Oatlands, as we have said, Charles and his com- 
 panions made their way to the Isle of Wight, and at the very 
 time that the Commons were hearing Whalley's narrative of 
 his escape from the Palace, he had already surrendered him- 
 self to Colonel Hammond, the Governor of the Island, and 
 was lodged in Carisbrook Castle as a prisoner of State, 
 though he was still treated with some deference and respect. 
 
 While Charles was still confined at Carisbrook, there 
 broke out the Second Civil War, a memorable episode of 
 which was the Royalist rising, that took place at Kingston- 
 on-Thames, under the Earl of Holland, at the beginning of 
 the month of July, 1648. The mustering of their force of 
 some six hundred horse, not a mile from Hampton Court, 
 doubtless excited a deep interest in the Palace, which must 
 have been intensified when Holland was gallantly joined in 
 his rash enterprise by the young Duke of Buckingham and 
 his brother, Lord Francis Villiers, "a youth," as Clarendon 
 tells us, " of rare beauty and comeliness of person," only 
 eighteen years of age. After they had been in the town 
 about two days, they all advanced towards Reigate, but 
 were compelled to retreat thence upon Kingston again, 
 
i6 4 8] 
 
 Death of Lord Francis Villiers. 
 
 159 
 
 where their last skirmish occurred in the lane between the 
 town and Surbiton Common. 1 " Here," says Aubrey, et was 
 slain the beautiful Francis Villiers, at an elm in the hedge 
 of the east side of the lane, where his horse being killed 
 under him, he turned his back to the elm, and fought most 
 valiantly with half-a-dozen. The enemy, coming on the 
 other side of the hedge, pushed off his helmet, and killed him, 
 July 7th, 1648, about six or seven o'clock in the afternoon." 
 
 With the fate of this gallant young Cavalier is con- 
 nected a story about Hampton Court, which we ought 
 perhaps to narrate here, though we cannot pretend to give it 
 the same credence, or attach the same significance to it, as 
 would the believers in supernatural occurrences and spiritual 
 visitations. 
 
 It seems that now some seventeen years ago, there dwelt 
 in one of the suites of private apartments on the west side 
 
 of the Fountain Court, a certain Lady , who had, for 
 
 several years, assured her friends that she was frequently 
 conscious of the presence in her rooms of two invisible 
 beings ; and that she was greatly disturbed by the myste- 
 rious sounds of rapping that emanated from them in various 
 quarters of her apartments. So convinced, indeed, was 
 
 Lady of the genuineness of her weird and unearthly 
 
 visitants, that she addressed a formal complaint to the Lord 
 Chamberlain on the subject. His lordship, however, 
 answered, so the story goes, that " he must decline to move 
 in the matter, as it was not one that fell within the purview 
 of his department;" but he referred her ladyship to Her 
 Majesty's Board of Works. To that august and omniscient 
 body she accordingly had recourse ; but, in reply to her 
 requisition, was informed, so it is said, that " the Board" 
 declined to interfere in the matter, on the ground that "there 
 
 1 Whitelocke's Memorials, 317, 318, Journal, 35 ; Aubrey's History of 
 320 ; Lord's Journals, 367 ; Commons 1 Surrey, vol. i., p. 46. 
 
160 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1648 
 
 were no funds at their disposal " for any such purpose, and 
 that the jurisdiction of the First Commissioner did not 
 extend to the Spirit World. 
 
 There for a time the matter rested, the two departments 
 still maintaining their attitude of sceptical and masterly- 
 inactivity, and Lady still complaining that her rooms 
 
 were haunted, and inveighing bitterly against the incredulity 
 and apathy of " that tiresome Board of Works." 
 
 At last, however, a few years after, on the 2nd of November, 
 1 87 1, some workmen, while excavating in the cloister of the 
 
 Fountain Court, nearly opposite Lady 's door, for the 
 
 purpose of carrying out the new system of drainage, came 
 upon two perfect human skeletons, about two feet below 
 the level of the pavement. They were the remains of two 
 full-grown men, and from the position in which they were 
 found, it was evident that they had been hastily buried, or 
 rather, perhaps, thrust beneath the surface of the ground. 
 
 No satisfactory explanation has ever yet been offered as to 
 their history. It was suggested, at the time of their dis- 
 covery, that they might be the remains of Lord Francis Vil- 
 liers and some other cavalier, 1 ignominiously interred here 
 by the Roundheads after their deaths in the skirmish ; and 
 this conjecture seemed to derive some probability from 
 Mr. G. A. Sal a having introduced into his historical novel, 
 " Captain Dangerous," an episode of Lord Francis and a " Mr. 
 Greenville" being taken prisoners at Kingston, instead of 
 being slain there, and of their being then brought to 
 Hampton Court, and shot in one of the court-yards of 
 the Palace — an incident for which it was naturally assumed 
 that Mr. Sala must have had good historic warrant. This, 
 however, did not prove to be the case, for Mr. Sala wrote 
 to the " Times " 2 to say that the whole scene was entirely 
 
 1 See The Times, Nov. 4th, et seq., 1871. Also Notes and Queries. 
 2 Nov., 1871. 
 
1648] . Strange Discovery of Skeletons, 161 
 
 an imaginative one on his part. And when it was further 
 pointed out that the evidence of history left no doubt that 
 the two young Cavaliers were really killed in the skirmish 
 on the spot, and that the body of Lord Francis Villiers was 
 buried, after the Restoration, in Westminster Abbey, where 
 his tomb may still be seen, this theory fell completely to 
 the ground. 
 
 It is not likely, indeed, that history will ever now reveal 
 the identity of these two skeletons ; but the condition in 
 which they were found seemed to indicate that they had been 
 interred some two hundred and fifty years, and they may, 
 therefore, be assigned with some probability to the period 
 of the Great Rebellion. 
 
 To this, however, it has been objected that if they had 
 occupied the same position when William III. built the 
 Fountain Court, they could not fail to have been disturbed 
 during the progress of the works. But this assumption 
 was made by persons not familiar with the topographical 
 history of the Palace. For Wren's building, at the point 
 where the bones were found, is little more than a screen, 
 extending only to the first floor, to mask the original Tudor 
 frontage of this court, which still exists behind it. 
 
 Consequently, it is not unlikely that the surface on which 
 this side of the quadrangle was erected, was not disturbed 
 to any depth, and that the pavement, under which the dis- 
 covery was made, was laid down on the level ground of the 
 old cloister, the bodies remaining untouched below. 
 
 If this be so, it is not impossible that they were the re- 
 mains of two unfortunate victims of some Roundhead 
 villainy, secretly and hurriedly interred beneath the west 
 cloister of the old " Cloyster Greene Courte." (See Plan of 
 the Palace, page 1 .) 
 
 However this may be, the discovery quite set at rest in 
 the mind of Lady all doubts as to the origin of the 
 
l62 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1647 
 
 mysterious beings, and the weird sounds that had haunted 
 her apartments, and she triumphantly exclaimed: "Just 
 like that stupid Board of Works ! Why, of course, those 
 are the two wretched men, who have been worrying 
 me all these years, and the Board never found it out ! " 
 Whether, on the bodies receiving Christian burial at Hamp- 
 ton Church, the supernatural manifestations thereafter 
 ceased, the story does not record. 
 
 To return to Charles I. After his detention at Caris- 
 brook Castle, he never set eyes on Hampton Court again ; 
 but about a year after was moved from the Isle of Wight 
 to London, soon to take his trial in Westminster Hall. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH. HAMPTON COURT FOR SALE. 
 
 *' The late Charles Stuart's " Property to be Surveyed, Valued, and Sold — 
 Trustees appointed for the Purpose — Inventory of Goods, Furniture, and Works 
 of Art at Hampton Court — The Great Three Years' Sale — Appraisement of the 
 Splendid Tapestries — Insignificant Prices for the great Pictures — The Furniture 
 and Antiquities — Survey of the Manor of Hampton Court — Valuation of the 
 Parks — All the King's Houses and Parks to be Sold — Hampton Court to be 
 exempted from the Sale— Return of Cromwell to London — The Palace prepared 
 for him and his Family — Hampton Court to be Sold — The Vote reversed : Not 
 to be Sold — Reversed again : To be Sold — Reversed once more : Not to be 
 Sold — Reversed yet again : To be Sold — Another Resolve : Hampton Court 
 offered to Oliver Cromwell — He refuses it — The Manor and Parks sold — Bought 
 iback again for Cromwell — He takes Possession of the Palace. 
 
 HARLES I.'s head had no sooner rolled on the 
 scaffold at Whitehall, than the Parliament at once 
 proceeded to deal with all the property of "the 
 late Charles Stuart," directing inventories to be 
 taken of all his goods and chattels, and surveys 
 to be made of his lands, houses, and palaces. 1 
 
 This was done with a view to their being forthwith turned 
 into money ; and to effect this object in regard to the per- 
 sonal property of the Royal Family, a bill was almost im- 
 
 ' Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting. The order is dated March 23rd, 1649. 
 
164 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1649 
 
 mediately introduced into Parliament setting forth that i 1 
 " Whereas the goods and personal estate heretofore belong- 
 ing to the late King Charles, and to his wife and eldest 
 son, have been, and are justly forfeited by them, for their 
 several delinquencies, the Commons of England assem- 
 bled in Parliament, taking the premises into their serious 
 consideration, have thought fit and resolved, that the 
 said goods and personal estate, heretofore belonging to 
 the persons above named, and to every and any of them, 
 shall be inventoried and appraised, and shall also be sold, 
 except such parcels thereof as shall be found necessary to 
 be reserved for the uses of State. Be it therefore enacted .... 
 that John Humphreys, John Belchamp, 2 &c, shall be and are 
 hereby constituted and appointed Trustees for the enquiring 
 out, inventorying, appraizing, and securing of the said goods 
 and personal estate, to repair to any and every house, and 
 
 to make perfect inventory And whereas divers of the 
 
 said goods and premises are of such nature, as that though 
 by reason of their rarity or antiquity, they may yield very 
 great prices in foreign parts, where such things are much 
 valued, yet for particular men's use in England they would 
 be accounted little worth, and so yield no considerable 
 price, if they should be forthwithe sold here .... it is 
 further enacted and provided, that for such particulars " the 
 trustees might treat and agree with foreign merchants and 
 adventurers. 
 
 It was further decreed that the proceeds of the sale should 
 be devoted, in the first instance, to the payment of the King's 
 and Queen's debts. 
 
 The bill was passed on July 4th, 1649, and the valuers at 
 once set themselves to work to prepare a most full and ample 
 
 1 Scobell's Collection of Acts and by Charles I., and his opinion would 
 Ordinances, i649,vol.ii.,chap.xli.,p.46. therefore have been useful as to the 
 
 2 Belchamp was an artist employed value of the pictures. 
 
1649] Charles I! s Property to be Sold. 165 
 
 inventory, taking account of all the furniture, pictures, tapestry, 
 carpets, plate, jewels, utensils, and movables of all sorts to 
 be found in each palace. A contemporary copy of the in- 
 ventory, if it be not the original, is still preserved among the 
 Harleian manuscripts in the British Museum, making an 
 enormous folio volume of some thousand pages, about 
 seventy-six of which are filled with a list of " Goods Viewed 
 and Appraised att Hampton Court, in the custody of Wm. 
 Smithsbie, Esq., Wardrobe Keeper, October 5th, 1649." 1 
 Attached to the entry of each lot is its estimated worth, and 
 the price for which it was eventually sold, with the name of 
 the purchaser. The sale, which began in the winter of 1649- 
 50, was the most gigantic on record, and lasted on and off 
 for nearly three years. It is interesting to observe, in noting 
 the valuations set upon the various lots, how different was 
 the relative estimate of such things in those days as com- 
 pared with our own times. 
 
 Prominent among the articles of value were the splendid 
 tapestries, which had belonged to Wolsey and Henry VIII., 
 and which were appraised at a rate such as would be thought 
 exorbitant even in our own day, when such extravagant 
 prices are given for articles of this sort. Thus the famous 
 " Ten pieces of Arras hangings of the Story of Abraham," 
 which we described in our first volume, 2 containing 826 yards, 
 were valued at £ 10 a yard, that is, ,£8,260; " ten pieces of rich 
 arras of Josuah, at ,£3,399 ; nine pieces of Tobias, at ,£3,409 ; 
 nine pieces of rich arras of St. Paule, at ,£3,065 ; and ten 
 pieces of Julius Caesar, at ,£5,019 ; and many others on a 
 similar scale. 
 
 Whether they would have found bidders, however, at 
 these prices, we cannot say, for the tapestries just men- 
 tioned were never offered for sale; and, instead of the names 
 
 1 Harleian MSS., No. 4898, folio 238. 
 
 2 Page 239. 
 
1 66 History of Hampton Court Palace, [1649 
 
 of purchasers, we find such notes subjoined to the entries as 
 " Now in the use of the Lord Protector ; " " In his High- 
 ness Service att Hampton Court;" " In his Highness 
 Service." 
 
 The high values placed on the tapestries contrast markedly 
 with those assigned to some of the finest pictures in the 
 collection. Thus the great picture of Charles I. on a 
 brown horse, recently acquired by the National Gallery at 
 the cost of £ \ 1,000, was valued at only ^200 ; the Venus 
 del Pardo, one of the finest works of Titian, now at 
 Madrid, fetched only ^600; Raphael's famous Cartoons 
 were valued at ^300 ; and Mantegna's " Triumph of 
 Julius Caesar," one of the most precious treasures of the 
 English Crown, at only ^1,000! 
 
 These last two lots, however, were not disposed of, but 
 were reserved, by order of the Council of State, together 
 with Titian's " Herodias with the Head of John the Baptist," 
 valued at ^150 and other pieces, for the decoration of the 
 Palace, which was soon after occupied by Cromwell. 
 
 The pictures at Hampton Court numbered altogether 
 332, and were valued at ,£4,675 i6j\ 6d. 
 
 There was, in addition, a great deal of splendid furniture, 
 some of which had belonged to Cardinal Wolsey, such as 
 beds, chairs, canopies, church robes, chests, instruments of 
 music, looking - glasses, and also many antiquities and 
 curiosities, the description and prices of which sound most 
 tantalizing to the ears of modern connoisseurs. Thus 
 Cardinal Wolsey's looking-glass, surmounted with his 
 arms, went for £$\ Henry VIII.'s cane for 55*.; his 
 hawking glass was valued at a shilling, "but 2s. was bid 
 for it ; " his gloves, valued at 6d., went for is.; " six comb- 
 cases, which were Henry y e 8 ths ," sold for js. 
 
 In the meanwhile, ere the valuing and inventorying of 
 the personal effects of the King had been proceeded with 
 
View of the First Court of Hampt 
 
Palace as seen from the Roof. 
 
1649] Surveys, Inventories, and Valuations. 167 
 
 far, an Act was passed, on the 16th July, 1649, 1 declaring 
 that " forasmuch as the Parliament, finding the office of a 
 King in this nation to have been unnecessary, burthensome, 
 and dangerous, hath utterly abolished the said kingly office ; " 
 therefore be it enacted that all " honors, manors, castles, houses, 
 messuages, chases, parks, and lands, and all tenements and 
 hereditaments, royalties, privileges, franchises, immunities, 
 and appurtenances," belonging to the late King should be sur- 
 veyed, valued, and sold for the benefit of the Commonwealth. 
 
 In view of this a rough survey of the Manor of Hampton 
 Court 2 was accordingly forthwith made, and laid on the table 
 of the House of Commons, being afterwards elaborated into 
 a more exhaustive one, which was not completed until April, 
 1653. As the latter survey affords a great deal of informa- 
 tion on the state and condition of Hampton Court and its 
 parks and gardens at this time, and contains many interest- 
 ing particulars relating to the topography of the Palace, we 
 have printed it in full in the Appendix. 3 
 
 Of the Palace a very detailed description is given, and also 
 of the courts and yards between and amongst the build- 
 ings, the materials of which, " and of all such things as are 
 valluable upon any part of the several parcells of ground," 
 the surveyors reckoned "to be worth upon the place (over and 
 above demolishing charges) £7,777 13s. 5^." 11 The Ground 
 and Soyle aforesayd," added they, " (when it shall be cleared 
 of the sayd buildings, or layd for conveniency to several pts. 
 thereof) will be worth yearly ^36." 
 
 The acreage and valuation of the parks were as follows : 
 The House Park, 363 acres, ,£243 a year ; Hampton Court 
 Course, 144 acres, £107- a. year; The Hare-Warren, 38a 
 acres, £%o a year; Middle Park, 370 acres, ^225 a year; 
 
 1 Scobell, chap, xlii., p. 51. sidiary surveys relating chiefly to out- 
 
 2 In the Record Office, dated 1649. lying meadows and other lands of the 
 
 3 Appendix A. There are also sub- manor. 
 
i68 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1649 
 
 and Bushey Park, divided into The Old Park, 183 acres, 
 ^102 a year; The New Park Part, 23 acres, £23 15^.; and 
 Other Part, 144 acres, ^115. Various smaller enclosures 
 were likewise surveyed and valued, as well as the trees, 
 buildings, fixtures, &c, on the land. The deer, of which 
 there were 199 in the House Park, 70 in the Middle Park, and 
 29 in Bushey Park, were valued at £1 per head, that is ^298. 
 Altogether, the total of the annual values amounted to £ 1 ,204, 
 and the total of the gross values to ,£10,765 19s. gd. 
 
 From the way in which the several portions of Hampton 
 Court are valued separately, it would appear that it was 
 contemplated to divide it into lots and sell it to various 
 bidders, with a view perhaps of destroying its palatial cha- 
 racter and aspect, if indeed the expression " when it shall be 
 cleared of the sayd buildings," does not imply that it was in- 
 tended to obliterate all traces of its royal associations by 
 demolishing the palace entirely. 
 
 The Council of State, 1 however, advised that Hampton 
 Court, together with Whitehall, Westminster, and a few 
 other palaces, should be excepted from the sale and " be 
 kept for the public use of the Commonwealth," and an 
 exempting clause was accordingly inserted in the Bill. 
 
 A similar exception was made in regard to some of the 
 furniture and movables of utility in this Palace, as distin- 
 guished from works of art and curiosity ; for in the following 
 month of April the Council of State gave an order that " the 
 hangings and carpets, which were at Hampton Court when 
 the Committee was there, were to be reserved to the use of 
 the Commonwealth." 2 
 
 For the next year or two, however, no suitable purpose 
 
 1 The Council of State consisted of State Papers, Domestic, Common- 
 
 Ludlow, Lord Fairfax, and others. wealth, vol. i. No. 29, May 24th, 1649, 
 
 They were at this palace when the and vol. ii. No. 91, Aug. 31st, 1649. 
 
 news of the battle of Dunbar reached 2 State Papers, Domestic, anno 1650, 
 
 London. — Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 329. vol. ix., No. 38. 
 
Map of the Domain and Parks of Hampton Court. 
 
165 1] Hampton Court excepted from the Sale. 169 
 
 was found, to which the Palace or its furniture could be 
 devoted, and the many stirring events that were taking 
 place in the three kingdoms — the battles of Rathmines, 
 Dunbar, and Worcester, and the thrilling escape of 
 Charles II. — prevented the question from being much 
 considered. But with the return of Cromwell and his 
 victorious army southwards, it occurred to the Council 
 of State that Hampton Court would be a convenient 
 place for him to retire to, as he seems to have taken 
 a liking to the locality, and a suite of apartments were 
 accordingly prepared for him and his family at the public 
 expense. Here, therefore, after a triumphant procession 
 in his state carriage through London, where he received 
 a most enthusiastic welcome from the citizens, and was 
 presented with addresses of congratulation from the Parlia- 
 ment and City Corporation, he arrived on the evening of 
 the 1 2th of October, 165 1. 1 
 
 It is curious to think of Cromwell thus installing himself 
 in the very Palace which, a few years previous, had been the 
 scene of his intimate conferences with Charles I., and 
 in which he had probably first cast an envious eye on the 
 regal splendours of his great victim. 
 
 We hear no more of Hampton Court for upwards of a 
 year; but in the month of November, 1652, a bill was 
 introduced into Parliament for the sale of the late King's 
 houses and lands exempted from the operation of the 
 former Act, among which, as we have seen, was Hampton 
 Court. The bill at first proceeded pretty smoothly, and on 
 Nov. 27th, 1652, 2 it was " Resolved that Hampton Court, 
 together with Bushey Park and the other two parks, the 
 Hare warren, and Meadows there, with the Appurtenances 
 belonging to the State there, be sold for ready money." 
 
 1 Whitelock, p. 509 ; Ludlow, vol. i., p. 372 ; Heath's Flagellum. Journal of 
 the House of Commons, p. 301. 2 Commons' Journal. 
 
170 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace, [ l6 52 
 
 This resolution, however, was not suffered to stand for more 
 than a month ; for when the question was put, on December 
 29th following, that " Hampton Court, &c, do stand in the 
 bill," the House divided, when thirty voted with the noes, 
 and eighteen voted with the yeas, " so it passed with the 
 negative." 1 The minority, however, were by no means dis- 
 posed to acquiesce in this decision, and on December 31st, 
 " the question being propounded that leave should be 
 given to speak against the vote that Hampton Court 
 and other lands thereto belonging should not be sold by 
 the bill, and the question being put, that this question be 
 now put, it passed with the affirmative. And the main 
 question being put : It was Resolved that leave shall be 
 given to speak against the vote." The question being thus 
 re-opened, the debate resulted in a reversal of the previous 
 decision of the House, which perhaps had been arrived at 
 by a snap division, and "the Mansion- House, commonly 
 called Hampton Court, in the County of Middlesex, with 
 the Barns, Stables, Outhouses, Gardens, Orchards, Yards, 
 Courts and Backsides belonging to or used and enjoyed 
 with the said Mansion House, with the Park commonly 
 called the House Park, and the two Parks there, the 
 one called the middle Park, and the other called Bushey 
 Park," were accordingly ordered to stand part of the bill, 2 
 which was passed into law on the last day of the year. 
 
 But even yet the question was not finally determined, for 
 the full survey of Hampton Court being completed on April 
 5th, 1653, 3 and laid on the table of the House a few days 
 
 1 Commons' Journals. and State Papers^ Domestic, Charles 
 
 2 There was a claim of Sir John vol. cxiv., No. 18, Oct. 4th, 1628. Sco- 
 Hippesley, who had a grant of the bell's Acts and Ordinances of Parlia- 
 custody of Bushey Park in 1628 from ment, part ii., p. 227. 
 
 Charles I., and whose rights were 3 See ante, p. 167, and post, Appen- 
 ordered to be reserved by a clause in dix A. 
 the bill. — Lysons' Middlesex Parishes; 
 
Parapet of the Great Hall as seen from the Roof. 
 
1653] Is Hampton Court to be Sold? 171 
 
 after, the Parliament, probably at the instigation of some of 
 Cromwell's friends, who knew of the liking he had taken to 
 Wolsey's palace, passed a resolution on Friday, April 1 5th, 
 1653, that "the House called Hampton Court with the 
 appurtenances, and the three Parks thereunto belonging, 
 and what is contained in the survey, be staid from sale until 
 the Parliament take further order : And that the Trustees 
 and Contractors be enjoined to forbear to make sale thereof 
 accordingly." 1 Nevertheless, on the 23rd of August, this 
 vote, on the recommendation of the Committee for raising 
 moneys, was again rescinded, and the manor and palace of 
 Hampton Court were once more to be put up to auction. 
 
 Ere a month had elapsed, however, namely, on the 20th 
 of September, another departure was taken, by the Parlia- 
 ment resolving that " there should be an offer of Hampton 
 Court to the Lord General (Cromwell) in exchange for New 
 Hall 2 upon a proportionate value," and that " Sir Anthony 
 Ashley Cooper do tender this offer to the Lord General 
 from this House." But the time was not yet ripe for such 
 an assumption of state and dignity, and Cromwell, while 
 returning " his humble acknowledgments for the great 
 respects of the House towards him therein," yet desired 
 that it would " proceed to dispose thereof according to their 
 former resolution." 3 Not much heed, however, was paid to 
 this pretence of disinterestedness, for it was ordered that " the 
 house called Hampton Court, with the outhouses and gardens 
 thereunto belonging, and the little park wherein it stands, 
 be stayed from sale until the Parliament take further 
 order." 4 
 
 1 Commons' Journals, p. 307. Collection. Parliamentary History, 
 
 2 New Hall, in Essex, was an estate vol. xx., p 223, and Morant's Bis- 
 of the Duke of Buckingham's, which tory of Essex, vol. ii. p. 15.) 
 
 had been sequestrated by the Parlia- 3 Burton's Diary, vol. i., p. xi. 
 ment, and bought by Cromwell, 4 Commons' Journals. 
 April 2nd, 1651. (See Mr. Booth's MS. 
 
172 History of Hampton Court Palace. [ l6 £3 
 
 The parks, however, other than the House Park, were put 
 up to auction ; and contracts were entered into by the Trustees 
 of the Royal Lands for the sale, on November 15th, 1653, 
 of Bushey Park and its appurtenances to Edmund Backwall 
 for ,£6,638 ys. ; and, on December 3rd, of the Middle Park 
 to Colonel Norton for ,£3,701 igs. The fee of the Manor 
 and Honour of Hampton Court had previously been sold to 
 a Mr. John Phelps, of London, gentleman, for ^750. 1 
 
 But almost immediately after these transactions, namely, 
 on the 1 6th of December, 1653, the whole aspect of affairs 
 was changed by Cromwell being proclaimed Lord Protector 
 of the Commonwealth, when steps were at once taken to 
 re-acquire, on behalf of the State, the premises recently 
 sold. 
 
 There was at first some difficulty in effecting the neces- 
 sary surrenders on reasonable terms, because the purchasers 
 had not only already paid the purchase-money and entered 
 into possession, but had even disposed of part of their in- 
 terests to other persons. However, after some negociations, 
 which are set out in detail in Appendix B., arrangements 
 were eventually agreed upon for the redemption by the State 
 of all the parks and lands sold, on the return of the purchase- 
 moneys, and the payment of some £2,000 surplusage by way 
 of profit to the purchasers and their assignees. 2 
 
 As to the Manor, Mr. Phelps was easily induced to con- 
 sent to a re-conveyance of it to Cromwell for £750. This 
 
 1 Apparently on July 23rd, 1651 
 (Lyson's Middlesex Parishes, p. 52). 
 The amount was calculated on the 
 basis of sixteen years' purchase of the 
 manorial rights, profits, and rents. 
 These consisted of— in possession — 
 " the quit rents of the Honour, ^16 
 per annum ; " " the profits of the Courts 
 Leatte and Courts Baron, ^20 per ann. f 
 and the "rent of an ozier eight, £1 per 
 
 ann. ; " and — in reversion — " 2 peases 
 of pasture, after one liffe,^27 per ann. 
 " a house with one Rooade of ground, 
 per ann., £6 ; " " and the wood and 
 trease, after 2 lives, being valued in 
 possession at £60." — {State Papers, 
 Domestic, Commonwealth, vol. lxxii., 
 No. 30, June 27th, 1654.) 
 2 July 20th, 1654. 
 
l6 53] Cromwell takes Possession of Hampton Court, 173 
 
 was effected on August 30th, 1654 ; 1 and in the year 1 65 7 
 Cromwell's name is entered in the Court Rolls as owner of 
 the manor. 
 
 In the meanwhile, an order was issued directing that " the 
 house at Hampton Court, with the Park and all the lodges, 
 stables, and outhouses, and the houses in the Park, were to 
 be forthwith cleared for the Protectors use ; and all persons 
 concerned to take notice and conform." 2 Thus did the royal 
 Palace of Hampton Court, the home of so many of England's 
 Kings and Queens, pass into the hands of the Regicide, 
 Oliver Cromwell. 
 
 1 See Warrants of the Protector and 2 State P afters, Domestic, Common- 
 Council Do., July 31st, 1655. wealth, vol. lxvii., No. 88. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Oliver cromwell's private life at hampton court. 
 
 Cromwell installed as Lord Protector — " His Highness'" Visits to Hampton 
 Court — Plot to assassinate him on his Way — The Conspirators arrested, tried and 
 condemned — Proclamation of Charles II. against Cromwell — Free Leave to 
 murder the "Detestable Villain" — Promise of a Large Pension to the Assassin — 
 Mrs. Cromwell, " the Lady Protectress " — Comical and Ribald Stories against 
 her — Her " Court and Kitchen" — Charged with Niggardliness — The Protector's 
 State Banquets — His "Court of Beggars" — His Boisterous Joviality with his 
 Familiars — Practical Jokes — Puts Hot Coals in his Friends' Boots — Cromwell out 
 Hunting — His Appreciation of Pictures and Tapestry — Furniture of his own 
 Room in the Palace — His Delight in Music — Milton playing on the Organ in the 
 Great Hall — Another Plot against the Protector's Life — An Infernal Machine — 
 His " Removal" commended by Charles II. and his Brother James — Cromwell 
 haunted by the Dread of Assassination — Marriage of Mary Cromwell to Lord 
 Falconberg in the Chapel — Sycophantic Language of the Court Scribes. 
 
 ROM the 1 6th of December, 1653 — the date of 
 Cromwell's installation as Lord Protector of the 
 Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ire- 
 land — we find that " His Highness," as he was 
 henceforth designated, resided very frequently 
 at Hampton Court, his visits, whether of short or of long 
 duration, being all carefully chronicled in the official journals 
 of the time. When the Protector came to reside at Hamp- 
 ton Court for any length of time, the members of the Coun- 
 
1654] Plots for A ssassinating Cromwell. 175 
 
 cil also came with him ; " and there," says one of the news- 
 papers of the day, " the great affairs of the nation are trans- 
 acted with labour and care as if they were at Whitehall." 1 
 His first visit after his promotion to his new dignity took 
 place on April 15th, 1654, when we find it duly notified 
 that " His Highness went this day to Hampton Court, and 
 returned at night." 2 Soon after this, his often-repeated 
 journeys backwards and forwards from London to the 
 Palace, attracting the attention of his enemies, who were 
 always on the look-out for an opportunity of despatching 
 him, a bloody plot was entered into by some desperadoes, 
 with the intention of lying in wait to murder him when he 
 was on the road to Hampton Court. 
 
 The conspirators were, however, unable to agree as to 
 the point in the journey where the assassination should 
 be attempted ; so it was put off till the Protector was 
 coming back, before which time he received information 
 of the danger threatening him, and returned another way. 3 
 
 If they had succeeded in perpetrating the crime, the others 
 engaged in it were to have murdered the rest of the Council, 
 and seized on Whitehall, "sparing only some that they had 
 excepted, and some to be cruelly tortured." Another party 
 was to seize the Tower. To a third was entrusted the re- 
 doubtable task of overpowering the Lord Mayor and 
 aldermen ; while Charles II. was to be proclaimed king, 
 and "was presently to be sent for, and with all his crew 
 from all nations, whither they had fled, to hasten for 
 England, and seize on all forts and harbours." Fortunately 
 the conspirators, among whom was a brother of the Portu- 
 guese ambassador, were tracked, arrested, and brought to 
 trial at Westminster, and condemned to death. 
 
 1 Perfect Proceedings ; No. 300. 
 
 2 Cromwelliana,\i. 139, and. passim. Sev. Proc. of State Affairs. April 13 
 to 20. J Cromwelliana, p. 144. 
 
176 History of Hampton Court Palace, [ l6 54 
 
 We could hardly believe that so dastardly a plot could 
 have emanated from the baser sort even among the chival- 
 rous Cavalier party, did we not know that about a month 
 before its concoction a proclamation had been issued by 
 Charles II., in which, after reciting the "accursed ways and 
 means of a certain low mechanic fellow, by name Oliver 
 Cromwell," went on to give, in the King's name, " free leave 
 and liberty to any man whomsoever, within any of our three 
 kingdoms, by pistol, sword, or poison, or by any other ways 
 or means whatsoever, to destroy the life of the said Oliver 
 Cromwell ; wherein they will do an act acceptable to God 
 and good men, by cutting off such a detestable villain from 
 the face of the earth," 1 and giving his kingly word that the 
 man, by whose hand the deed might be done, should have a 
 pension of ^500 a year for the rest of his life. 
 
 Even the presbyterians lent themselves to these designs 
 against his life, and one of their ministers, who had preached 
 before his Highness at Hampton Court, seized the oppor- 
 tunity of being in the Palace, to " pump " the servant boy, 
 who waited on him, by asking him " what was the reason 
 his Highness did sweat so much when he took exercise?" 
 The boy answered that he always wore a " close coat (that 
 is a coat of mail) under his other clothes." This piece of 
 information the rascally presbyter forthwith communicated 
 to his co-religionists, who in their plots against his life took 
 their measures accordingly. 2 
 
 With Cromwell, when he established himself permanently 
 at Hampton Court, also came Mrs. Cromwell, " the Lady Pro- 
 tectress," as she was half-satirically called, who, as the wife 
 of the arch-enemy, was the favourite butt for Royalist abuse 
 and ridicule. The Cavalier wits, indeed, seem to have borne 
 her a particular aversion, and they were never tired of 
 
 1 Thurloe's State Papers, vol. ii. p. 248. 
 
 2 Thurloe, vol. i. ; p. 708. 
 
1655] Mrs. Cromwell, " the Lady Protectress." 177 
 
 scoffing at "old Joan," as she was derisively called, and of 
 recounting scandalous and comical stories about her. She 
 was no doubt a plain, and perhaps a commonplace woman, 
 and not being over-wise, and having no great aptitude for 
 accommodating herself to her new and great position, fre- 
 quently said and did things, that afforded the smart ladies 
 and gentlemen of the opposite party the most exquisite 
 amusement. But beyond this, there does not appear to 
 have been anything in her conduct or demeanour, which 
 could fairly subject her to censure, for she seems to have 
 settled down at Hampton Court to a simple, unostentatious 
 life. Whatever she did, however, exposed her to laughter 
 from the most opposite points of view. Sometimes it was 
 the preposterous airs that she gave herself as Lady Protec- 
 tress, and her ridiculously awkward imitations of Court 
 manners, that were found fault with. At another time it 
 was her simple tastes — " the impertinent meannesses" of 
 her mode of life, so unbefitting a lady of her station ! 
 
 In a publication entitled " The Court and Kitchen of Joan 
 Cromwell," a scurrilous writer particularly makes fun of her 
 household establishment at Hampton Court, laughing at her 
 habits of " nimble housewifery," and declaring that she had 
 employed a surveyor to make little labyrinths and trap- 
 doors for her, " by which she might at all times, unseen^ 
 pass to and fro, and come unawares upon her servants, and 
 keep them vigilant in their places." Besides, they accuse her 
 of being continually down in the kitchen, worrying the cook 
 about all sorts of trivial things, and being at the same time as 
 niggardly and stingy as she was exacting. Even her moral 
 character was assailed : some of the libellous pamphlets of 
 the time charging her, without any shadow of foundation, 
 with low gallantries with the common soldiers of Cromwell's 
 regiment, and with an excessive indulgence in strong liquor. 1 
 
 1 Noble's Memoirs of the Cromwells, vol. i., pp. 127, 130, &c. 
 
178 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1656 
 
 Nevertheless, in spite of the general homeliness of the 
 lives of the Protector and his family at Hampton Court, the 
 exigencies of State functions sometimes compelled him to 
 depart from his domestic habits and give great public 
 entertainments, such, for instance, as the banquet with which 
 he feasted the Swedish ambassador in this Palace on July 
 26th, 1656. On occasions of this sort something of the old 
 princely splendour of the Court of the Stuarts was imitated, 
 the Protector's bodyguard of halberdiers attending in the 
 banqueting room, and the dishes being brought to the table 
 by the servitors with the ceremonial of the old English 
 Court. 
 
 All this, of course, did not escape the censure of his critics, 
 who commented severely on his " Court of Beggars, and 
 such like mean people," who were rendered " very gay and 
 jocund " by festivities of this sort. " A great deal of State," 
 writes Heath, 1 one of his bitterest satirists, " was now used 
 towards him ; and the French Cringe, and other ceremonious 
 pieces of gallantry and good deportment, which were thought 
 unchristian and savouring of carnality, introduced in place 
 of austere and down-cast looks, and silent mummery of 
 starched and hypocritical gravity, the only becoming dress, 
 forsooth, of Piety and Religion ! " 
 
 Cromwell, however, was in truth chiefly solicitous about 
 being treated with respect, in the presence of foreigners, as 
 head of the English Commonwealth. Among his ordinary 
 associates and the colonels of the army he still maintained 
 his former relations of somewhat boisterous familiarity. 
 Whitelock, who was in constant intercourse with him, tells us 
 that " He would sometimes be very cheerful with us, and 
 laying aside his greatness, be exceedingly familiar with us, 
 and, by way of diversion, would make verses with us, and 
 everyone must try his fancy. He commonly called for 
 
 1 Flagellwn, p. 1 64. 
 
1656] Cromwell 's Court at the Palace. 1 79 
 
 tobacco-pipes and a candle, and would now and then take 
 tobacco himself. Then he would fall again to his serious and 
 great business, and advise with us in those affairs." 1 
 
 Heath also gives us a similar account of his life at Hamp- 
 ton Court, though, of course, tinged with a strong satirical 
 animus. " His custom," says he, " was now to divert him- 
 self frequently at Hampton Court (which he had saved from 
 sale, with other houses of the Kings, for his own greatness), 
 whither he went and came in post, with his Guards behind 
 and before, as not yet secure of his life from the justice of 
 some avenging hand. Here he used to hunt, and at the fall 
 of a Deer, where he would be sure to be present, embrue his 
 hands in the blood of it, and therewith asperse and sprinkle 
 the attendants ; and sometimes to coax the neighbouring 
 Rusticks give them a Buck he hunted, and money to 
 drink with it. 3 His own Diet was very spare, and not so 
 curious, except in publique Treatments, which were con- 
 stantly given every Monday in the week to all the officers 
 of the Army not below a Captain, where he dined with them, 
 and shewed them a hundred Antick Tricks, as throwing of 
 Cushions, and putting live Coals into their pockets and 
 boots ; a table being likewise spread every day of the week 
 
 for such officers as should casually come to Court 
 
 With these officers while he seemed to disport himself, 
 taking off his Drink freely, and opening himself every way 
 to the most free familiarity, He did merely lye at the catch 
 of what should incogitantly and with unsuspected provoca- 
 tion fall from their mouths, which he would be sure to record 
 and lay up against his occasion of reducing them to the 
 speaker's memory, who were never likely to forget the 
 prejudice and damage they had incurred by such loose dis- 
 
 1 Whitelock's Memorials, p. 656. hunted with him at Hampton Court. 
 % P. 165. On the 25th of July, 1656, — Whitelock's Memorials, p. 649. 
 the Swedish ambassador dined and 
 
180 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1656 
 
 coveries of their minds and inclinations He had 
 
 twenty other freaks in his head, for sometimes before he had 
 half dined, he would give order for a drum to beat, and call 
 on his Foot Guards, like a kennel of hounds, to snatch off 
 meat from his table and tear it in pieces ; the like Jocos and 
 Frisks he would have with other company ; even with some 
 of the nobility, when he would not stick to tell them, what 
 Company they had lately kept, when and where they had 
 drank the Kings health and the Royal Family's, bidding 
 them when they did it again, to do it more privately, and 
 this without any passion, and as festivous droll discourse." 
 
 Cromwell, however, also occupied himself with other amuse- 
 ments and tastes more refined than these rather rowdy gam- 
 bols. For instance, he appreciated the arts sufficiently to 
 keep Mantegna's "Triumph of Julius Caesar" at Hampton 
 Court, in order that it might decorate the walls of this Palace. 
 This magnificent work, consisting of nine great canvases, 
 each nine feet square, he had placed in the Long Gallery, 
 which adjoined his own private rooms, and in which he 
 must often have walked. That he was, besides, not indif- 
 ferent to the beauty of the old tapestries preserved in the 
 Palace, is proved by the facts that not only did he have the 
 Great Hall decorated with them, but that he even hung his 
 own bedroom with such an ungodly and carnal subject as 
 " five pieces of fine tapestry hangings of Vulcan and Venus I" 
 We learn this from the " Inventory of the goods at Hampton 
 Court," 1 taken after his death by order of the House of 
 Commons, from which document we find his bedroom also 
 contained the following furniture : " 2 window curtains, 
 one of scarlet baize, the other of serge ; 1 small couch of fly 
 coloured damask, and cased with watchet baize ; 2 elbow 
 chairs, ditto ; 4 back stools, ditto ; 1 black table with a turned 
 
 1 Dated June, 1659. State Papers, p. 198, and Appendix C, where we have 
 Domestic^ vol. cciii., No. 41. See post, printed it in full. 
 
1656] Oliver Cromwell at Home. 181 
 
 frame ; 1 pair of andirons with double brass ; 1 pair of 
 creepers with fire-shovel and tongs ; 1 pair of bellows." In 
 his dressing-room were : " 1 old coberd ; 1 Spanish table ; 
 2 small Turkey carpets ; 1 pair of andirons with double 
 brass ; 1 pair of creepers, and fire-shovel, tongs and bellows ; 
 4 back stools of Turkey work." 
 
 All of these articles, except the " 1 old coberd " and the 
 tapestries, which are described as belonging to the State, 
 are entered in the inventory, which is still preserved in the 
 Record Office, as being the private property of Cromwell ; 
 and similar distinctions are made throughout that document 
 in regard to the contents of every room in the Palace. How 
 he can have become possessed of the enormous amount of 
 furniture and household goods, thus made out to be his own, 
 is not clear. They evidently were part of the original 
 contents of the Palace ; and, perhaps, he bought them 
 in bulk from the persons to whom they had been knocked 
 down at the sale, and who had not removed them from 
 the Palace when the Protector entered into possession of 
 Hampton Court. Certain it is, at any rate, that they were 
 claimed by his family after his death as his private property. 1 
 
 Cromwell seems to have taken some interest also in the 
 gardens and parks of Hampton Court, for we find that, soon 
 after his coming into possession of the manor, he gave orders 
 that the bridges and banks of the New or Longford River, 
 which, as we have seen, was made by Charles I. to supply 
 the fountains and ponds at the Palace, 2 should be repaired 
 and the water made to flow again. The supply had been inter- 
 rupted in 1648, when the inhabitants of the parishes of Fel- 
 tham, Han worth, Bedfont, Hampton and Teddington, through 
 which its course lies, taking advantage of the political dis- 
 orders, stopped its passage by sinking the bridges, and throw- 
 
 1 Set post, p. 199. 
 
 3 See ante, p. 123. 
 
182 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [^56 
 
 ing down stones and gravel. They did this on account of 
 the injury which, as it was alleged, this artificial water-course 
 had frequently done them, by overflowing its banks and 
 drowning the corn and hay in their fields, and ruining and 
 rotting their sheep. 1 Cromwell's action in restoring the 
 obnoxious water-course was, therefore, not at all relished in 
 the neighbourhood of Hampton Court. But he was now 
 too secure to heed their disapproval : so much so, that 
 having re-established the flow, he went on to divert it into 
 the " Hare- warren" (that part of Bushey Park which lies 
 along the north of the road from Kingston to Hampton 
 Court), where he caused two ponds to be dug, which were 
 thenceforward known as "the Hare-warren Ponds," 2 a name 
 now corrupted into " the Heron Ponds," and sometimes 
 absurdly enough called "the Herring Ponds." At the same 
 time he barred the passage, which had been considered an 
 immemorial right of way, through the Hare-warren from 
 Hampton Wick to Hampton Court, erecting palings across 
 it, much to the dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of the Wick. 
 But no open protest was ventured during the Protector's 
 life-time, though in an anonymous satirical piece, hawked 
 about the streets of London at this time, entitled " The Pic- 
 ture of a New Courtier, drawn in a conference between Mr. 
 Time-Server and Mr. Plain-heart" 3 " Time-server," as one 
 of Cromwell's sycophants, while contemplating with " trem- 
 bling heart and shaking bones " the contingency of a change 
 in the Government, is made to refer to this unpopular act in 
 asking : — " Who will have the fine houses, the brave parks, 
 the pleasant fields and delightful gardens, that we have pos- 
 sessed without any right, and built at other men's cost ? 
 
 1 ylh Report of the Historical Com- ton Court. 
 
 mission, pp. 77 and 78. 3 Civil War Tracts, vol. 682, King's 
 
 2 Ly sons' Middlesex Parishes and Library, B.M. 
 Court Rolls of the Manor of Hamp- 
 
1656] CromweWs Occupations and Amusements. 183 
 
 Who shall enjoy the delight of the new Rivers and Ponds 
 at Hampton Court whose making cost vast sums of money, 
 and who shall chase the game in the Harewarren, that my 
 dear master hath inclosed for his own use, and for ours also 
 that are time-servers ? " 
 
 Cromwell was, besides, very fond of music, often enter- 
 taining those who were proficient in it ; and patronizing 
 John Hingston, a scholar of Orlando Gibbons, by appointing 
 him organist and music-master to his daughters. 1 During 
 his banquets at the Palace he usually had music played, 2 and 
 after dinner, when the gentlemen joined the ladies in the 
 drawing-room, there was instrumental music and singing, 
 Cromwell himself sometimes intoning a psalm for the com- 
 pany. 3 He took besides, like his secretary Milton, great 
 delight in the organ, and had two very fine ones put up 
 in the Great Hall, the larger of the two being a gift from his 
 friend, Dr. Goodwin, president of Magdalen College, Oxford, 
 who took upon himself to remove it from the College and 
 present it to the Protector. 4 It is pleasant to picture to 
 oneself the scene in the Hall of Hampton Court at this time, 
 when Milton, would seat himself at the organ under "the 
 high-embowed roof," with the 
 
 Storied windows richly dight, 
 Casting a dim religious light, 
 
 and make " the pealing organ blow," while Cromwell and his 
 family and attendants sat listening enraptured at the rever- 
 berations of the solemn music. 
 
 1 Hawkins' History of Music, vol. Magazine, 1877, p. 753. Hawkins in 
 iv., p. 44. his History of Music, vol. iv., p. 45, 
 
 2 Noble's Memoirs of the Cromwel/s, gives a somewhat different account of 
 vol. i., p. 314. the organ, stating that it was taken 
 
 3 Thurloe's State Paflers, April 12th, down during the Civil War, and that 
 1654. it was by Cromwell's orders that it 
 
 4 Inventory of Cromwell's goods, was conveyed to Hampton Court, and 
 taken in August, 1659. Gentleman's placed in the Great Gallery. 
 
1 84 History of Hampton Court Palace. [ 1 65 7 
 
 The identical organ is now in Tewkesbury Abbey, to which 
 it appears to have been presented by the authorities of Mag- 
 dalen College, after having been returned to them at the 
 Restoration. 1 
 
 Another glimpse that history gives us of Cromwell's life 
 at Hampton Court at this period, exhibits him to us with 
 his family seated in the Chapel — probably in the Royal 
 pew — attending the sombre Presbyterian service ; or listen- 
 ing to the sermons of the servile ministers, who, like the 
 court chaplains under the monarchy, framed their discourses, 
 when they had the privilege of preaching before his High- 
 ness, so as to flatter and please their chief auditor. There 
 is record, for instance, " of a sermon preached before the Lord 
 Protector at Hampton Court, by the minister of Hampton, 
 about the latter end of Aug., 1655 :" in which he drew " a 
 parallel between David cutting off the top of Saul's garment, 
 and the cutting off the late King's head ; and how David 
 was troubled for what he had done, though he was ordained 
 to succeed Saul" 2 — which was a delicate way of justifying 
 the King's murder, and Cromwell's usurpation, doubtless 
 very pleasing to his Highness. 
 
 But though Cromwell was so comfortably established at 
 Hampton Court, he was soon awakened again to the con- 
 stant danger threatening him from his secret foes, by the dis- 
 covery, at the beginning of the year 1657, of another con- 
 spiracy against his life, known to history as " Syndercomb's 
 plot." The assassins, who, on this occasion, received en- 
 couragement and assistance from Don Alonzo, a former 
 ambassador of Spain in England, again selected one of 
 Cromwell's journeys to Hampton Court as the best oppor- 
 tunity for effecting their devilish purpose. A spot at Ham- 
 mersmith was chosen, where they intended " planting an 
 
 1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles II., vol. xi., No. 57, Aug. 27th, 1660. 
 
 2 Ashmolean Museum, No. 826, 254a. 
 
1657] The Protector beset with Assassins. 185 
 
 engine which, being discharged, would have, upon occasion, 
 torn away coach and person in it, that should pass by." 1 
 This seems to be the first recorded instance of an attempt 
 to use an infernal machine ; and it is strange to find 
 the Duke of York, afterwards James II., and his brother, 
 Charles II., calmly discussing, like a couple of dynamiters, 
 such designs for " removing " the usurper — and the Duke, 
 in a letter to his brother, speaking of it with approval, as 
 " better laid and resolved on than any he had known of the 
 kind." 2 
 
 After the Restoration, also, we find a certain C ptain 
 Thomas Gardiner petitioning Charles II. for relief on the 
 ground of his faithful services in the Royal cause, mention- 
 ing among them that "in 1657, he intended an attempt on 
 Cromwell, but was taken in the Gallery at Hampton Court, 
 with two loaded pistols and a dagger, kept twelve months a 
 prisoner, and only failed to be sentenced to death by want 
 of evidence on the trial." 3 
 
 No wonder that the frequent discovery of conspiracies like 
 these, and the suspicion that he was perhaps encompassed in 
 his own palace by spies and traitors, should have begun to 
 shake even Cromwell's iron nerves, and that the heart, which 
 had never quailed in battle, should have been made to flinch 
 at last before the haunting terror of unknown and in- 
 visible foes. 
 
 We are assured by Heath 4 that, " He began to dread every 
 person or strange face he saw (which he would anxiously 
 and intently view) for an assassin, that book of ' Killing no 
 murder' perpetually running in his mind. It was his con- 
 stant Custom to shift and change his lodging, to which he 
 passed through twenty several locks, and out of which he had 
 
 1 Cromwelliana, p. 160. 3 State Papers ; Domestic, vol. lxvi., 
 
 2 Thurloe's State Papers, vol. ii., No. 118. 
 
 p. 666. 4 Heath's Flagellum, p. 193. 
 
1 86 History of Hampton Court Palace. [^57 
 
 four or five ways to avoid pursuit. When he went between 
 Whitehall and Hampton Court, he passed by private and 
 back ways, but never the same way backward and forward, he 
 was always in a hurry, his Guards behind and before riding at 
 full Gallop, and the Coach always filled, especially the Boot, 
 with armed persons, he himself being furnished with private 
 weapons ; and was now of more than difficult access to all 
 persons." 
 
 Nevertheless, he continued to receive his intimate friends 
 and supporters at Hampton Court, and among those who 
 associated on familiar terms with him and his family was 
 Thomas, Viscount Falconbridge, who, after a short courtship, 
 which Cromwell encouraged, became engaged to Mary Crom- 
 well, his third daughter. The marriage was publicly solemnized 
 in the chapel of the Palace on Thursday, November 17th, 
 1657, 1 by one of Oliver's chaplains, but the same day they 
 were also privately married, according to the form prescribed 
 by the Church of England, by Dr. Hewitt, with the privity of 
 the Protector, who pretended to yield to it " in compliance 
 with the importunity and folly of his daughter " — who was a 
 staunch member of the Church of England — though he was 
 doubtless also swayed not a little by the fear that, in the event 
 of a Restoration, the marriage might otherwise be afterwards 
 invalidated. 2 The language in which the wedding was an- 
 nounced in the gazette of the day, the" Mercurius Politicus," 
 shows how completely the political scribes of the time 
 adopted the language of courtiers in treating of the doings 
 of the Protector's family : — - 
 
 Tuesday, Nov. 17th. 
 
 Yesterday afternoon his highness went to Hampton Court, and 
 this day the most illustrious lady, the lady Mary Cromwell, third 
 daughter of his Highness the Lord Protector, was there married to 
 
 1 Noble's Memorials of the Cromwells, vol. i., p. 143. 
 
 2 Noble's Cromwell, vol. i., p. 144. 
 
1657] Marriage of Oliver s Daughter. 187 
 
 the most noble lord, the Lord Falconbridge, in the presence of 
 their highnesses, and many noble persons. 1 
 
 Cromwell's behaviour, however, at these festivities was 
 not always consonant with such magniloquent phrases ; for 
 at the marriage of his daughter Frances to Mr. Rich, a short 
 time before, he amused himself with such vulgar horse-play 
 as throwing about " the sack posset amongst all the ladies- 
 to spoil their clothes, which they took as a favour, and 
 daubed all the stools where they were to sit, with wet sweet- 
 meats." 1 
 
 1 Cromwelliana, p. 169. See also Noble's Cromwell. 
 
 2 Noble's Cromwell, vol. i., p. 155. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 DEATH OF MRS. CLAYPOLE CROMWELL'S LAST ILLNESS. 
 
 Cromwell gathers his Family about him — Estrangement of his old Friends — 
 He is solaced by his Children in his Troubles — Illness of Mrs. Claypole — She up- 
 braids her Father with his Crimes — She dies — Buried in Westminster Abbey — 
 Cromwell's Grief — His failing Health — He has the Bible read to him — Submis- 
 sion to the Will of God a hard Lesson — He gets better — Meets George Fox, the 
 Quaker, in the Park — "A Waft of Death" — Worse again — The Fever creeping 
 on — " I shall not die by this Illness" — " God has answered our Prayers" — The 
 Saints declare " He shall recover" — A Public Fast in the Palace — His Speedy 
 Recovery peremptorily demanded of the Deity — But Cromwell grows worse — 
 Removed to Whitehall — His Death. 
 
 HE day after Lord Falconbridges marriage to 
 Mary Cromwell, the newly married pair, accom- 
 panied by the Protector and his Court, removed 
 to London for a short time. But neither he 
 nor they were absent from Hampton Court long : 
 for Cromwell had become so attached to the Palace, and 
 had taken so great a dislike to the surroundings and 
 associations of London, that he always seized the earliest 
 opportunity of getting back here, and equally made a point 
 of bringing with him his children and their families, to all 
 
1658] CromtvelV s Domestic Troubles. 189 
 
 of whom regular apartments in the Palace were assigned,, 
 and always kept ready. 1 
 
 In the following summer we again find him residing here ; 
 when, on July the 17th, 1658, there arrived his son, or as the 
 " Mercurius Politicus " puts it, "the most illustrious Lord, the 
 Lord Richard, who being returned from the western parts, 
 was received by their Highnesses with the usual demonstra- 
 tions of their high affection towards his Lordship." 2 And 
 on the 30th of the same month arrived " the most noble 
 Lord Falconbridge, with his most illustrious lady the Lady 
 Mary, being safe returned out of the North." 3 
 
 It was, in truth, in his domestic life, and in the society of 
 his children and grandchildren, that Cromwell now found 
 his only solace, amid the besetting cares that darkened the 
 last years of his life — the disaffection among the people, the 
 clamour in the army on account of the arrears of pay, the 
 constant plots against his life, and the falling away of so 
 many of his old friends, who viewed with a very deep and 
 natural disgust his abandonment of all his former principles, 
 and his turning his back on the professions of his whole 
 lifetime. 
 
 By gathering his family about him, and cherishing their 
 love, he sought to mitigate, in some degree, the feeling of 
 desertion and isolation that all these troubles caused him. 
 But even in his domestic relations he was now to meet with 
 disappointments, still more painful . One of these was the defec- 
 tion of his son-in-law Fleetwood, to whom he had been espe- 
 cially kind and indulgent, but who now began ostentatiously 
 to court the Republican party, and to set his wife against 
 her father; and though he was living close to Hampton 
 Court, refrained from visiting Cromwell. 4 But the bitterest trial 
 to him of all was the serious illness of his favourite daughter, 
 
 1 Noble's Cromwell, vol. ii., p. 155. 3 Cromwelliana, p. 174. 
 
 2 Cromwelliana, p. 174. 4 Bates' Elenc/ius, p. 327, ed. 1676. 
 
190 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1658 
 
 Elizabeth Claypole, the news of which was suddenly brought 
 to him at the end of July in London, where he had gone 
 for a few days on important business. He at once hastened 
 back to Hampton Court, and put aside all state affairs to 
 watch unremittingly by her bed-side. The exact nature of 
 her disease is not known to history, nor does it appear to 
 have been understood by her physicians, who, if we are to 
 believe almost all the authorities, most lamentably mis- 
 managed her case. Dr. Bates, one of those who attended 
 her, speaks of it as " an inward impostume in her loins," 
 and it is certain that she underwent most acute sufferings, 
 which her father witnessed with most poignant distress. 
 To heighten the tragedy of the scene, the Royalist pam- 
 phleteers drew harrowing accounts of how, in the agony of 
 her fever and pain, she wildly reproached her father with his 
 crimes and cruelties, adjuring him most solemnly, with her 
 dying voice, to make atonement, ere it was too late, by 
 restoring the rightful sovereign to his ancestral throne. 
 Though discredit has been thrown on the probability of this 
 story, it is strongly corroborated by the testimony of Dr. 
 Bates, 1 Cromwell's physician, then resident in the Palace, 
 who may, not improbably, have witnessed what he relates, 
 and who, in any case, would scarcely have given currency 
 to an anecdote so startling, unless he believed it had a good 
 foundation in fact. 
 
 However this may be, Mrs. Claypole's illness did not 
 last long ; for she died about a week after she was first 
 taken ill, at three o'clock in the morning of August the 6th, 
 1658, to the great sorrow of all the Court, and the inex- 
 pressible grief of her father. 2 The funeral, which was 
 carried out on the most sumptuous scale, took place a few 
 
 1 Bates' Elenchus Motuum Nupero- 2 Thurloe's State Papers. Mercu- 
 rum, in Anglia, Pars Secunda, p. 327, rius Politicus, Whitelock, p. 674. 
 ed. 1676. 
 
Doorway in Tennis Court Lane. 
 
192 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1658 
 
 days afterwards, the body being taken by water to West- 
 minster, where it lay in state in the Painted Chamber, 
 whence it was carried into the Abbey to be buried among 
 the tombs of the Kings and Queens of England. 
 
 This cruel blow, combined with the feeble state of his 
 health, already shattered by sleepless nights and the haunting 
 terrors of assassination, produced an immediate and most 
 disastrous effect on the wretched Protector. Within a 
 week of her death, he was seized with a bad attack of gout 
 and other disorders ; and for four or five days lay in a very 
 dangerous state. 1 One day, while laid up in his bed-chamber, 
 "he called for his Bible, and desired a person honourable 
 and godly then (with others) present, to read unto him 
 Phil. 4, 1 1, 12, 13 : 1 Not that I speak under peril of want, 
 for I have learnt in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be 
 content. I know both how to be abased, and how to 
 abound : everywhere and in all things I am instructed, both 
 to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer 
 need.' v. 1 3, ' I can do all things through Christ that 
 strengtheneth me.' Which read, said he (to use his own 
 words as near as I can remember them) : 4 This Scripture 
 did once save my life, when my eldest son died, which went 
 as a dagger to my heart, indeed it did.' " 2 
 
 " And then repeating the words of the text himself, declared 
 his then thoughts to this purpose, reading the 10th and 
 1 ith verses of Paul's contentation and submission to the will 
 of God in all conditions, said he ; 1 'tis true, Paul, you 
 have learnt this, and attained to this measure of grace, but 
 what shall I do ? Ah, poor creature, it is a hard lesson for 
 me to take out. I find it so/ But reading on to the 13th 
 
 1 Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii., p. 10, written by one that was the 
 
 pp. 320, 340, Letter of Aug. 17th. Groom of his Bed-chamber. (Under- 
 
 3 A Collection of several passages wood, according to the British Museum 
 
 concerning his late Highness Oliver Catalogue, Major Butler according to 
 
 Cromwell in the time of his Sickness, Cromwelliana.) 
 
Cromwell's last Illness. 
 
 193 
 
 verse, where Paul saith, ' I can do all things through Christ 
 that strengtheneth me,' then faith began to work, and his 
 heart to find support and comfort, saying thus to himself : 
 ' He that was Paul's Christ, is my Christ too ; and so drew 
 waters out of the well of salvation, Christ in the covenant of 
 grace. 
 
 Soon after this he grew better for awhile, an improvement 
 which he, doubtless, set down to a direct Divine interposi- 
 tion, and on the 1 7th of August he was well enough to go 
 out for an hour. 
 
 It was most likely on this occasion that he was met, as 
 he was riding in Hampton Court Park, by the Quaker, 
 George Fox, with whom he had already had one or two inter- 
 views, and who now came to present a petition in favour of 
 his co-religionists, the victims just then of much persecution 
 in various parts of the country, though Cromwell himself 
 was not unwilling that they should receive every reasonable 
 toleration, and had been, in consequence, bitterly reproached 
 by religious people of rival sects. " Before I came to him," 
 says he, " as he rode at the head of his Life-Guards, I saw 
 and felt a waft of death go forth against him, and when I 
 came to him he looked like a dead man." 1 After Fox had 
 laid the sufferings of the Friends before him, and had 
 warned him, Cromwell told him to come and visit him at 
 the Palace. Fox, accordingly, went to stay the night at 
 Kingston, and came over to Hampton Court on the 
 following day ; but on requesting to see the Protector, he 
 learnt that he was ill and that the Doctors would not 
 allow him to see anyone. 2 The fever was, in fact, in- 
 sidiously creeping on ; and though he was afterwards 
 able to walk once or twice in the Palace gardens, on 
 the 24th August he was again confined to his room. The 
 
 1 G. Fox's Journal, 3rd ed. 1765, p. 127. 
 
 2 Sewel's History of the Quakers, vol. i., p. 242. 
 * O 
 
194 History of Hampton Court Palace, [1658 
 
 five physicians who were attending him pronounced that 
 he was suffering from an ague, called a " bastard tertian ; " 
 one of them, as he felt his pulse, observing that it inter- 
 mitted. 1 The words caught the ear of the sick man, and 
 he at once turned deadly pale, a cold perspiration covered 
 his face, and staggering, he begged to be taken to his bed ; 
 where, when he had been revived by cordials, he made his 
 private will. 
 
 Next morning, when one of the doctors came to see 
 him, he asked " why he looked so sad ? " to which the doctor 
 answering that " he was naturally anxious with the responsi- 
 bility of such a life as his resting on him," Cromwell replied : 
 " You doctors think I am going to die." Then ordering the 
 rest out of the room, and taking his wife caressingly by the 
 hand, he said : " I declare to you that I shall not die by 
 this illness ; of this I am certain." Observing the surprise 
 these words caused, he added, " Don't think me crazed. 
 I am telling you what is true ; and I have a better authority 
 than your Galen or Hippocrates. God Himself has vouch- 
 safed this answer to our prayers — not to mine alone, but 
 those of others who have a closer intercourse and greater 
 familiarity with him than I have. Be cheerful; banish 
 all grief from your faces ; and act towards me as though 
 I was a mere servant. You are able to do much by your 
 scientific knowledge, but nature is more potent than all the 
 physicians in the world ; and God surpasses nature in a still 
 greater degree." 2 
 
 The same communication was made to Thurloe and 
 the different members of the Protector s family ; 3 nor did it 
 fail to obtain credence among men who believed that " in 
 other instances he had been favoured with similar assurances, 
 and that they had never deceived him." Even the doctors 
 
 1 Bates' Elenchus (pars secunda), p. 2 Bates, ubi supra. 
 275. 3 Thurloe, viL, 367, 376. 
 
i6 5 8] 
 
 The Dying Protector. 
 
 195 
 
 were impressed, or affected to be, by his apparent con- 
 fidence : and one of them accidentally meeting another of his 
 particular acquaintance coming out of the sick room, who 
 happened to remark that " he was afraid their patient was 
 going to be light-headed/' replied, " You are certainly a 
 stranger in this house ! Don't you know what was done 
 last night ? The chaplain, and all who are dear to God, 
 dispersed in several parts of the Palace, have prayed to 
 God for his health, and all brought this answer : "He 
 shall recover ! " 
 
 Indeed so certain were the Saints that all was now 
 settled as they wished that " a public fast being ordered for 
 his sake, and kept at Hampton Court, they did not so much 
 pray to God for his health, as they thanked him for the 
 undoubted pledges of his recovery." 1 
 
 Dr. Goodwin, " his creature, and trencher-chaplain," as 
 Ludlow disdainfully calls him, 2 especially distinguished 
 himself in this way, giving out the form of prayer : " Lord, 
 we beg not for his recovery, for that thou hast already 
 granted and assured us of; but for his speedy recovery." 
 And for a day or two it seemed as though their " saucy ex- 
 postulation with God," to use a quaint expression of War- 
 wick's, was likely to succeed in extorting a fulfilment of the 
 promise, which it was sought to put on the Deity ; for 
 Cromwell was well enough, on August 26th, to receive a 
 visit from Whitelock, whom he kindly entertained at dinner. 3 
 
 But the improvement was shortlived. Instead of getting 
 better Cromwell again grew worse, and the fever increas- 
 ing, his mind was frequently affected with delirium. It was 
 at length decided to try the effect of change of air ; and the 
 dying Protector was removed to Whitehall. 4 Here he lin- 
 gered but a few days ; and on the night of the 2nd of 
 
 1 Echard's History, p. 824. 
 * Ludlow, p. 257. 
 
 3 Whitelock, p. 674. 
 
 1 Thurloe, vol. vii., p. 355. 
 
ig6 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1658 
 
 September, the eve of his " fortunate day," the anniversary 
 of the battles of Worcester and Dunbar, and in the midst 
 of a terrific storm, the once mighty Oliver breathed his last, 
 " embalmed with the tears of his people, and upon the 
 wings of the prayers of the saints." 1 
 
 1 Thurloe's State Papers, vol. vii., p. 373, and Peck's Cromwell, p. 39, 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE RESTORATION. 
 
 Richard Cromwell proclaimed Protector — Submits to the Long Parliament — 
 Money to be raised by the sale of Goods at Hampton Court — Curious Inventory 
 of the Furniture in the Palace — Hampton Court again to be sold — The Sale pre- 
 vented by Ludlow — The Palace and Parks to be offered to General Monk — 
 Twenty Thousand Pounds given to him instead — Restoration of Charles II. — "The 
 Royal Oak" — Refurnishing of Hampton Court Palace — Works and Repairs — 
 The Tennis Court improved — Charles II. plays Tennis — "Beastly Flattery" — 
 The Gardens — Planting of the Avenues and Digging of the Canal in the Home 
 Park — The Parks re- stocked with Game — The King entertained at the Upper 
 Lodge in Bushey Park — Account of Edward Progers the Confidant of Charles's 
 Intrigues — Numerous Applicants for Offices and Posts. 
 
 S soon as Cromwell had breathed his last, the 
 Council assembled to deliberate, and after a short 
 consultation proclaimed his eldest son his suc- 
 cessor in the Protectorate. But the burden under 
 which even the great Oliver had staggered, soon 
 proved too heavy for the feeble Richard, and before many 
 months had elapsed, he had practically surrendered the govern- 
 ment into the hands of the Long Parliament, the remnant of 
 which now met and reasserted their claim to be the supreme 
 constitutional authority in the country. 
 
198 History of Hampton Court Palace. [^59 
 
 The restored members had not been long in session 
 when their attention was imperatively called to the im- 
 poverished state of the national exchequer, and especially to 
 the difficulty of meeting the great and dangerously increas- 
 ing arrears in the pay of the army. They likewise had to 
 take over and provide for the payment of the late Protectors 
 debts, of which Richard Cromwell handed in a schedule 
 amounting to ,£29,000. To have had recourse to taxation 
 would have been certainly inexpedient, if not impossible : 
 the only thing to do, therefore, was to find out what property, 
 belonging to the Commonwealth, might most conveniently 
 be turned into money, to meet these pressing needs. A 
 committee was accordingly appointed " to examine what 
 furniture, hangings, and other goods, in Whitehall, Hampton 
 Court, Somerset House, and St. James's do, or ought of 
 right to belong to the Commonwealth," 1 and it was ordered 
 u that it be referred to the said committee to take special care 
 that the Goods and Household stuff at Hampton Court be 
 kept from Embezzlement and spoil, and to bring in an act 
 for their sale." 
 
 The inventory compiled by the Commissioners is, as 
 we have before said, still preserved in the Record Office, 
 and it contains much of curiosity relating to the furniture of 
 the Palace, and incidentally throws a good deal of light on 
 the domestic life of the Protectorial family. 2 
 
 As to how he became possessed of them, we have already 
 stated our inability to explain. We know, however, that the 
 bulk of the contents of the Palace was declared by Mrs. 
 Cromwell to belong to her late husbands estate, though 
 after the Restoration she was found to have collected a lot 
 of things at a fruiterer's warehouse, which unquestionably 
 
 1 Commons Journals, May 23rd, 2 See ante, p. 180, and Appendix C. ; 
 1659, and June 3rd ; Noble's Cromwell, and State Papers, Domestic Common- 
 vol. i., p. 333. wealth, vol. cciii., No. 41. 
 
l6 59] Cromwell 's Goods at the Palace. 199 
 
 had belonged to the Crown, and which she consequently 
 was compelled to disgorge. 1 
 
 Though the necessity of providing money for the public 
 service was the ostensible reason for the resolution to sell 
 the contents of Hampton Court, and so to leave it destitute 
 of furniture, the Parliament was probably quite as much 
 influenced by the intention of rendering it so comfortless 
 as to discourage any desire Richard Cromwell might enter- 
 tain of occupying it. Indeed, when he showed a reluctance 
 to leave the State apartments at Whitehall, the Parliament 
 sent him repeated messages to vacate them, until he thought 
 it best to obey their injunctions and go. One day, also, 
 when he had come down to Hampton Court to shoot deer 
 in the Park, and had just shot one, a messenger arrived from 
 the Commons, ordering that u none were to be killed," and 
 he had to desist from his sport, not daring to shoot any 
 more. 2 
 
 With the same purpose in view, and likewise to prevent 
 the royal palaces " from becoming objects of desire by 
 ambitious men " in the future, a strong party in the House of 
 Commons wanted to revive the long dormant order for the 
 sale of Hampton Court and other Royal manors and parks; 
 and a resolution had actually been passed to that effect 3 
 when Ludlow fortunately interposed to save the Palace. 
 " For the house of Hampton Court, having been ordered 
 to be sold that day," writes he in his " Memoirs," 4 " which 
 place I thought very convenient for the retirement of those 
 that were employed in public affairs, when they should be 
 indisposed in the summer season, I resolved to endeavour 
 
 1 Parliamentary Intelligencer, May 
 7-14, 1663 ; and Mercurius Politicus, 
 May 10-17, 1660. 
 
 2 State Papers, vol. cciii. No. 34, 
 June 6th, 1659. 
 
 3 Commons Journals, Oct. 4th, 1659. 
 There is no record in the Journal of 
 this order being rescinded. 
 
 4 Ludlow's Memoirs, ed. 1 77 1, p. 
 286. 
 
200 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1660 
 
 to prevent the sale of it, and accordingly procured a motion 
 to be made at the sitting down of the House to that end, 
 which took effect as I desired. For this I was very much 
 blamed by my good friend, Sir Henry Vane, as a thing 
 which was contrary to the interests of a commonwealth. 
 He said that such places might justly be accounted amongst 
 those things that prove Temptations to Ambitious Men, 
 and exceedingly tend to sharpen their appetite to ascend 
 the Throne. But for my own part, as I was free from 
 any sinister design in this action, so I was of opinion that 
 the temptation of sovereign power would prove a far 
 stronger motive to aspire by the sword to gain the sceptre, 
 which, when once attained, would soon be made use of 
 to force the people to supply the want of such accom- 
 modation." 
 
 The Palace, accordingly, was not sold, neither was the 
 intention of disposing of its furniture persevered in ; and for 
 the next six months or so, the question as to what use it 
 should be put to, was left undetermined. But when Monk, in 
 the month of February following, soon after his arrival in 
 London, declared for a free parliament, and brought back 
 the secluded members to the Long Parliament, a proposal 
 was brought forward in the House for settling the Honour 
 and manor of Hampton Court, with its parks and other 
 appurtenances upon him and his heirs ; and the bill for it 
 was read a first time 1 on the 25th of February, and a second 
 time two days after. But this proposal Monk thought a 
 snare of his opponents to bind him against the King ; and 
 he used all his influence with those members who were 
 friendly to him to have the bill rejected. 
 
 This was accordingly done, but, by way of compensation, 
 a sum of ,£20,000 was voted to him on March 15th, 1660, 
 
 1 White Kennett's History, p. 67, No. 6. Dr. Price's Hist of the Kings 
 Sat. Feb. 25th, 1660. Publ. Intell., Restoration. Philips' Charles //., p. 7 14. 
 
i66o] 
 
 Restoration of Charles II 
 
 201 
 
 together with the custody and stewardship of Hampton 
 Court Manor and Park for life. 1 
 
 The Restoration, which Monk was so instrumental in 
 bringing about, took place, it will be remembered, just two 
 months and a half after this, and one of the first acts of the 
 restored monarch was to confirm Monk in the offices of 
 lieutenant, keeper, ranger and steward of Hampton Court, 
 with the parks and warrens, which he accordingly retained 
 until his death. 2 
 
 The day on which King Charles II. made his triumphal 
 entry into London, amid the wild enthusiasm of the people, 
 was the 29th of May ; and in commemoration of that event, 
 and of his romantic preservation in the oak tree at Boscabel, 
 after the Battle of Worcester, he had at one time the intention 
 of founding an order of the " Royal Oak." The plan, how- 
 ever, was not persevered in ; but we have at Hampton 
 Court a rather curious instance of the sentimental interest 
 which attached to the oak tree at this period, in two old fire- 
 backs of cast-iron, each having a representation of an oak tree 
 with three branches bearing three crowns, while below is 
 the legend " The Royal Oak," with the King's initials, 
 C. R. These fire-backs were doubtless made in order to 
 be used in some of the fire-grates at Hampton Court in the 
 first year of Charles's reign, at which time also many of the 
 rooms in the Palace were refurnished and made ready for 
 the reception of his Majesty — many of the pictures, tapes- 
 tries, and other articles, which had been sold in the time of 
 the Commonwealth, being recovered and sent down from 
 London. 3 
 
 But the works at Hampton Court at the beginning of 
 
 1 Sir Hy. Verney's Papers. Seventh 2 State Papers, Domestic, Charles 
 
 Report of the Historical Commission, II. vol. x., No. 2, Aug 1st, 1660. 
 p. 463; also Commons Journals, March 3 House of Lords Papers ; Seventh 
 
 1 5th and 1 6th. , Report of the Historical Commission. 
 
202 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1660 
 
 Charles II.'s reign were not confined to re-furnishing and 
 re-decorating the interior of the rooms. On the contrary, 
 here and there in the building, considerable structural 
 repairs and alterations were made, of which there is full 
 record in the old accounts, 1 and of which traces are recog- 
 nisable in various parts of the Palace. One of these is an 
 old doorway which may be found in the north range of the 
 
 One of Charles II.'s Cast Iron Fire-Backs. 
 
 Preserved at Hampton Court. 
 
 old Gothic palace, at the further end of the Tennis Court 
 Lane. 
 
 But it was in the Tennis Court itself that the works at 
 this period were most considerable. Charles had been 
 always fond of tennis, and with his Restoration the game, 
 which had, of course, been condemned by the Puritans as 
 ungodly and sinful, revived a great deal and came much 
 into fashionable vogue. But in his visits to the Tennis 
 
 1 See Harl. MSS., Nos. 1618, 1656, 1657, and 1658. 
 
1660] The Tennis Court renovated, 203 
 
 Court here he could not but observe that, though it was the 
 best court in England as regards size and proportion, it was 
 not quite abreast of all the recent improvements, that had 
 been lately introduced in Paris and other continental cities, 
 where he had himself played the game. He accordingly 
 gave directions for the laying out of a considerable sum of 
 money on various alterations. The " tambour," for instance, 
 was mended, a new floor laid down, lines of black marble 
 inserted to mark the chaces, the galleries improved, and the 
 roof rebuilt. From the old accounts of the Board of Works 
 are to be derived many particulars for these works, which, 
 on account of their interest for lovers of this noble game, 
 are collected in an appendix to this volume. 1 From other 
 sources we find records of charges " for netts, curtains, and 
 lynes, for the covering of seats with velvet cushions and 
 other necessaries," and for the expenses of Long, the 
 marker, taking the dimensions of this court, on which were 
 modelled the King's new tennis courts at Whitehall and 
 St. James's. 2 
 
 Pending the completion of his new courts in London, 
 Charles frequently played in this one, not only, it would 
 seem, when in residence in this Palace, but also when stay- 
 ing in London, whence he would come down to have a 
 game of tennis by preference here, like many players of the 
 present day. 
 
 A letter of one Stephen Charlton, written to Sir R. 
 Leveson about six months after his accession to the throne, 
 and now preserved among the Duke of Sutherland's papers, 
 gives us a glimpse of his habits in this respect : 3 — " London, 
 21 st Jan. 1 660- 1. The King is in very good health and 
 goes to Hampton Court often, and back again the same 
 
 1 Harl. MSS., No. 1618, Dec, 1663. 3 Trentham Hall MSS.; Fifth Re- 
 See Appendix D. port on Hist. MSS. 
 
 2 Marshall's Annals of Tennis, p. 89. 
 
204 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1661 
 
 day, but very private. Most of his exercise is in the 
 Tennis Court in the morning, when he doth not ride 
 abroad ; and when he doth ride abroad, he is on horseback 
 by break of day, and most commonly back before noon." 
 He appears to have been a fair player ; but the way in 
 which his servile courtiers flattered him in this as in other 
 things, utterly disgusted honest Pepys, who writes 1 : — " To 
 the Tennis Court, and there saw the King play at tennis, 
 and others ; but to see how the King's play was extolled 
 without any cause at all was a loathsome sight, though 
 sometimes, indeed, he did play very well and deserved to be 
 commended ; but such open flattery is beastly." 
 
 The other works about the Palace, undertaken at this 
 time, we need not particularize. Their cost amounted in 
 one year to about ,£7,000 — an order " To pay Hugh 
 May, paymaster of the works, ,£3,225 for charges in the 
 buildings of Hampton Court," being issued on May 19th, 
 1662, and in the following October, £"4,743 for repairs 
 there u during the past six months." 2 These expenses were 
 chiefly in consequence of Charles spending his honeymoon 
 with Catherine of Braganza in this palace, as we shall see 
 in our next chapter. 
 
 At the same time a guard-house for the foot-soldiers in 
 the Kings service was built in the Tilt Yard, which ap- 
 pears to be the origin of the present barracks, and which 
 was subsequently enlarged. The stables on the green, also, 
 were repaired at the cost of £"62 8. 3 
 
 Charles II. was rather fond of gardening, and one of his 
 first cares after his accession was the putting the gardens 
 here in order, French gardeners being sent for to improve 
 them, and a Mr. May being appointed supervisor of 
 
 1 Diary, Jan. 4th, 1664. 3 State Papers, Domestic, Charles 
 
 2 State Papers, Domestic, Charles II., II., vol. xxxvii, No. 47, June, 1661. 
 vol. lxi, No. 41, Oct. 13th, 1662. 
 
1661] Charles I Us Improvements at Hampton Court. 205 
 
 them. 1 Later on in his reign, Rose, the royal head-gardener, 
 planted some very famous dwarf yew-trees here, which 
 were long celebrated as being the finest in England. 2 
 
 To Charles II. also we owe the first laying out of the 
 Home Park in its present form — the planting of the great 
 avenues of lime trees, radiating from the centre of the east 
 front of the Palace, and the digging of the great canal, 
 extending from the same front towards the river to a 
 distance of three-quarters of a mile. This fact is worthy of 
 note, as hitherto it has been erroneously stated that it was 
 William III., who carried out these works. The avenues 
 are symptoms of the influence of that French taste, which 
 Charles imbibed only too strongly in many directions, during 
 his sojourn abroad; while the canal, fringed with rows of 
 lime-trees, is clearly a reminiscence of the Dutch scenery, 
 with which he became familiar during his residence in 
 Holland. 
 
 The preservation of the game in the Parks and about 
 the manor of Hampton Court, was also a subject of concern 
 to King Charles, who had the covers restocked, and who 
 gave injunctions that all dogs, guns, nets, etc., used for its 
 destruction should be destroyed." 3 
 
 He likewise rebuilt the Upper Lodge in Bushey Park, 
 and gave it as a residence to Mr. Edward Progers, by 
 whom he was occasionally entertained at dinner there, when 
 lie came down to Hampton Court for a day's sport. 
 Progers was a groom of the bed-chamber to the King, and a 
 man of notoriety, at any rate, if not of note, in his time, 
 having been a faithful servant to Charles II. during his 
 troubles, and having been banished the King's presence in 
 
 1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles 
 II, vol. xxxvii, No. 47, Dec. 18th, 
 1661. 
 
 2 "Walpole's Observations on Modem 
 
 Gardening in England. 
 
 3 State Papers, Domestic, Charles 
 II, vol. xliv., No. 98, Nov. 25th, 1661, 
 and Aug. 27th, 1662. 
 
206 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 1650, by an Act of the States of Scotland, " as an evil 
 instrument and bad counsellor of the King's." 
 
 De Grammont, to be more specific, declares that he was 
 the confidant and instrument of the King's intrigues, and 
 among the many scandalous stories of that scandalous time, 
 there are several that lend colour to the accusation. 1 At 
 any rate, he frequently acted as a secret agent for the Merry 
 
 The Upper Lodge in Bushey Park in the Reign of Charles II. 
 
 Monarch, whose commissions must have been of a very 
 equivocal nature, and in reward for his services, if not as 
 the price of the complacency of his own wife, he was the 
 recipient of numerous appointments and favours from the 
 King, chiefly of offices and privileges in and about Hamp- 
 ton Court, 2 among which was that of keeper of the Middle 
 
 1 De Grammont's Memoirs, ed. i S59, II, vol. lxxxvi, No. 78, Dec. 30th, 1663, 
 p. 217, and note p. 381. and vol. cii, No. 27, Sept. 7th, 1664 ; 
 
 2 State Papers, Domestic, Charles vol. cv, No. 125, Nov. 30th, 1664. 
 
1662] Distribution of Appointments and Offices. 207 
 
 or North Park, in reversion after the Duke of Albemarle, 
 who nominated him his deputy during his life. 1 
 
 Progers, however, was not the only faithful adherent of 
 the restored monarch, who claimed his gratitude in the 
 shape of appointments and emoluments in connection with 
 Hampton Court. For the first few years after his restora- 
 tion, Charles was literally overwhelmed with applications 
 from all sorts of persons, each extolling his own services in 
 the good old cause, and requesting some substantial 
 recognition from his grateful sovereign. The State 
 Papers of the years 1662 to 1667 abound with petitions 
 for such offices as " Housekeeper of Hampton Court," 
 " Keeper of the Standing Wardrobe " there, " Keeper of 
 the Still House," " Keeper of the Game about Hampton 
 Court," and many similar posts, together with the warrants 
 and grants, which were the answers to such applications. 
 One startling claim was that of one Clement Kynnersley, 
 yeoman of the Wardrobe of Beds, who stated that £j,ooo 
 arrears of salary were due to him ; and who further requested 
 compensation for that " he had, by his exertions, preserved 
 ,£500,000 worth of His Majesty's goods together at 
 Hampton Court from sale and embezzlement." 2 
 
 1 State Papers, Domestic, Charles II., 2 State Papers, Domestic, Charles 
 vol. cxxxvii, No. 145, Nov., 1665 ; vol. //., vol. xxii, No. 171, Nov. 1660. 
 clxxxviii, No. 69, June nth, 1667, etc. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HONEYMOON OF CHARLES II. AND CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA. 
 
 Marriage of Charles II. to Catherine of Braganza — Their Arrival in great 
 State at Hampton Court — Etching by Dirk Stoop — Reception of their 
 Majesties in the Palace — The Duchess of York comes to pay her Respects — 
 Presentations to the Queen — The Judges — The Lord Mayor and Aldermen — 
 The Nobility — John Evelyn's Impression of the new Queen — Her Ladies — 
 Hideous and Disagreeable old Frumps — De Grammont's Opinion — " Six Frights 
 who call themselves Maids of Honour" — "Peter of the Wood"— The Old 
 Knight — A Fantastic and Comical Crew — Their ludicrous Dress — Their Mon- 
 strous Fardingales — The Queen's Obstinacy in Retaining her Native Dress — 
 Submits and adopts the English Fashion — A Joyous Time at Hampton Court — 
 The Queen's Portuguese Band — Evelyn's Description of the Palace — Pepys' 
 Visit — The Parks and Gardens — A Portuguese Young Lady's Baby. 
 
 ING CHARLES 1 1. 's restoration to the throne 
 of his ancestors in May, 1660, was followed, 
 exactly two years after, by his marriage to 
 Catherine of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal, who, 
 having sailed from Lisbon on the 23rd of April, 
 St. George's Day, arrived off Portsmouth on the 14th of 
 May, and came ashore when she had recovered from the 
 effects of the journey, about a week after. On the day of 
 her landing she received her first visit from Charles, and the 
 
iswfe del dicv ^jranjlffiizaii Girolo \ c c 
 
 £7%e< jtfrritfa/ of Charles A and Cathe 
 
 rom a cvntemh 
 
1662] 
 
 Charles II.'s Marriage. 
 
 209 
 
 very next day, the 21st, these two very new acquaintances 
 were married. 
 
 After staying two or three days at Portsmouth, the 
 "happy pair" set out for Hampton Court — where it had 
 been arranged that they should spend their honeymoon— 
 "as well," 1 says the chronicler, "for the salubrity as majesty 
 of it, being one of the most magnificent structures of all the 
 royal palaces ; " and here, after stopping a night at Windsor 
 Castle, they arrived on the 29th of May, Charles's birth- 
 day, and the anniversary of his entry into London after the 
 Restoration. 2 
 
 Their progress hither took place in great state, as the 
 accompanying facsimile of a contemporary etching drawn on 
 the spot by Dirk Stoop shows, 3 in a chariot drawn by six 
 horses, and accompanied by footmen, runners, men-at-arms, 
 and a stream of carriages, in which were the ladies and 
 gentlemen of the court, and of waggons and carts, which 
 carried the guar da-infantas — that is, the fardingales of the 
 Queen and her ladies, " without which," as Charles some- 
 what complainingly remarked, " there is no stirring." The 
 royal coach must have driven across the bridge over the 
 moat in front of the Great Gateway, through the First Court, 
 to the foot of the Great Hall stairs under Anne Boleyn's 
 archway, where they alighted, and passed up the stairs 
 through two lines of guards, followed by the Comtesses of 
 Pontevel and Penalva, the Countess of Suffolk, and other 
 ladies and officers of the household. Under the screens 
 of the Great Hall were assembled the Lord Chancellor 
 
 1 Heath's Chronicle, p. 509. in the Sheepshanks' Collection. Stoop 
 
 2 Echard's History of England, was a Dutch engraver who went to 
 vol. iii., p. 8. Lisbon with the vessel that brought the 
 
 3 From a set of seven plates illustra- Infanta to England, and accompanied 
 ting Catherine of Braganza's progress her home, for the express purpose of 
 from Lisbon to Hampton Court and executing these etchings. 
 
 London. A set is in the British Museum 
 * P 
 
2io History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 Clarendon, 1 the Lord Treasurer, and the Counsellors of 
 State, who received the royal pair, and went before them up 
 through the Hall and the Great Watching Chamber, to the 
 Presence Chamber. Here they were greeted by the foreign 
 ministers, who were present to offer the gratulations of their 
 respective sovereigns on the marriage. 
 
 The new Queen then proceeded through a suite of several 
 state rooms, in which were gathered, according to their de- 
 grees and several qualifications, the nobility, the lords and 
 ladies of the Court, and others. After receiving their homage, 
 the Queen retired to her own room. 2 
 
 The same night the Duchess of York came from London 
 in her barge to pay her respects to her Majesty, and was 
 received at the Privy Garden Gate by the waterside by 
 King Charles himself, who, taking her by the hand, led her 
 to the Queen, who received her in her bed-chamber. The 
 Duchess offered to kiss her hand, but the Queen prevented 
 her by raising her up and kissing her. The royal family 
 then seated themselves near the Queen's bed, and con- 
 versed with her. 3 
 
 Next morning the Queen was dressed by eleven o'clock, 
 and received several ladies, among them the wife of Sir 
 Richard Fanshawe, whom the reader will remember as 
 being with Charles I. at Hampton Court just before his 
 escape, and who had performed the office of groomsman to 
 Charles II. at his marriage at Portsmouth. Lady Fanshawe 
 tells us that she " had the honour from the King, who was 
 then present, to tell the Queen who I was, saying many 
 kind things to ingratiate me with her Majesty, whereupon 
 
 1 So says White Kennett, but Lord 2 Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe, p. 
 
 Sandwich, in a letter to Lord Claren- 144. 
 
 don, speaks of making "your excuse 3 Life of Catherine of Braganza, by 
 
 that your Lordship did not attend her Miss Strickland, who had access to 
 
 Majesty's arrival at Hampton Court." some unpublished Portuguese authori- 
 
 See Journal of Lord Sandwich. ties. 
 
1662] 
 
 Queen Cathei'ine of Braganza. 
 
 211 
 
 her Majesty gave her hand to me to kiss, with promises of 
 her future favour." 1 
 
 The rest of that day was probably spent in making the 
 acquaintance of the various courtiers ; and on the next, the 
 31st, the judges came to compliment her on her arrival. 
 On June 2nd her Majesty received in state the Lord Mayor 
 and aldermen of the city of London, who, by Sir William 
 Wylde, their recorder (who pronounced a Spanish oration), 
 presented her with a gold cup and ^1,000 in it. 2 On this 
 and other days she also received addresses from the nobility, 
 and the submissions of several deputies for the cities and 
 towns of England. Among them, we may be sure that the 
 neighbouring town of Kingston-on-Thames was duly repre- 
 sented, especially as it had, about a fortnight before, been 
 granted by the King the right of holding a weekly market, 
 " on account of the convenience of thus supplying the house- 
 hold at Hampton Court," and had also received the privi- 
 lege of " a fat buck to be sent every year out of Hampton 
 Court Park, in consideration of a piece of land formerly 
 parted with to the Crown." 3 
 
 John Evelyn, the diarist, also came down from London to 
 Hampton Court, and saw the Queen dining in public ; and 
 was afterwards taken by the Duke of Ormonde to be 
 presented to her, and kiss her hand. 4 His impression of 
 her was tolerably favourable, for he states that " She was 
 yet of the handsomest countenance of all the rest, and 
 though low of stature, prettily shaped, languishing and 
 excellent eyes, her teeth wronging her mouth by sticking a 
 little too far out : for the rest lovely enough." 
 
 But to say that she was " of the handsomest countenance " 
 
 1 Memoirs,^. 145. 3 State Papers, Domestic, Charles II, 
 
 2 Heath's Chronicle, p. 509 ; Pepys' vol. liv., No. 68, May 19th, 1662. 
 Diary; Echard's History, p. 801; * Diary, May 31st. 
 
 Echard iii. p. 84. 
 
212 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 of any of the Portuguese ladies who followed in her train, 
 was not a very high commendation ; for never, according to 
 the universal opinion, both at Court and among the public, 
 had a pack of such hideous, odious, disagreeable women 
 been gathered together to attend a Queen. Lord Clarendon, 
 who was not disposed to be censorious in this regard, stig- 
 matized them as " old, ugly and proud, and incapable of any 
 conversation with persons of quality and a liberal educa- 
 tion ; " 1 while the vivacious De Grammont, after saying 
 that the Queen herself lent but little brilliancy to the Court 
 where she came to reign, gives a caustic account of her 
 retinue. It was composed, he says, of the Countess de 
 Panetra, who came with her from Portugal, in the quality 
 of lady of the bed-chamber ; " six frights, who called them- 
 selves Maids of Honour, and a Duenna, another Monster, 
 who took the title of governess to these extraordinary 
 beauties." 
 
 The Court were not less critical of the gentlemen in atten- 
 dance on the Queen. Among these, especially, was one 
 Taurauvedez, who called himself Don Pedro Francisco de 
 Silva, and who, though extremely handsome, " was," says 
 De Grammont, "a greater fool than all the rest of the 
 Portuguese put together, and more vain of his names than 
 his person. On him the Duke of Buckingham fastened the 
 nickname of " Peter of the Wood," which so enraged him 
 that, after many fruitless complaints and ineffectual menaces, 
 he left England in disgust. " The Old Knight," also, " a lock 
 of whose hair quite covered the rest of his bald pate, bound 
 on by a thread very oddly," was another object of ridicule 
 to the scoffers. 
 
 Altogether, both the ladies and gentlemen of the Portu- 
 guese suite formed such a fantastic and comical crew, that in 
 a witty and critical Court like that of Charles II., they 
 
 1 Autobiography ; ii. p. 167. 
 
1662] A Fantastic and Comical Retinue. 213 
 
 could not but be exposed to a constant fire of satirical 
 comment. 
 
 But what gave rise to even more criticism and laughter 
 than their looks and general appearance, was the ludicrous 
 Portuguese dress in which the Queen and her ladies in- 
 sisted on attiring themselves, instead of the pretty and 
 graceful fashion then prevalent at the English Court. Their 
 obstinacy in thus adhering to their native costume, which 
 was not only strange, but positively ugly and grotesque, 
 could not but create a prejudice against them, and tend to 
 diminish that feeling of respect for the new Queen, which 
 it should have been the first aim of all of them to foster. 
 
 It seems that before leaving Lisbon, Catherine had been 
 strongly urged by her brother, the King of Portugal, and 
 by her mother, to cling pertinaciously to all her native 
 peculiarities of manners, customs, language, and dress, being 
 foolishly persuaded that to do so would greatly conduce to 
 the dignity of Portugal, and would soon lead the English 
 ladies to follow her example, so that it would end in the 
 Portuguese costume being adopted by every one at 
 Court. 
 
 Of this idea Charles had probably got some inkling 
 before his future wife had left Portugal ; for he despatched 
 to Lisbon a first-rate tailor, who was to fit her out in the 
 smartest and best " tailor-made " French dresses ; and when 
 she landed at Portsmouth he sent her, at once, a most mag- 
 nificent trousseau. 
 
 But in both cases Catherine refused to take the hint — the 
 tailor she would not even see, the trousseau she utterly 
 declined to wear, and even now that she was under her 
 husband's roof, she still, with petty feminine obstinacy, 
 adhered to her foolish resolution, as unconscious, apparently, 
 of the bad taste of appearing so singular among a foreign 
 people in the Court where she had come to reign, as she 
 
214 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 evidently was of the stupidity of thereby giving her hus- 
 band a good cause of complaint against her so early in 
 their married life. Never, in truth, was a more foolish 
 mistake made. Had the dresses she and her ladies insisted 
 on wearing been pretty or graceful, there would have been 
 more excuse for the eccentricity ; and had the wearers of them 
 been remarkable for beauty of feature or form, there would 
 have been more chance of carrying off their strangeness in 
 English eyes, and more likelihood of inducing the ladies of 
 the Court to follow their lead and adopt the costume. But 
 instead of this, the train of hideous, dowdy, old frumps, with 
 their dumpy figures, their forbidding countenances, and 
 their dark, olive complexions, " decked out in their monstrous 
 fardingales," with " their fortops turned aside very strangely," 
 raised a perfect howl of derision wherever they went. 
 
 Charles, who was keenly alive to the ludicrous, and 
 always acutely sensitive to any ridicule cast on those con- 
 nected with himself, and who was, all the time, only too 
 conscious of the critical eyes and satiric tongues of his 
 courtiers, implored her to lay this costume aside, and wear 
 some of the trousseau he had presented to her. 
 
 But for a long time Catherine was obdurate ; until at 
 length, finding that the king, who had used persuasion in 
 vain, was becoming peremptory, she obeyed, yielding at 
 last with bad grace on a point in which she was clearly in 
 the wrong, and on which she should have given in, cheer- 
 fully and willingly, at the beginning. 
 
 Throughout this dispute Catherine was so unfortunate as 
 to receive nothing but bad advice from her ladies-in-waiting, 
 who, being older than herself, and presumably possessed of 
 more knowledge and experience of the world, should have 
 encouraged her to take the wiser and more reasonable 
 course, instead of from the outset doing everything in their 
 power to set her against Charles, and to resist his authority 
 
CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA, QUEEN OF CHARLES II. 
 
1662] 
 
 Grotesque Portuguese Fashions. 
 
 215 
 
 in every way. Even after she herself had adopted the 
 English costume, they themselves persisted in appearing 
 before the whole Court in their grotesque "guarda-in- 
 fantas," in defiance of her example, and in reproach, as it 
 were, to her weakness in having surrendered. Eventually, 
 however, even they had to conform, and were compelled to 
 clothe their misshapen forms in the prevailing French 
 fashion. The weakening of the new Queen's influence, 
 caused by thus making her first stand against Charles on 
 a question, in which eventual surrender on her part was 
 inevitable, instead of reserving all her strength of will and 
 firmness of purpose for a contest, where principles and not 
 trifles were involved, had, as we shall see in our next chapter, 
 the most fatal results on her future life with her husband. 
 
 After this things went on propitiously for some little time. 
 For, though Charles was never in love with his wife, still he 
 was sufficiently pleased with her youth, her simplicity, and 
 her cheerful and innocent conversation to make the first few 
 weeks of their sojourn at Hampton Court go off pretty well. 
 The days were occupied with excursions on the river, sports 
 in the parks, and games in the gardens ; the evenings with 
 plays, music, and balls, in which the King, who excelled in 
 dancing, greatly distinguished himself. 1 
 
 Evelyn, who was at the Palace for several days, gives us 
 some account of what was going on. One day he saw the 
 beautiful gondola sent to his Majesty by the State of Venice 
 floating on the Thames, bearing, no doubt, the royal party, 
 but he adds, " it was not comparable for swiftness to our 
 common wherries, though managed by Venetians ; " on 
 another day he was present when her Majesty took supper 
 privately in her bed-room ; and on another he heard " the 
 Queen's Portugal music, consisting of fifes, harps, and very 
 ill voices." 
 
 1 Hist. Casa Real Portuguesa. 
 
2i6 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 At the same time Evelyn made a careful inspection of the 
 whole palace and its contents and curiosities ; and from 
 what he tells us, under date June 9th, 1662, we can judge 
 that it now shone again with much of its pristine splen- 
 dour : — 
 
 " Hampton Court is as noble and uniform a pile, and as 
 capacious as any Gothic architecture can have made it. 
 There is incomparable furniture in it, especially hangings 
 designed by Raphael, very rich with gold [he apparently 
 means the tapestries in the Great Hall, representing the 
 " History of Abraham,'' the designs of which are now attri- 
 buted to Bernard van Orlay], also many rare pictures, espe- 
 cially the Cesarian Triumphs of Andr. Mantegna, formerly 
 the Duke of Mantua's ; of the tapestries, I believe the 
 world can show nothing nobler of the kind than the storys 
 of Abraham and Tobit. 1 The gallery of homes is very 
 particular for the vast beames of stags, elks, antelopes, etc. 
 
 " The Queen's bed was an embroidery of silver on crimson 
 velvet, and cost ^8,000, being a present made by the States 
 of Holland when his Majesty returned, and had formerly 
 been given by them to our King's sister, the Princess of 
 Orange, and being bought of her again was now presented 
 to the King. 2 The great looking-glass and toilet of beaten 
 and massive gold was given by the Queen Mother. The 
 Queen brought over with her from Portugal such Indian 
 cabinets as had never been seen here. 
 
 " The Great Hall is a most magnificent room. The chapel 
 roof excellently fretted and gilt. I was also curious to visit 
 the wardrobe and tents and other furniture of state." 
 
 Pepys also bears his testimony to the splendour of 
 
 1 One piece of the Story of Tobit this reign, see post, p. 244. " Un lit 
 has been returned recently to Hamp- et Tassortiment de velours incarnat, 
 ton Court. d'une parfaitement riche broderie d'or 
 
 2 This bed is also mentioned by M. et d'argent, double* de brocatelle." 
 de Monconys a traveller in England in 
 
Old East Front of Hampton Court in the time of Charles II. 
 
 From the picture by Danckers. 
 
1662] Evelyns Description of Hampton Court. 217 
 
 Hampton Court, when he visited it just after it had been 
 prepared for the reception of the King and Queen, about a 
 fortnight before their arrival. 1 He and his party were shown 
 over the palace by Mr. Marriott, the housekeeper, and he 
 also was much struck with " the noble furniture, particularly 
 the Queen's bed, given her by the States of Holland ; 
 a looking-glass sent by the Queen-Mother from France, 
 hanging in the Queen's chamber, and many brave pictures." 
 
 The Queen's Portuguese chronicler likewise speaks with 
 enthusiasm of the hangings of silk and gold, the em- 
 broidered canopies, chairs, and beds, and the valuable 
 paintings in the Palace. 2 
 
 But it was not only the furniture and interior of the 
 Palace that moved the interest of visitors. Its surrounding 
 amenities, also, did not fail to attract observation ; and 
 Evelyn, especially, as a horticulturist, and the author of the 
 " Sylva," speaks of — " The Park, formerly a naked piece of 
 ground, now planted with sweet rows of lime trees ; and 
 the canal for water now near perfected," &c., 3 a remark 
 which shows, as we have already pointed out in our last 
 chapter, that it is to Charles II., and not to William 1 1 1., as 
 is usually stated, that we are indebted for the making of the 
 Long Canal, and the planting of the great avenues in the 
 Home Park. If any further proof of this fact were needed, 
 we have it in a curious contemporary picture of the old east 
 front of the Palace before William III/s alterations, taken 
 from the park side, and showing the canal and the recently- 
 planted lime trees. The picture was painted for Charles II. 
 about this time by Danckers, a painter of architecture and 
 landscape, and it can be traced as being in the royal collec- 
 
 1 Diary, May 12th, 1662. 
 
 2 See Life of Queen Catherine, by Miss Strickland, who had acce?s to 
 unpublished documents. 
 
 3 Diary, June 9th, 1662. 
 
218 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 tion since the time of James II., in whose catalogue it is 
 entered thus : 1 — " Hampton Court with the Canal, by 
 Danckers." It has recently been removed, at the authors 
 suggestion, from St. James's Palace to Hampton Court, and 
 an engraving of it is here inserted. The space in front 
 of this facade of the Palace was afterwards, as we shall 
 show in our next volume, occupied by the large semi- 
 circular garden laid out by William III., and on that account 
 this end of the canal was partly filled up, so as to be now 
 further removed from the Palace than appears in this 
 picture. Its present length is 3,500 feet, or nearly three- 
 quarters of a mile, and its width 1 50 feet. 
 
 On the gardens Evelyn makes the following observa- 
 tions : "In the garden is a rich and noble fountain, with 
 syrens, statues, etc., cast in copper by Fanelli, but no plenty 
 of water. The cradle walk of horn-beam 2 [now called 
 Queen Mary's Bower] in the garden is, for the perplexed 
 twining of the trees, very observable. There is a parterre 
 which they call Paradise, in which is a pretty banqueting 
 house set over a cave or cellar. All these gardens might 
 be exceedingly improved, as being too narrow for such a 
 palace." 
 
 While Evelyn was surveying the gardens at Hampton 
 Court, and noting what improvements might be made in 
 them, Pepys was busy collecting the latest gossip from the 
 Palace that reached him in London. On the 22nd of June 
 he sets down in his diary : " This day I am told of a Por- 
 tugal lady, at Hampton Court, that hath dropped a child 
 already since the Queen's coming, and the King would not 
 have them searched, whose it is ; and so it is not commonly 
 
 1 See James II.'s Catalogue in the have the four houses of the king, 
 
 British Museum. In Pepys' Diary, Whitehall, Hampton Court, Greenwich 
 
 Jan. 1668-9, we find, " Dancre took and Windsor. 
 
 measure of my panels in my dining- 2 The trees are wych elm, not horn- 
 room, where in the four I intend to beam. 
 
1662] 
 
 The Gardens — A Scandalous Story. 
 
 219 
 
 known yet/' Nor does her name appear to be known to 
 this day, though that of the father has been revealed by 
 history — a reversal of the usual order of things in these 
 cases which is sufficiently remarkable. He was, it seems, a 
 Mr. Edward Tildesley, a member of an old Catholic 
 Lancashire family, who had been sent to Portugal in the 
 preceding autumn, with the embassy commissioned by 
 Charles to bring over the Infanta into England. He 
 appears to have fallen in love with the lady while in Por- 
 tugal, and continued his suit on board ship on the way 
 home. As a penance for his fault he was enjoined by the 
 Queen to give the lady as compensation the sum of ,£1,500. 
 To raise it he mortgaged his estate to some English priests, 
 who in their turn imposed upon the lady as a penance for 
 her sin, that she should give the money to them, which she 
 did. 1 
 
 1 The English Catholic Non-Jurors of 17 15, by Escourt and Payne, p. 342 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CHARLES II. BETWIXT MISTRESS AND WIFE. 
 
 Discontent in London at " the King and Queen minding their Pleasures at 
 Hampton Court" — The Queen resolved not to receive Lady Castlemaine — The 
 King determined that she shall — The imperious Castlemaine's Audacity — Aspires 
 to be publicly recognized as the King's Mistress — Charles presents her to Cathe- 
 rine — A Painful Scene — Catherine faints — Charles's " Wonderful Indignation" — 
 Dreads the Appearance of being ruled by his Wife — Urged on by his Courtiers 
 not to yield — Their Satirical Comments on the Queen and her Attendants — 
 Charles's Honour involved — He demands that Catherine should make his 
 Mistress a Lady of her Bedchamber — Catherine's Passionate Indignation at the 
 Proposal — The aid of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon invoked — His Lordship 
 speaks out — " Flesh and blood could not comply with it " — The King's unshake- 
 able Determination — Requires Clarendon to Persuade the Queen to yield — He 
 hesitates — Charles's Peremptory Letter — " The Keeper of the King's Conscience " 
 undertakes to pander for his Majesty. 
 
 N the meantime, the King and Queen spending 
 such a long time at Hampton Court was be- 
 ginning to occasion considerable dissatisfaction 
 in London, where the presence of the Court was 
 missed, and where the business of the State was 
 at a standstill. Pepys, in a note at the end of his Diary for 
 June, says : " This I take to be as bad a juncture as ever I 
 observed. The King and new Queen minding their plea- 
 sures at Hampton Court : all people discontented/' 
 
1662] The Queen and Lady Castlemaine. 221 
 
 But as Sir John Reresby remarked : " Though every- 
 thing was gay and splendid and profusely joyful, it was easy 
 to discern that the King was not excessively charmed with 
 his new bride, who was a very little woman, with a pretty 
 tolerable face, she neither in person nor manners having any 
 one article to stand in competition with the charms of the 
 Countess of Castlemaine, the finest woman of her age." 1 
 Indeed, of the King's indifference to her, and his preference 
 for Lady Castlemaine, the Queen had not long to wait before 
 receiving very emphatic proof. 
 
 Previous to Catherine of Braganza's quitting Portugal she 
 had heard of the too intimate relations, which had for some 
 time existed between King Charles and the young and 
 beautiful Mrs. Palmer, afterwards Countess of Castlemaine, 
 a lady of good birth, whose father had lost his life in the 
 service of the Crown. And she had been warned by her 
 mother, on no account, to receive her at Court, or even to 
 allow her name to be mentioned in her presence. When, 
 therefore, Catherine came to England and married Charles, 
 she kept this resolution firmly planted in her mind. 
 
 Unfortunately her husband had, on his part, for many 
 reasons, come to exactly the opposite conclusion ; and he was 
 determined to insist, at all hazards, on the Queen not only 
 acknowledging and receiving Lady Castlemaine at Court, 
 but positively making her one of the ladies of her bed- 
 chamber, and admitting her into her most intimate acquain- 
 tance. He had made this resolve, partly out of his infatua- 
 tion for that fascinating lady, and partly in consequence of a 
 promise, which the imperious beauty had extorted from him, of 
 giving her such a position at Court as could not be gainsayed, 
 and which would be some compensation to her for her loss 
 of position in more respectable or less tolerant society. 
 
 Indeed her ladyship's audacity rose to such presumptuous 
 
 1 Reresby's Memoirs, p. 167. 
 
222 History of H ampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 heights that being with child by the King, about a fortnight 
 before the Queen's arrival in England, she formed the 
 design of going to Hampton Court for her confinement, so 
 that that interesting event might occur in the Palace during 
 the honeymoon of the Queen, and the King acknowledge 
 her illegitimate offspring as his own, in the face of his 
 newly-married wife ! 
 
 This, however, was rather too much, even for the accom- 
 modating good nature of the easy-going Charles. But 
 Lady Castlemaine, foiled in that part of her scheme, resolved 
 that she would be satisfied with nothing less than being 
 publicly recognized and received at Court, as the acknow- 
 ledged mistress of the King, " la maitresse entitre? accord- 
 ing to the custom of the French Court, which has always 
 been the accepted arbiter in all such questions of mere- 
 tricious etiquette. 
 
 Such being the intentions and inclinations of the chief 
 persons concerned, we can imagine the significance of 
 the scene that occurred one day at Hampton Court, in the 
 Presence Chamber, where Catherine was sitting, surrounded 
 by the Court, when the door opened, and Charles, leading 
 Lady Castlemaine by the hand, himself presented her to the 
 Queen. 
 
 Catherine, who, of course, had never set eyes on the lady 
 before, and who, perhaps, did not catch her name, nor fully 
 understand who she was, rose and received her with her 
 usual graciousness. But a moment after, divining who she 
 was, and conscious of the flagrant insult that had been put 
 upon her in the face of the whole Court, she sat down, her 
 colour changed, tears gushed from her eyes, her nose bled, 
 and she fainted. She was then taken into her own room ; 
 and all the company withdrew to talk over the scandalous 
 scene they had just witnessed. 
 
 So painful an upshot of the King's first step towards his 
 
BARBARA VILLIERS, 
 Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland. 
 
\ 
 
 I 
 
1662] The Kings Mistress forced on the Queen. 223 
 
 project, should have made him, one would suppose, relin- 
 quish it at least for a time. But not at all. On the con- 
 trary, he looked upon the demeanour of the Queen in the 
 affair "with wonderful indignation," and on receiving, in 
 reply to his remonstrances, her answer that she would main- 
 tain her resolution not to receive Lady Castlemaine, in spite 
 of everything he might do or say, he became excessively 
 exasperated. 
 
 His pride was touched in the one quarter in which it was 
 most tender — namely, the dread of appearing to the world 
 as though he was governed by his wife, on which point, as 
 Clarendon, whose pages are the authority for the particulars 
 of this story, 1 observes : " He was the most jealous and the 
 most resolute of any man," though no mans nature was, in 
 its essence, " more remote from thoughts of roughness or 
 hard-heartedness." He had persuaded himself, however, 
 that his honour was involved in breaking down the resis- 
 tance of his wife to his authority ; and for once the Merry 
 Monarch, usually so pliable and yielding, was as firm as 
 adamant." To mark his displeasure the more emphatically, 
 he entirely avoided the Queen's company, " and sought ease 
 and refreshment in that jolly company, to which in the 
 evenings he grew every day more indulgent, and in which 
 there were some, who desired rather to inflame than pacify 
 his discontent." Here among his boon companions he was 
 certain to be strongly backed up in the course he was 
 taking ; for not only were they eager, from a spirit of courtier- 
 ship, to flatter his pride, and encourage him to act accord- 
 ing to the promptings of his passion ; but they also feared 
 that if the Queen were to get her way, it might lead to 
 the purification of the Court, and put a very unwelcome 
 period to their own immoral pranks. The courtiers, 
 therefore, took their cue from the knowledge that the thing 
 
 1 Autobiography ; vol. ii. 
 
224 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 above all others in the world, which the King shrank from, 
 was to appear as though he was ruled by his wife. So they 
 plied him unremittingly with urgent exhortations to make a 
 stand now, assuring him that if he yielded on this point, he 
 would ever afterwards be looked on as that most ridiculous 
 of all objects — a hen-pecked husband. In a man like 
 Charles, so alive to the ludicrous, these representations were 
 not without effect. Nor was he oblivious of the Queen's ill- 
 advised obstinacy about her native dress ; how absurd she 
 and her ladies had made themselves appear in the eyes of 
 the whole Court ; and how, when he insisted, she had been 
 obliged to give in. This topic, also, his courtiers worked 
 adroitly to the same end, holding up all the Queen's atten- 
 dants to the most merciless ridicule, and indirectly pointing 
 the shafts of their satire at the Queen herself. We can 
 imagine the roars of laughter that greeted the sallies of the 
 Court wits, such as Rochester, Buckingham, De Grammont, 
 and Sir Charles Sedley, and of Charles's parasites, male and 
 female, assembled in jovial supper parties around the Merry 
 Monarch at Hampton Court, at the Guarda-damas, or 
 Mother of the Maids, an austere, wrinkled old harridan, 
 who looked more like an old housekeeper in fancy dress 
 than a lady-in-waiting ; at " Peter of the Wood " with his 
 Lusitanian pride and his six names ; at the " old knight " 
 with his one lock of hair plastered across his bald pate ; at 
 those six frights, the maids of honour, with their shapeless 
 figures, their absurd top-knots, and their olive-green com- 
 plexions, who were so prudish as to refuse to sleep in any 
 bed that had ever been slept in by a man ; 1 and, by inuendo, 
 at the Queen herself with her short, stunted figure, her 
 snub nose, and her protruding tooth ! 
 
 No wonder that all this confirmed Charles in his resolu- 
 tion not to give way to Catherine, whom he characterized 
 
 1 Letters of Philip second Lord Chesterfield, p. 122. 
 
1662] 
 
 The Portuguese assailed with Ridicule. 
 
 225 
 
 as a bat instead of a woman ! For a man to be ruled by his 
 wife was bad enough ; but to be ruled by such a wife ! 
 
 On the other hand we must not forget the feelings of the 
 poor Queen — in a strange country, without counsellors, and 
 without friends, married, after one day's acquaintance, to a 
 man whose affections were already engaged, to whom she 
 was an object of indifference, and who, instead of being her 
 protector, was trying to exact a most humiliating concession 
 from her ; while she, an alien in religion, and ignorant of the 
 language and customs of the people, was surrounded by a 
 crowd of cynics and scoffers. Never surely was a young 
 woman placed in a more painful position ! 
 
 But a still more bitter and cruel trial was yet in store for 
 her. Hitherto, though Charles had freely expressed his 
 displeasure to the Queen at her conduct when he presented 
 Lady Castlemaine to her, and his determination that she 
 should receive that lady at Court, he had not yet revealed 
 to her his intention of insisting also on his mistress being 
 appointed a lady of her bedchamber. This plan, however, 
 he now proceeded to unfold, preferring it on the transparent 
 pretext that it was the only means of vindicating her lady- 
 ship's aspersed character to the world. 
 
 But at this proposal the Queen was naturally only the 
 more transported with indignation ; and she burst out into 
 a torrent of angry reproaches against her husband. 
 
 Finding that all his remonstrances with the Queen were 
 of no avail, Charles bethought himself of having recourse to 
 the persuasive powers of his Lord Chancellor, Clarendon, to 
 whom he accordingly imparted his complaint of the Queen's 
 "perverseness and ill-humours," and requested his assistance 
 in his endeavour to break down her resistance to his project. 
 
 Clarendon, though he knew of what had taken place in 
 the Presence-Chamber, had hitherto not heard of this truly 
 shocking proposal ; and he made bold to speak his mind 
 
226 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 pretty freely to the King, censuring particularly " the hard- 
 heartedness and cruelty in laying such a command upon the 
 Queen, which flesh and blood could not comply with," and 
 urging many other good reasons of policy and morality 
 against his adhering to it. In answer, the King acknow- 
 ledged that what his chancellor said proceeded no doubt 
 from affection for him ; but he declared that having undone 
 this lady and ruined her reputation, he was bound in con- 
 science and honour to do the utmost he could for her, that 
 " he would always avow to have a great friendship for her, 
 which he owed as well to the memory of her father as to her 
 own person ; and that he would look upon it as the highest 
 disrespect to him in anybody who should treat her otherwise 
 than was due to her own birth, and the dignity to which he 
 had raised her. That he liked her company and conversa- 
 tion, from which he would not be restrained, because he 
 knew there was and should be all innocence in it ; and that 
 his wife should never have cause to complain that he brake 
 his vows to her if she would live towards him as a good wife 
 ought to do, in rendering herself grateful and acceptable to 
 him, which it was in her power to do." He added that he 
 had proceeded so far in the business, and was so deeply 
 engaged in it, that not only would the lady be exposed to 
 all imaginable contempt if it was not carried through, " but 
 his own honour would suffer so much, that he should become 
 ridiculous to the world, and be thought, too, in pupilage 
 under a governor. Therefore he should expect and exact 
 conformity from his wife herein, which should be the only 
 hard thing he would ever require from her, and which she 
 herself might make very easy, for the lady would behave 
 herself with all possible duty and humility unto her, which 
 if she should fail to do in the least degree she should never 
 see the King's face again : and that in the future he would 
 undertake never to put any other servant about her without 
 
1662] Charles Unshakable Detwrnination. 227 
 
 first consulting her and receiving her consent and approba- 
 tion." He concluded by saying that nothing should make 
 him recede from the resolution he had taken ; and that he 
 required Clarendon to use all the persuasive arts, of which 
 he was master, to induce the Queen to comply with his 
 wishes. 
 
 Such a duty was not one that any man would willingly 
 have had cast upon him, especially considering the isolated 
 and forlorn condition of the young Queen ; least of all could 
 it have been a congenial one to Lord Clarendon, to whom 
 Catherine had been bidden by her mother to look for 
 counsel and sympathetic guidance, 1 and whom, as she 
 touchingly assured him, she regarded as her only friend in 
 England. Besides, the woman whom he was desired by the 
 King to recommend as a lady of her bed-chamber, was one 
 of his own bitterest personal enemies, hating him both on 
 account of his grudging her the pernicious influence she 
 wielded over the King, and on account of his forbidding his 
 own wife to receive or even to notice her. 
 
 In these circumstances he was certainly hesitating to dis- 
 charge the task assigned to him, if he was not actually 
 endeavouring to thwart the King in his project, when 
 he received from his Majesty the following peremptory 
 letter : — 
 
 Hampton Court, Thursday morning. 
 
 For the Chancellor. 
 
 I forgot when you were here last to desire you to give 
 Broderick good counsel not to meddle any more with what con- 
 cerns my Lady Castlemaine, and to let him have a care how he is 
 the author of any scandalous reports, for if I find him guilty of such 
 a thing, I will make him repent it to the last moment of his life. 
 And now I am entered on this matter, I think it very necessary to 
 give you a little good council, lest you may think that by making 
 a farther stir in the matter you may divert me from my resolution, 
 
 1 Letter of Lord Sandwich from Portsmouth to Lord Clarendon. 
 
228 History o^ Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 which all the world shall never do, and I wish I may be unhappy 
 in this world, and in the world to come, if I fail in the least degree 
 of what I resolved, which is of making my Lady Castlemaine of my 
 wife's bed-chamber, and whosoever I find endeavouring to hinder 
 this resolution of mine, except it be only to myself, I will be his 
 enemy to the last moment of my life. You know how much a 
 friend I have been to you : if you will oblige me eternally, make 
 this business as easy to me as you can, of what opinion you are of ; 
 for I am resolved to go through with this matter, let what will come 
 of it, which again I solemnly swear before Almighty God ; where- 
 fore, if you desire to have the continuance of my friendship, meddle 
 no more with this business, except it be to beat down all false and 
 scandalous reports, and to facilitate what I am sure my honour is 
 so much concerned in : and whomsoever I find to be my Lady 
 Castlemaine's enemy in this matter, I do promise upon my word to 
 be his enemy as long as I live. You may show this letter to my 
 Lord Lieutenant, and if you have both a mind to oblige me, carry 
 yourselves like friends to me in this matter. 
 
 Charles RV 
 
 The import of this letter there was no mistaking; and 
 " the Keeper of the King's Conscience " had the disagree- 
 able alternative plainly put before him, either of resigning the 
 Great Seal, and incurring the King's eternal enmity, or of 
 employing all his powers of persuasion and argument, to 
 induce a friendless and inexperienced young woman, 
 specially committed to his care, to enter into most inti- 
 mate relations with a woman, whom he thought too in- 
 famous to associate with his own wife ! 
 
 Clarendon was not long in making his election : and in- 
 exhaustible were the plausible sophistries — set out with 
 great diffuseness in his autobiography — with which, after 
 the manner of politicians anxious to retain place and power, 
 he tried to excuse to his own conscience and to the world, 
 his adoption of the baser alternative. It was, of course, not 
 
 1 Secret History of Charles //., vol. i., p. 447. 
 
1662] 
 
 Clarendons Cant. 
 
 229 
 
 that he feared the displeasure of the King, nor that he clung 
 to the lucrative post of the Lord Chancellorship. Not at 
 all ! It was only his overwhelming sense of what was due 
 to his sovereign and master, and his deep appreciation of 
 the imperative exigencies of the political situation, which 
 compelled him to waive any objections he might have had, 
 and to subordinate his individual predilections to the good 
 of the State. With verbose and laboured cant of this sort, 
 did Clarendon seek to justify himself for assuming the 
 disgraceful role of pander for the King ! 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 QUEEN CATHERINE AND LADY CASTLEMAINE. 
 
 Clarendon's Interviews with Catherine of Braganza — Her touching Reliance 
 on him — His unworthy Sophistry — Tries to wheedle her to acquiesce in the King's 
 Purpose — She threatens to return to Portugal — "Your mother wouldn't have 
 you back " — High words between Charles and Catherine— Her " Perverseness " 
 — Clarendon's Pharasaical Cant — The King's Mistress " an estimable and com- 
 mendable Associate " for the Queen — Catherine's Determination — Studied Cold- 
 ness and Indifference of the King — He passes his time in Jovial Company-^- 
 The Queen's Attendants sent back to Portugal — Lady Castlemaine installed in 
 the Palace — The Queen's friendless and forlorn Condition — Subjected to Ridicule 
 and Indignity — She submits — Treats Lady Castlemaine with marked Fami- 
 liarity — Loathsome Perfidy of Clarendon — Charles and Catherine visit the 
 Queen-Mother Her Visit to this Palace — Their Majesties' State Entry into 
 London by way of the Thames — Their Progress down the River in Magnificent 
 Barges — Splendid Aquatic Pageant. 
 
 LAREN DON'S first interview with Queen 
 Catherine of Braganza, to try and induce her 
 to conform to the King's wishes, was not much 
 of a success. For when, in expressing his 
 regret at the misunderstanding that had arisen 
 between their Majesties, he coolly did so in such a way as 
 to show that the King imputed much blame to her, hinting 
 also that he himself shared that view, she protested so 
 passionately, and with such a torrent of tears, that there was 
 
1662] Clarendon s Interview with the Queen. 231 
 
 nothing for him to do but to retire, stiffly observing " that he 
 would wait upon her in a fitter season, and when she should 
 be more capable of receiving humble advice from her ser- 
 vants, who wished her well." 
 
 Next day he came to see her again, and found her much 
 more composed, and she vouchsafed to excuse the excite- 
 ment which she had betrayed the day before, pathetically re- 
 marking that " she looked upon him as one of the few 
 friends she had, and from whom she would most willingly 
 at all times receive counsel, but that she hoped he would 
 not wonder at, nor blame her, if having greater misfortunes 
 upon her, and having to struggle with more difficulties, than 
 any woman had ever been put to of her condition, she some- 
 times gave vent to that passion that was ready to break her 
 heart." To this Clarendon hypocritically replied that "such 
 was his devotion to her, that he would always loyally say to 
 her what was best for her to hear, though it might not please 
 her, and though it should render him ungracious in her 
 eyes." On which Catherine humbly told him "that he 
 should never be more welcome to her than when he told 
 her of her faults." Of the permission thus accorded him, 
 his lordship at once took advantage, by explaining that her 
 education, which had been almost entirely in a convent, had 
 been such as to give her but little information " of the follies 
 and iniquities of mankind, of which," he presumed, " the 
 climate from whence she came could have given more in- 
 stances than this cold region would afford, though at that 
 time it was indeed very hot " ; adding that otherwise " she 
 could never have thought herself so miserable, and her con- 
 dition so insupportable as she seemed to think it to be." 
 Whereupon " with some blushing, some confusion, and some 
 tears," she stammered out that, " She did not think that she 
 should have found the King engaged in his affection to 
 another lady — " and being unable from emotion to proceed 
 
232 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 further, gave the Chancellor the opportunity, as he tells us, 
 of saying, " that he knew well that she had been very little 
 acquainted with or informed of the world ; yet he could not 
 believe that she was so utterly ignorant as to expect that 
 the King her husband, in the full strength and vigour of his 
 youth, was of so innocent a constitution, as to be reserved 
 for her, whom he had never seen, and to have had no acquain- 
 tance or familiarity with the sex ; and asked whether she 
 believed, " when it should please God to send a Queen 
 to Portugal, she should find that court so full of chaste 
 affections ? " Upon this her Majesty smiled, and spoke 
 pleasantly enough, but hinting that she thought all this adroit 
 sophistication by the Keeper of the King's Conscience 
 somewhat beside the point— as indeed it was. This 
 rather nettled " the plain-dealing man," as he calls himself, 
 and, " with some warmth," he replied, " that he came to her 
 with a message from the King, which if she received as she 
 ought to do, and as he hoped she would, she would be the 
 happiest Queen in the world. That whatever correspon- 
 dences the King had entertained with any other ladies 
 before he saw her Majesty, concerned her not ; nor ought 
 she to inquire into them or after them ; that he now dedi- 
 cated himself entirely and without reserve to her ; and that 
 if she met his affection with that warmth and spirit and 
 good humour, which she well knew how to express, she 
 would live a life of the greatest delight imaginable." This, 
 and a great deal more in the same strain, Catherine heard 
 with evident pleasure, thinking it all a prelude to an 
 announcement that the King meant to renounce his design 
 with regard to his mistress. She accordingly begged 
 Clarendon to help her " in returning thanks to his Majesty 
 and in obtaining his pardon for any passion or peevishness 
 she might have been guilty of, and in assuring him of all 
 future obedience and duty." 
 
1662] The Chancellor f s Sophistical Arguments. 233 
 
 But the wily old Chancellor, having wheedled her up to 
 this frame of mind, then proceeded to expound to her how 
 fitting it was that her Majesty " should gratify this good reso- 
 lution, justice and tenderness in the King, by meeting it with 
 a proportionable submission and resignation on her part to 
 whatsoever his Majesty should desire of her ; " and he then 
 straightway proceeded to insinuate the full purport of his 
 mission, namely, that the King wished her to make his 
 mistress a lady of her bed-chamber. 
 
 He had, however, no sooner hinted at this, than she again 
 burst out " with all the rage and fury she had shown yesterday, 
 but with fewer tears, the fire appearing in her eyes, where the 
 water was, declaring that the Kings insisting on such a 
 condition could only proceed from hatred to her person, 
 and his desire to expose her to the contempt of the world, 
 who would think her worthy of such an affront, if she sub- 
 mitted to it, which rather than do so she would put herself 
 on board of any little vessel, and so be transported to 
 Lisbon," and many other other similar expressions, which 
 outburst Clarendon coldly interrupted by remarking that 
 " she had not the disposal of her own person, nor could go 
 out of the house where she was, without the Kings leave ; " 
 and he, therefore, advised her not to speak any more of 
 Portugal, where there were enough who wished her to be ; 
 and so, after advising her not to irritate the King by exhibit- 
 ing any such feeling as she had shown to him, or by giving 
 him any definite or positive refusal to comply with his 
 request, he left her. 
 
 Such was the sort of chivalrous sympathy, which the 
 highly religious and moral Clarendon thought it becoming to 
 extend to the unfortunate Catherine ! 
 
 He next had an interview with Charles, in which he told 
 him of all the kind and conciliatory things she had said of 
 him, assuring him that it was only her passionate love for 
 
2,34 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 him that made her, for the present, obdurate, and entreating 
 him not to press her on the subject just for a few days. 
 
 Back Stairs to the Great Hall. 
 
 But Charles had other counsellors, who represented to 
 him that what he contended for was not of so much 
 importance in itself, as the manner of obtaining it ; that the 
 point now involved was who should rule at Court, he or the 
 
1662] 
 
 The Quarrel intensified. 
 
 235 
 
 Queen ; and that if he yielded now he would ever after be 
 under the thumb of his wife. Advice of this sort was only 
 too consonant with Charles's present mood, and that night, 
 when he and Catherine met, " the fire flamed higher than 
 ever," he reproaching her with stubbornness and want of duty, 
 and she him with tyranny and want of affection ; talking 
 loudly " how ill she was treated, and that she would return 
 again to Portugal. " To this he replied that she had better 
 find out first whether her mother would care to have her 
 back ; " and that he would give her an opportunity of know- 
 ing this by sending to their home all her Portuguese ser- 
 vants, and that he would forthwith give orders for the dis- 
 charge of them all, since they behaved themselves so ill ; 
 for to them and their counsels he imputed all her per- 
 verseness." 
 
 The passion and noise of the encounter of that night 
 reached too many ears to be a secret the next day ; and the 
 whole Court was full of what ought to have been known to 
 nobody. 
 
 Besides, the mutual behaviour of their majesties confirmed 
 all that had been heard, or could be imagined, for they did 
 not speak to, and hardly looked at, each other. " Everybody," 
 says Clarendon, " was glad they were so far from town, for 
 they were still at Hampton Court, and that there were so 
 few witnesses of all that passed. The Queen sat melan- 
 cholic in her chamber in tears, except when she drove them 
 away by a more violent passion in choleric discourse ; and 
 the King sought his divertissements in that company that 
 said and did all things to please him." 
 
 Affairs at the Palace continued in this posture for two or 
 three days, at the end of which time Clarendon, at the in- 
 stance of the King, again saw the Queen, and entered into 
 a long discussion with her, urging her with the pharasaical 
 cant, of which he was so great a master, to yield to the 
 
2 $6 History of Hampton Court Palace, [1662 
 
 King's demands, and blaming her for her vigorous re- 
 sistance. The plea he chiefly used was that " as the 
 husband would not impose a servant against whom just 
 exceptions could be made ; so it was presumed that no 
 wife would refuse to receive a servant that was esteemed 
 and commended by her husband" — as if Lady Castlemaine 
 was a woman that any man could truly regard as an 
 estimable and a commendable companion for his wife ! — 
 " and showing his trouble and wonder when she firmly 
 declared, that however willing she might be to subordi- 
 nate her personal feelings in the matter to those of the 
 King," she could not, in conscience give her consent. All 
 his dexterous pleading, however, was without avail ; for the 
 Queen declared to him her final determination that the King 
 might do what he pleased, but that she would not consent 
 to receive Lady Castlemaine as a lady of her bed-chamber. 
 
 After this rebuff, Clarendon's part in the affair was at an 
 end, and he retired from the contest, with the discredit of 
 having failed to move the Queen's resolution, and still more 
 with the dishonour of having accepted the office of pander 
 to the King's disgraceful whim. 
 
 Charles now gave up all idea of influencing his wife in the 
 matter through persuasion ; and tried instead what a little 
 brutality would accomplish. Accordingly he seldom came 
 into the Queen's presence, and when he did he treated her 
 with studied coldness and indifference, neither speaking to, 
 or noticing her. All his time he passed in the gay and care- 
 less company of those who, as Clarendon expresses it, 
 *y made it their business to laugh at all the world, and who 
 were as bold with God Almighty as with any of his 
 creatures ; " and to make the Queen feel the more lonely, 
 directed nearly all her Portuguese attendants to be shipped off 
 back to Lisbon, without giving any reason for their sudden 
 dismissal to the King and Queen of Portugal, and without 
 
1662] Humiliations put on the Queen. 
 
 237 
 
 offeringthem any remuneration for having attended Catherine 
 into England, so that she, not having as yet received any 
 money of her own, had to see her old friends depart with 
 their faithful services unacknowledged. 
 
 That the cup of her humiliation might be filled, her law 
 agent, who had undertaken to pay her dowry into the 
 Treasury, and who, according to Charles, had made default, 
 though, in fact, he had not, was thrown into prison ; while 
 her venerable friend and relative, the Portuguese ambas- 
 sador, was so grossly insulted on her account, that he was 
 made ill, and after a long sickness " which all men believed 
 would have killed him, as soon as he was able to endure 
 the air, he left Hampton Court, and retired to his own 
 house in the city." 
 
 All this time, Charles steadily pursued his point : Lady 
 Castlemaine came to Hampton Court, and had apartments 
 assigned her in the Palace, and she was every day, with 
 brazen face, flaunting herself in the Queen's presence, the 
 King being in constant conversation with her, while the 
 Queen sat alone and unnoticed, the courtiers ostentatiously 
 flocking round the Kings mistress, whose favour they 
 valued more than hers. If Catherine, resenting these in- 
 dignities, rose to retire to her own room, scarcely any of those 
 present troubled themselves to attend her ; but the company 
 remained in the room, while as she left, she could hear the 
 intentionally ill-suppressed whispers and titterings, levelled 
 at her " prudery." Charles, who at the outset of the mis- 
 understanding had appeared worried and dejected, now 
 assumed an air of the most perfect gaiety and good-humour,, 
 which made her feel — as it was intended to do — her isolation 
 the more acutely. " On all occasions she was forced to see 
 that there was a universal mirth in all company but in her's^ 
 and in all places but in her chamber ; " and while her even- 
 ings were spent alone, those of the King were passed among 
 
238 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 his boon companions, men and women, at jolly supper 
 parties, the jokes and incidents of which were the one topic 
 of conversation and laughter by the whole Court the next 
 day — so that in everything, and at all times, the Queen 
 should always feel completely " out of it." 
 
 Even her own attendants now began to take their cue 
 from the rest of the Court, and were inclined to treat her 
 with less respect than the King's shameless and triumphant 
 paramour, who ruled the Court in her stead. 
 
 Never, in truth, was a woman, much less a Queen, placed 
 in a more humiliating and cruel position ; and it is a marvel 
 that she should have endured it so long. At last, however, 
 overwhelmed by the misery of her situation, and her 
 spirit beaten down by the reiterated slights put upon her, 
 she thought it best to end the contest by yielding unre- 
 servedly to her husband's wishes. Suddenly, one day, when 
 least expected, Catherine condescended first to notice, 
 then to speak to, Lady Castlemaine ; and soon after treated 
 her with marked familiarity. " She was merry with her in 
 public, talked kindly of her, and in private used nobody 
 more friendly." From that time forward the struggle was 
 at an end : the Queen, having submitted to the King's 
 terms, at once regained his goodwill, was admitted to share 
 in all the gaieties that were going on, and resuming her posi- 
 tion in the Court, was henceforth treated with the respect 
 due to the Queen of England. 
 
 But though she purchased peace by this unconditional sur- 
 render, there were not wanting those who, though they had 
 rendered her no assistance in her struggle with the King, 
 now pretended that they had always ' 'looked upon her with 
 great compassion, commended the greatness of her spirit, 
 and detested the barbarity of the affronts she underwent ; " 
 and who censured her most severely for not persevering in 
 her former dignified resistance. 
 
1662] Catherine receives her Husband's Mistress. 239 
 
 Conspicuous among these, and excelling them all in loath- 
 some cant, was the man who had himself employed all his 
 arts of sophistry and persuasion to induce her to accede to 
 the Kings demands, namely, the moral and religious 
 Clarendon, who, in his Autobiography, sharply blames her 
 " for this sudden downfall and total abandoning her own 
 greatness, this low demeanour, and even application to a 
 person she had justly abhorred and worthily condemned " 
 — the " downfall " he had himself tried to bring her to ; the 
 " abandoning of her greatness," which he had himself coun- 
 selled ; the " low demeanour " he had himself urged her to 
 adopt ! The baseness of the Pharisee could not sink to 
 lower depths ! 
 
 Almost immediately after the reconciliation between 
 Charles and Catherine, they had to go together to Greenwich 
 to pay a visit of welcome to the Queen-Mother, Henrietta 
 Maria, who had just come over to England to offer in person 
 her congratulations on their marriage. The King and 
 Queen set out from Hampton Court on the 28th of July, 
 attended by a brilliant suite, and after a very amicable visit 
 of four hours' duration, they returned the same day to 
 this palace, and supped together in public. 1 The following 
 day the King went up to town on business — or pleasure — 
 " and in the evening the Queen, accompanied by her house- 
 hold, went to meet his Majesty on the road — a gallantry 
 which the King so highly appreciated, that he expressed 
 his pleasure most heartily, which was much applauded by 
 the court." 2 
 
 A day or two afterwards the Queen- Mother came to 
 Hampton Court to return their visits. It must have been 
 with sad and painful feelings that she revisited the Palace 
 in which she had first resided with Charles I. thirty-six 
 
 1 Inedited Portuguese Records, collected and translated by J. Adamson, cited 
 by Miss Strickland. 2 Hist. Casa Portuguesa. 
 
240 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 years before, just after her own marriage f 1 and in which she 
 had not set foot for twenty years, since their fatal flight from 
 London in 1642, after the attempted arrest of the five 
 members. 2 
 
 When the Queen-Mother arrived, the King her son re- 
 ceived her at the foot of the Great Hall stairs, and on her 
 alighting led her up to the Hall, where the Queen, who was 
 waiting for her, came forward to receive her. After the 
 first greetings, they passed through the Hall and Guard 
 Chamber to the Presence Chamber, where the two Queens 
 seated themselves under the " cloth of state," or canopy, the 
 Queen -Mother on the right of Queen Catherine, while the 
 Duchess of York sat a little removed to the left. " The 
 King and the Duke of York stood, and either one or the 
 other acted as interpreters between the two Queens, for 
 Catherine could not speak French, nor Henrietta Spanish, 
 much less Portuguese." 
 
 Charles and Catherine dined in private with the Queen- 
 Mother the first day of her arrival at Hampton Court, and 
 in the afternoon the Duke and Duchess of York joined them 
 in the Queens Chamber, where they heard her Majesty's 
 Portuguese band. 3 A few days afterwards she probably left 
 Hampton Court and returned to Greenwich. 
 
 Charles and Catherine, however, remained on here till the 
 23rd of August, the day fixed for their state entry into 
 London, which took place by river, with all the magnificent 
 aquatic pageantry which was usual in that age. They em- 
 barked at Hampton Court in the afternoon in their own 
 state barge, with the bargemen in their picturesque scarlet 
 liveries, and were accompanied by the Duke and Duchess 
 of York, Prince Rupert, his brother Prince Edward, and the 
 Countess of Suffolk, the first lady of the bed-chamber to the 
 
 1 See ante, p. 96. 2 See ante, p. 128. 
 
 3 Hist. Casa Real Portuguesa. 
 
South View of Hampton Court Talace from 
 
 From an 
 
1662] A Splendid Aquatic Pageant, 
 
 241 
 
 Queen. 1 The ladies and gentlemen of the Court followed 
 in other barges, and in one was, no doubt, the King's band 
 of musicians, who played lively airs as they were rowed 
 down the Thames. When they reached Teddington, a 
 larger vessel, which drew too much water to have proceeded 
 higher up the river, was in waiting to receive the royal party. 
 This vessel had glass windows, and a crimson awning 
 bordered with gold, for the ladies of honour and other atten- 
 dants. 2 At Putney was another barge, in which they were 
 to make their public entry. It was fashioned like "an 
 antique-shaped open vessel, covered with a state or canopy 
 of cloth of gold, made in form of a cupola, supported with 
 high Corinthian pillars, wreathed with flowers, festoons, and 
 garlands." 3 In it were four and twenty oarsmen clad in 
 scarlet. All down the river the banks were lined with spec- 
 tators, who gave the King and Queen a cordial reception ; 
 and at every point the procession was joined by barges and 
 boats of all sorts, until, as it neared Westminster, the river 
 was so thick with them that the water could not be seen 
 between. 4 So, at any rate, we are informed by Pepys, 
 who must have had a good view, as he was on the top of 
 the Banqueting House at Whitehall, and who computed 
 the boats of all sorts that he saw in one sight to number at 
 least a thousand. Evelyn, also, witnessed the scene in the 
 barge of the Royal Society; and he gives the following 
 graphic account of what he saw : " I was spectator of the 
 most magnificent triumph that ever floated on the Thames, 
 considering the innumerable boats and vessels, dressed and 
 adorned with all imaginable pomp, but above all the thrones, 
 arches, pageants, and other representations, stately barges of 
 
 1 Echard's History, vol. iii., p. 84. London entertaining their Sacred Ma- 
 
 2 Hist. Casa Real Portuguesa. jesties on the River of Thames, and 
 
 3 Evelyn's Diary. welcoming them from Hampton Court 
 
 4 See " Aqua Triumphalis ; being a to Whitehall, &c. By John Tatham, 
 true relation of the honourable City of folio, 1662." 
 
242 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 the Lord Mayor and companies, with various inventions, 
 music and peals of ordnance both from the vessels and the 
 shore, going to meet and conduct the new Queen from 
 Hampton Court to Whitehall, at the first time of her 
 coming to town. In my opinion it far exceeded all the 
 Venetian Bucentoras, &c, on the Ascension, when they go 
 to espouse the Adriatic." 
 
 All this splendour and rejoicing must have seemed like a 
 keen satire to poor Catherine, after all the humiliations she 
 had lately been subjected to, and the misery she was suffer- 
 ing still. 
 
 But there was yet much more that she was to be called 
 upon to endure. Only a fortnight after her triumphal 
 entry into the capital, we hear of her having to drive away 
 from a ball given by the Queen- Mother at Somerset House, 
 in one coach with the King, Lady Castlemaine, and young 
 Crofts (afterwards Duke of Monmouth), the King's illegiti- 
 mate son by Lucy Waters ! W ell might she reply to Lady 
 Castlemaine, who bounced into her bed-room one day, as 
 she was at her toilet, saying, impertinently, " I cant think 
 how you can have the patience to sit so long a-dressing ; n — 
 well might she reply, " Madam, I have so much reason to 
 use patience, that I can well bear such a trifle." 1 
 
 1 Pepys' Diary, 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 HAMPTON COURT UNDER CHARLES II. JAMES II. 
 
 King Charles's occasional Visits to the Palace — Lady Castlemaine's Apart- 
 ments — The Due de Monconys' Description of Hampton Court — Outbreak of the 
 Plague — The Court retires to Hampton Court — Pepys at the Palace — " Not 
 invited anywhere to dinner " — Lely paints the Beauties of the Court — Descrip- 
 tion of those Frail and Lovely Ladies — The Court removes to Salisbury and 
 Oxford — The King and Duke back again at this Palace — Cordial Thanks to 
 Pepys for his gallant Services during the Plague — Also to John Evelyn — Visit 
 of Mandeslo— The Parks — The Upper Lodge in Bushey Park — Cosmo III. 
 Duke of Tuscany joins a Hunting Party here — Description of the Sport — 
 Deer Netting — Cosmo's Account of the Parks, Palace and Gardens — M. Jorevin 
 de Rochford— Charles II. suddenly dissolves Parliament — The Duke of Mon- 
 mouth forfeits the King's Favour — Anecdote of Charles II. and Verrio — 
 James II. — Canopy under which he received the Papal Nuncio — His Fireback 
 — His Army on Hounslow Heath. 
 
 IFTER Charles II.'s long sojourn with his Queen 
 at Hampton Court in the summer of 1662, he 
 rarely came to stay here for any considerable 
 l^t time, as he much preferred to pass his time 
 amid the gaieties and dissipations of Whitehall 
 or Newmarket. Nevertheless, he paid occasional visits 
 here, and the state apartments were always kept ready 
 for his reception ; and alterations and improvements were 
 continually being made in and about the Palace. Among 
 
244 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1662 
 
 these was the fitting up of a suite of rooms for the use of 
 Lady Castlemaine, who always insisted in being most luxu- 
 riously housed in all the Royal palaces. 1 
 
 In the meantime, the Palace was frequently visited by 
 foreigners of distinction, who in this reign came in consider- 
 able numbers to travel in England, and of whom several 
 have left us records of their impressions. 
 
 Among them was the Due de Monconys, who drove 
 down here in a coach and six on the 23rd of June, 1663, 
 accompanied by M. de la Moliere ; 2 and who remarked of 
 the country which he traversed, that it was wonderfully 
 beautiful, like it is everywhere in England. What struck 
 him most in the Palace itself was the mass of towers, 
 turrets, cupolas, pinnacles and ornaments of all sorts which 
 produced a confusion that was not unpleasing. In the 
 garden he noticed the fountain, " composed of four syrens 
 in bronze, seated astride on dolphins, between which was a 
 shell, supported on the foot of a goat. Above the sirens, 
 on a second tier, were four little children, each seated, holding 
 a fish, and surmounting all a large figure of a lady — all the 
 figures being of bronze, but the fountain itself and the basin 
 of marble." This description evidently refers to the same 
 fountain as the one noticed by Evelyn, the statues of which 
 he states to be by Fanelli. The figure at the summit was, 
 according to the Inventory of 1659, a statue of Arethusa : 
 though as she holds a golden apple in her hand, it seems 
 probable that it represents Venus. 3 
 
 It was aftewards moved by William III. into the centre 
 of the great basin in Bushey Park, where it has since been 
 known as " the Diana fountain " — a misnomer, which it 
 probably acquired from the sylvan surroundings of its present 
 position, and which it would now be difficult to correct. 
 
 1 Harl MSS., No. 1658, Feb., 1666, fol. 138. 
 3 Voyage cFAngleterre. 3 See post, Appendix C. 
 
1665] Visitors to the Palace — The Plague. 245 
 
 De Monconys likewise noticed in the same garden " un 
 grand berceau touffu de hestre " (doubtless the curious bower 
 in the Privy Garden, known as Queen Marys Bower, which 
 Evelyn describes as being of " Horn-Beam," though it is 
 really " Wych Elm ; ") " and opposite to it a terrace, along 
 which, from the brick cloister, several little chambers or 
 cabinets of various shapes, round, square, and in the form of 
 crosses, with their little turrets, jut out into the park." 
 
 After August, 1662, we do not hear of Charles or his 
 Queen being at Hampton Court until June 29th, 1665, 
 when they retired here from Whitehall, 1 on account of the 
 plague, which had been raging already for some time in 
 London, and which was now rapidly increasing and spread- 
 ing, the deaths in the capital alone amounting to two 
 thousand a week. 2 
 
 Here the Court remained about a month, in comparative 
 security and isolation ; though the King went frequently to 
 Sion to transact business with the Council, which met 
 there for greater safety. 3 
 
 The quarantine between London and Hampton Court 
 was not so strict, however, that it did not allow of Pepys 
 coming down to the Palace occasionally. On Sunday, July 
 23rd, he notes: " To Hampton Court, where I followed 
 the King to chapel and there heard a good sermon ; and 
 after sermon with my Lord Arlington, Sir Thomas Ingram, 
 and others, spoke to the Duke about Tangier, but not to 
 much purpose. I was not invited anywhere to dinner, 
 though a stranger, which did also trouble me ; but yet 
 I must remember it is a Court, and indeed where most 
 are strangers ; but, however, Cutler carried me to Mr. 
 Marriotts, the housekeeper, 4 and there we had a very 
 
 1 Pepys' Diary. 3 Evelyn, July 7th. Pepys. 
 
 2 Pepys' Diary and Clarendon's 4 Mr. Richard Marriott was already 
 Autobiography, vol. ii., p. 403. " Privy Lodging Keeper" at Hampton 
 
246 
 
 History of Hampton Court Palace, [1665 
 
 good dinner and good company, amongst others Lilly the 
 painter." 
 
 It was just about this time that Lely, commissioned by 
 the Duchess of York, was painting the beauties of Charles 
 II.'s Court. "II emploia," says Du Grammont, " tout son 
 art dans l'execution. II ne pourvait travailler a de plus 
 beaux sujets. Chaque portrait parut etre un chef-d'ceuvre. ,, 
 And, in truth, no more congenial task could have been 
 selected for the pencil of Lely than that of portraying on 
 glowing canvas the sensuous contours and lovely features 
 of the frail and seductive nymphs in the amorous court of 
 the Merry Monarch. For it must be acknowledged that he 
 has succeeded in rendering to perfection that voluptuous 
 expression of blended drowsiness and sweetness, and that 
 air of tender languishment, which reflect so well the 
 characters of these beautiful and charming creatures. Their 
 " night-gowns fastened with a single pin," and the " sleepy 
 eye that spoke the melting soul," would sufficiently have 
 revealed to us their histories, had the memoir writers failed 
 to supply them. 
 
 These pictures are now all hung together in the King's 
 Bedchamber at Hampton Court, than which no more appro- 
 priate place could have been chosen. It is a real delight 
 to sit in this room and contemplate these charming portraits 
 with Pepy's " Diary," or De Grammont's " Memoires" in one's 
 hand. One can imagine oneself for a while transported into 
 that mixed but fascinating society — the imperious Lady 
 Castlemaine, with her disdainful lips, her dark flashing eyes, 
 
 Court in December, 1660, at which of great charity and generosity, as well 
 
 time Simon Bazill was " Clarke of the as wealth — his benefactions to the col- 
 
 Workes," and "Tobie Rustick" under- leges and University of Cambridge 
 
 housekeeper (Hurl, MSS., No. 1656, amounting to no less than ^ioo,oco 
 
 fol. 218). Tobias Rustat, to spell his (Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, lib. xiv., 
 
 name properly, was also a Yeoman of p. 5 53). 
 the Robes to the King. He was a man 
 
1665] Beauties of Charles II! s Court. 247 
 
 her rich black hair ; the transcendantly lovely Miss Stewart, 
 with her figure of ineffable grace, and her face of entrancing 
 sweetness ; Mrs. Hyde, with her half-closed eyes melting 
 in a dreamy tenderness ; Lady Falmouth, with her cheeks 
 purpling with the blushes that suffused her lovely face at 
 the slightest word. Here, too, we can see the famous Mrs. 
 Middleton, the first of " professional beauties " in those days, 
 whose picture was painted over and over again by all the 
 fashionable artists, whose engraved portraits, in every atti- 
 tude and every attire, were exposed for sale in every print- 
 seller's window all over the town ; who was followed by a 
 crowd whenever she walked in the Park, who drew every 
 eye upon her when she went to the play, and who even 
 created a flutter of excitement in church when she entered 
 her pew, as honest Pepys faithfully records. Here also are 
 the two Miss Brookes — " toutes deux faites pour donner de 
 l'amour, et pour en prendre " — one afterwards Lady Whit- 
 more, and the other the unfortunate Lady Denham. And 
 above all we can gaze on Lely's masterpiece of portraiture, 
 the picture of the matchless " Belle Hamilton," afterwards 
 Comtesse de Grammont, whose delicately moulded features, 
 beautiful neck, exquisite mouth, and brilliantly expressive 
 eyes, are as vividly perpetuated by the pencil of Lely, as 
 they will be celebrated through all time in the pages of De 
 Grammont. 
 
 With regard to the style of Lely's " Beauties," all of them 
 are represented in three-quarters' lengths, in landscapes, or 
 as Walpole expresses it, " trailing fringes and embroidery 
 through meadows and purling streams." Their draperies 
 are disposed with a sort of graceful negligence, which 
 though affected, is not unpleasing ; and the free exposure of 
 their busts gave the painter full scope for depicting that de- 
 licate softness of the flesh in which he chiefly excelled. 
 They are bare-headed, with their hair arranged in coquettish 
 
248 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1665 
 
 little curls on the forehead. As each picture conforms to 
 the same type, it is not surprising that they are all too much 
 alike — a fault, perhaps, inevitable in painting a series of this 
 sort. 
 
 To resume our citation from Pepys' Diary. After he had 
 dined with Lely, he went to " the councill-house, but the 
 council began late to sit ; so that when I got free, and came 
 back to look for Cutler, he was gone with his coach, without 
 leaving any word with anybody to tell me so ; so that I was 
 forced with great trouble to walk up and down looking 
 for him, and at last forced to get a boat to carry me to 
 Kingston." 
 
 On the 26th of July the King went down the river for the 
 day to Greenwich and Woolwich, where he was met by 
 Pepys, who came the day after to Hampton Court to see 
 him and the Queen set out for Salisbury, whither they went 
 on account of the increase of the plague in the environs of 
 London. Afterwards he saw the Duke and Duchess of 
 York, who were going northwards, and he kissed the 
 duchess's hand ; " and it was the first time I did ever, or did 
 see anybody else, kiss her hand, and it was a most fine 
 white and fat hand. But it was pretty to see the young, 
 pretty ladies dressed like men, in velvet coats, caps with 
 ribbons, and with lace bands, just like men." 
 
 The King and Queen did not stay at Salisbury more 
 than a couple of months, after which they removed to Ox- 
 ford, where Parliament had been summoned to meet. 
 
 When the plague had somewhat abated, Charles, the 
 Duke of York, Prince Rupert, and some of the council came 
 to Hampton Court at the end of January, 1 to transact busi- 
 ness, intending to return, after an absence of a few days, to 
 
 1 See Pepys and Evelyn ; and 7th don, with his usual inaccuracy, says 
 Report of Historical Commission, p. " the end of February." 
 485 (Sir H. Verney's Papers). Claren- 
 
1 666] Pepys at the Palace. 249 
 
 Oxford, where they had left the Queen and the Duchess. 
 But almost at once after the King's arrival, the plague so 
 rapidly diminished, that there was thought to be no danger 
 in their staying on at Hampton Court, and they had not 
 been many days in the Palace when there came down 
 the indefatigable and ubiquitous Pepys, who, to his great 
 credit be it said, had remained at his post throughout the 
 awful dangers of that terrible time, and upon whom had de- 
 volved the whole management of the navy. His visit is thus 
 chronicled in his own diary under date January 28th, 1666 : 
 " Took coach, and to Hampton Court, where we find the 
 King, and Duke and lords, all in council ; so we walked up 
 and down : there being none of the ladies come and so 
 much the more business I hope will be done. The council 
 being up, out comes the King, and I kissed his hand, and 
 he grasped me very kindly by the hand. The Duke also I 
 kissed his, and he mighty kind/' He afterwards went down 
 into one of the courts, and there met the King and the Duke. 
 " And the Duke called me to him, and the King came to 
 me himself, and told me, 1 Mr. Pepys,' says he, ' I do give 
 you thanks for your good service all this year, and I assure 
 you I am very sensible of it.' And the Duke of York did 
 tell me with pleasure that he had read over my discourse 
 about pursers, and would have it ordered in my way, and so 
 fell from one discourse to another. I walked with them 
 quite out of the courts into the fields (i.e. the Park) and then 
 back." 
 
 Next day came the other famous diarist, Evelyn, to pay 
 his respects, and render an account of his services, and was 
 welcomed by the King and Duke with equal gratitude and 
 cordiality. " I went," writes he, " to wait on his Majesty, 
 now returned from Oxford to Hampton Court, where the 
 Duke of Albemarle presented me to him ; he ran towards 
 me, and in a most gracious manner gave me his hand to 
 
250 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1666 
 
 kisse, with many thanks for my care and faithfullnesse in his 
 service in a time of such great danger, when everybody fled 
 their employments ; he told me he was much obliged to me, 
 and said he was several times concerned for me, and the 
 peril I underwent, and did receive my service most accep- 
 tably, though in truth I did but do my duty, and O that I 
 had performed it as I ought ! After this his Majesty was 
 pleased to talk with me alone, neere an hour, of several parti- 
 culars of my employment .... Then the Duke came 
 towards me, and embraced me with much kindnesse, telling; 
 me if he had thought my danger would have been sogreate, 
 he would not have suffered his Majesty to employ me in 
 that station. Then came to salute me my Lord of St. 
 Albans, Lord Arlington, Sir Wm. Coventrie and severall 
 greate persons after which I got home, not being very well 
 in health." 
 
 The King remained on at Hampton Court for about a 
 week, 1 after which he returned to Whitehall, where he was 
 joined by the Queen on the 16th of February, 2 after she had 
 stayed a couple of days here on her way back from Oxford. 
 From Whitehall, in the following September, at the time of 
 the Great Fire of London, the King sent many of his choicest 
 goods by water to Hampton Court for safety. 3 
 
 It was in this year 1666, also, that Mandeslo, the famous 
 traveller, visited this Palace. In the account he gives of it 
 he makes especial mention of some very ancient tapestries 
 illustrative of the " Creation of the World," which was the 
 best designed of all, and which represented the Trinity under 
 the form of three persons attired as bishops, with crowns on 
 their heads, and sceptres in their hands. 4 
 
 1 Evelyn and Pepys say Feb. 2nd, Domestic, Charles If., vol. cxlviii., No- 
 Clarendon says a fortnight or three 38. 
 
 weeks, which is another instance of his 3 A fttiquarian Repertory, vol. ii., p.. 
 
 carelessness. 1 54. 
 
 2 Pepys' Diary and State Papers, 4 Mandeslo's Voyages, ii., p. 736. 
 
i66 9 ] 
 
 Hunting at Hampton Court. 
 
 251 
 
 We have noticed in a preceding chapter that Charles II. 
 took care, almost at once on his accession to the throne, to 
 preserve the game in the parks at Hampton Court, and to 
 keep up the sport of stag-hunting there, for which he often 
 came down from London for the day. On one of these 
 occasions he was entertained at the Upper Lodge by Mr. 
 Progers, for whom, as we have seen, it had been rebuilt and 
 enlarged. 1 The print on page 206 shows the lodge as it ap- 
 peared about a hundred and fifty years ago, since which it 
 has been considerably altered. 2 The sport, which the Hamp- 
 ton Court preserves afforded, was sometimes enjoyed by dis- 
 tinguished foreigners, one of these being Cosmo III., Duke of 
 Tuscany, who was travelling in England in 1669, and who 
 on the 30th of May set out from London, attended by Lord 
 Philip Howard and Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, and fol- 
 lowed by the gentlemen of his suite, to visit the Palace and 
 witness the stag-hunting in the park. In the account that was 
 written by his secretary, Magalotti, 3 there is an interesting 
 description of the " sport " — if, after reading it, we can con- 
 sider that word applicable to what took place. 
 
 " On first entering the park, he was met by Prince Rupert, 
 who was likewise come thither for the diversion of seeing 
 the hunt. After the usual compliments his highness went 
 forward, Prince Rupert remaining in the place appointed for 
 him under the shade of a tree, on a stage a little raised from 
 the ground, which is the same where the King stands to see 
 this amusement. When the huntsmen had stretched out the 
 nets after the German manner, inclosing with them a con- 
 siderable space of land, they let the dogs loose upon four 
 deer which were confined there, who as soon as they saw 
 them took to flight ; but as they had not the power of going 
 
 1 Ante, p. 205, and also S fate Papers, Alfred Paget. 
 
 Domestic, Charles II, vol. cii., No. 27. 3 Magalotti's Travels of Cosmo III. 
 
 2 It is now in the occupation of Lady in England, London, 1821, p. 208. 
 
252 History of Hampton Court Palace. [1669 
 
 which way they pleased, they ran round the net, endeavour- 
 ing - by various cunning leaps to save themselves from being 
 stopped by the dogs, and continued to run in this manner 
 for some time to the great diversion of the spectators ! till at 
 last the huntsmen, that they might not harass the animals 
 superfluously, drawing a certain cord, opened the nets in one 
 part, which was prepared for that purpose, and left the deer 
 at liberty to escape. 
 
 " Having walked during the deer-hunting over the park, 
 which is rendered truly delightful by its numerous canals 
 and amenities of every kind, his highness repaired to the 
 Palace to view the building." 
 
 The aspect of the park at this period, with the canal and 
 the recently planted avenues of lime, can be well imagined 
 from the contemporary picture now at Hampton Court, of 
 which we have given an engraving and a description on 
 page 218. 
 
 With the Palace Cosmo III. was much pleased, observing 
 in a long description he gives of it, that " although the more 
 elegant orders of architecture are not to be found in it, so as 
 to make it a regular structure according to the rules of art, 
 yet it is, on the whole, a beautiful object to the eye. The 
 numerous towers and cupolas, judiciously disposed at irre- 
 gular distances all over the vast pile of building, form a 
 most striking ornament to it, whether viewed near or at a 
 distance." 
 
 " The gardens are divided into very large, level and well 
 kept walks, which, separating the ground into different com- 
 partments, form artificial pastures of grass, being themselves 
 formed by espalier trees, partly such as bear fruit and partly 
 ornamental ones, but all adding to the beauty of the appear- 
 ance. This beauty is further augmented by fountains made 
 of slate after the Italian style, and distributed in different 
 parts of the garden, whose jets cTeaux throw up the water in 
 
1672] Latter Half of Charles II 's Reign. 
 
 253 
 
 various playful and fanciful ways. There are also in the 
 gardens some snug places of retirement in certain towers, 
 formerly intended as places of accommodation for the King's 
 mistresses." 
 
 Another foreign visitor, M. Jorevin de Rocheford, who 
 visited Hampton Court about the same period, namely, 
 1672, mentions " the large pavilion on the banks of the 
 Thames," and the park filled with all sorts of beasts of the 
 chace." 
 
 Charles II., during the latter half of his reign, came but 
 rarely to Hampton Court, and never resided here for any 
 length of time. One of his recorded visits took place at the 
 end of August, 1669, when he retired to this palace with his 
 brother, the Duke of York, on receiving the news of the 
 death of their mother, Queen Henrietta Maria. 2 Another 
 of his visits of which we find mention occurred in the end 
 of June, 1679, 3 when at a council held in the Palace, 
 Charles, in opposition to the large majority of those present, 
 suddenly turned to his chancellor, and to the dismay of 
 Shaftesbury and his party, ordered him to prepare a procla- 
 mation for the dissolution of the then Parliament and the 
 calling together of a new one. 4 
 
 The House of Commons thus summarily dismissed was 
 the one which had passed the bill for the exclusion of 
 James II. from the succession to the throne, and which was 
 going on, to the extreme vexation of the Court, to enquire 
 into the corruption and bribery of members of Parliament, 
 when their activity was thus abruptly terminated. This 
 unexpected action of the King's, came as a severe blow to 
 
 1 Antiquarian Repertory ', vol. iv., mission, p. 473 (Sir H.Verney's papers.) 
 p. 574. In 1672. Charles was at this palace again on 
 
 2 Memoires of Queen Henrietta Nov. 14 ; ditto, p. 185. 
 
 Maria, 1671, p. 89. 4 Temple's Works, vol, ii., p. 511- 
 
 3 Diary of Henry Sidney, p. 21, 512. 
 and Seventh Report of Historical Com- 
 
254 History of Hampton Court Palace. [ l6Sl 
 
 Shaftesbury and the popular and anti-Catholic party, and 
 indirectly to the Duke of Monmouth, who had attached 
 himself to them for the purpose of furthering his own 
 ambitious project of being recognised as the King's legiti- 
 mate son, and the heir apparent to the throne, to the exclu- 
 sion of the Duke of York. But Monmouth's aspirations, 
 though for a time flattered by the great affection Charles 
 bore him, and by the favours he heaped upon him, were 
 not destined to be fulfilled. Soon after this, his overbearing 
 conduct exciting his father's deep displeasure, he was 
 ordered to surrender his post of commander-in-chief, and, 
 one by one, all his other offices were taken from him, and 
 he was directed to retire to the Continent. After a while 
 he was suffered to return to England; but in 1681, at a 
 Council held at Hampton Court on May 23rd, an order was 
 issued by King Charles that "all the King's servants and 
 all such as had dependence on him, should not keep 
 company with the Duke of Monmouth or frequent the said 
 Duke for the time to come," on account of his having had 
 the audacity to threaten Lord Halifax for giving advice 
 hostile to him at the Council board. 1 
 
 Charles II. continued to the end of his reign to pay 
 occasional flying visits here ; 2 and to his latter years 
 belongs an anecdote told of Verrio the painter, who had 
 done much decorative work for the King in the way of 
 painting ceilings and staircases. Verrio, it seems, was 
 very extravagant, and kept a most expensive table, so that 
 he often pressed the King for money with a freedom, which 
 his Majesty's own frankness indulged. " Once at Hampton 
 Court, when he had but lately received an advance of 
 ^1000, he found the King in such a circle that he could not 
 
 1 Reresby's Memoirs, p. 264. 1684. See Report of Historical Com- 
 
 2 He held councils in the palace on mission, pp. 352, 363, 405, and 410. 
 May 23rd, June 17th and 23rd, 1682, (Sir F. Graham's papers at Netherby.) 
 and again in 1683, and on July 24th, 
 
1687] Anecdote of Verrio— James II. 255 
 
 approach him. He called out : ' Sire, I desire the favour 
 of speaking to your Majesty/ 1 Well, Verrio,' said the 
 King, ' what is your request ? ' 1 Money, Sir, money ; I 
 am so short of cash, that I am not able to pay my work- 
 men ; and your Majesty and I have learnt by experience, 
 that pedlars and painters cannot give long credit.' The 
 King smiled and said he had but lately ordered him 
 ^1000. 'Yes, Sir,' replied he, 'but that was soon paid 
 away, and I have no gold left.' 'At that rate/ said the 
 King, ' you would spend more than I do, to maintain my 
 family/ ' True,' answered Verrio, 1 but does your Majesty 
 keep an open table as I do ? 1 
 
 The reign of James II. was, as far as the history of 
 Hampton Court is concerned, an uneventful one ; for it is 
 not certain whether, as King, he ever passed a single night 
 in the Palace ; though he seems to have held a Council 
 here about the 29th of May, 1687, at which " the militia was 
 put down and the licensing of ale-houses was put in other 
 hands than the justices of the peace." 2 
 
 James, however, was frequently in the neighbourhood 
 of Hampton Court, namely at Hounslow Heath, which 
 adjoins the outskirts of Bushey Park, and on which was 
 encamped during the year 1687 the army of 16,000 men, 
 on whose support he relied to carry out his schemes against 
 the liberties of the English people. 3 But his armed force 
 was regarded, by his subjects, with little else but derision ; 
 of which we have a good example in the contemptuous 
 irony of the following lines, published at the time : — 
 
 " Near Hampton Court there lies a Common, 
 Unknown to neither man nor woman ; 
 
 1 Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting. 3 See Antiquarian Repertory, vol. i., 
 
 2 7th Report of Historical Cofnmis- p. 230. 
 sion, p. 504 (Sir H. Verney's papers). 
 
256 History of Hampton Court Palace, [1687 
 
 The Heath of Hounslow it is styled ; 
 Which never was with blood defiled, 
 Though it has been of war the seat 
 Now three campaigns, almost complete. 
 Here you may see great James the Second 
 (The greatest of our Kings he's reckoned) 
 A hero of such high renown, 
 Whole nations tremble at his frown ; 
 And when he smiles men die away 
 In transports of excessive joy." 1 
 
 Old Cast- Iron Fire-back bearing James II.'s Arms and Initials. 
 
 We have a reminiscence, also, of this reign in the canopy, 
 
 1 From a collection of songs. See Mr. Henry Morley's Library of English 
 Literature. 
 
Reminiscences of James II. 
 
 257 
 
 now in the Queens Audience Chamber, which was removed 
 here from Windsor Castle, and under which King James 
 there received the Papal Nuncio — an event which gave such 
 deep offence to his Protestant subjects — and another in the old 
 cast-iron fire-back in the Queen's Gallery, which bears 
 the royal arms, his initials I.R., and the date 1687. 
 
 With this date, on the eve of the Revolution and the 
 advent of William III., who opens a new era in the history 
 of the Palace, by his great alterations and additions to the 
 buildings, we may fitly close this second volume. In our 
 third we shall conclude the History of Hampton Court by 
 bringing the reader to the Jubilee Year of the reign of her 
 Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 (See pages 167 and 171, and Plan, page 1, and Map, page 168.) 
 
 Survey of Hampton Court Mansion House and Parks 
 made by the parliamentary commissioners in 1 65 3. 
 
 Preserved in the Record Office. Middlesex, No. 32. 
 
 A Survey of the Mansion Howse commonly called Hamp- 
 ton Court in the County of Middx, with the Barnes, Stables, 
 Outhouses, Gardens, Orchard, Yards, Courts and Back- 
 sydes belonging unto or used and enjoyed with the sayd 
 Mansion howse ; togeather with the Parke, comonly called 
 Howse Parke, The Course, and Meadows, thereto adjoyning, 
 The Hare Warren, wth Two other Parkes, the one comonly 
 called The Middle Parke and the other Bushie Parke, 
 And all Lands, Buildings, Woods, Timber, and other Apur- 
 tences (as yett unsold) to the foremenconed prmss or any 
 Part of them belonging ; made and Returned, &c. 
 
 All that Large Capitall Messuage or Mansion Howse of the King, 
 comonly called Hampton Court with the Rights, Members and 
 Apurtences thereof, situate, lying and beeing in the County of 
 Middx neere unto the River of Thames, betweene the way Leading 
 
Parliamentary Survey of Hampton Court (1653). 259 
 
 from the Towne of Kingston vpon Thames in the County of Surrey- 
 Cover Kingston bridge) to the Towne of Hampton in the County of 
 Middx and the River of Thames aforesayd ; Consisting of the 
 severall Perticulars heereafter menconed. That is to say 
 
 One greene court, inclosed, beeing the outer court of the sayd 
 howse, and lying west thereof, conteyning 3 roodes and 27 perches, 
 more or lesse. 
 
 One range of building, beeing the front of the mancion howse 
 aforesayd, westward, built with brick and covered with leade, con- 
 teyning in length, from north to south (excluding the north and 
 south wings of the said buildings), 152 foote of assize, or there- 
 abouts, in the middst whereof is the first greate gate, or entrance 
 into the sayd howse, leading through an arched bridge built over the 
 moate that lieth betweene the saydd range of building and the 
 outer greene court aforesayd. 
 
 One other greeiie court, beeing the first court within the sayd howse, 
 conteyning in length, from north to south, 152 ffoote, and in breadth, 
 144 ffoote. 
 
 One range of brick building, covered part with tyle and part with 
 leade, standing on the north syde or end of the last mentioned 
 court, containing in length, from west to east, 184 ffoote, and in 
 breadth 24 ffoote, or thereabouts. 
 
 One range of the like building, scituate on the south of the 
 sayd court, opposite to the last mentioned range, and of like 
 dimension. 
 
 One piece of grownd adjoyning on part of the backsyde or 
 South pt. of the last menconed Range, and in other part upon 
 the south parts of the two next menconed Ranges, beeing parcell 
 of a certeyne garden or yard commonly called or known by the 
 name of the Pond Garden, otherwise the Pond Yard, consisting of 
 one small slip of ground ranging behind the buildings aforesayd 
 1 20 fft from West to East, and beeing in breadth from the south pt 
 of the sayd buildings to a lowe wall there 20 ffoote, and of one 
 other piece of grownd (beeing the greatest part of the Pond yard or 
 Pond Garden aforesayd) conteyning from the North East corner 
 of the sayd lowe wall (ranging southwards by a Diall standing 
 in the sd: yard) to the Greate wall adjoyning to a certayne way 
 by the River syde called The Towing place, 240 ffoote or there- 
 abouts. 
 
26o 
 
 Appendix A, 
 
 One range of building on the east part of the sayd second greene 
 court, and fronting the entrance thereinto, built with brick, and 
 covered (for the most part) with leade, conteyning in length, 
 from north to south, 203 ffoote, breadth 17 fifoote, or thereabouts, 
 in the midst whereof is the gate or passage into the court or yard 
 next mentioned. 
 
 One other court or yard, paved with stone (with a ffountayne 
 standing in midst thereof), conteyning in length, from north to south, 
 144 ffoot, and in breadth 80 ffeet, or thereabouts. 
 
 One Range of Brick Building, covered also (for the most part) 
 with leade, situate on the south end of the sayd Stone Court, being 
 in breadth 20 ffte or thereabouts. 
 
 One Range of Building with severall aditional Buildings to the 
 same adjoyning, Built also with brick and covered with leade, 
 situate on the north end of the sayd Stone Court and oposite unto 
 the last menconed Range. 
 
 One Range of Building being the Range ffronting the aforesayd 
 passage into the sayd Stone Court situate on the East syde thereof, 
 Built with brick and covered with leade, and being in breadth 25 
 ffoote or thereabouts, with a passage or way under the midst thereof 
 into the next menconed Court. 
 
 One other court, commonly called the Cloyster Greene Court, 
 conteyning in length, from north to south, 104 ffoot, and in breadth 
 98 ffoot. 
 
 One Range of Brick building covered with Leade lying on the 
 West syde of the sayd Cloyster Court, conteyning 40 fft in breadth 
 or thereabouts, the back pt whereof adjoynes to the back part of 
 the last menconed Range of Building lying on the East syde of the 
 Stone Court aforesayd. 
 
 One Range of Building built with Bricke and covered with lead 
 situate on y e north pt of y e Cloyster Court cont. in br. 32 ft or 
 thereabouts. 
 
 One Range of Brick Building and severall other buildings adjoyn- 
 ing to the same, covered part with Tile and pt with Leade situate 
 on the south of the sayd Cloyster Court, and conteyning 52 ffoote 
 in breadth or thereabouts. 
 
 One large piece of ground or garden, comonly called the Privy 
 Garden, lying on the backsyde or south part of the last menconed 
 Range of building, togeather with one other garden, commonly 
 
Parliamentary Survey of Hampton Court (1653). 261 
 
 called the Mount Garden, lying on the south syde of the said Privy 
 Garden, both which parcells of ground or garden do contain three 
 acres and one Roode more or lesse. 
 
 One piece or parcell of ground measured to be taken out of the 
 park comly called the Howse Park, lying on the East part of the 
 last menconed gardens, and of a certain building called the Still 
 Howse and the orchard belonging thereto, which piece of ground is 
 to be fenced (upon a streight lyne) from a broken place in the wall 
 that devides ye sayd howse pk from the Course, beeing 264 ffoote 
 from the East End of the sayd mansion howse and of like measure 
 from the South East corner of the wall of Mount Garden aforsd to 
 the pale that fenceth the sayd park on the south and conteyneth 
 4 acres 3 Roo : and 26 pch more or lesse. 
 
 One Range of building built with brick and covered with Leade 
 standing on the East pt of the aforesayd Cloyster Court conteyn 
 in breadth thirty two ffoote or thereabouts, under which is a way or 
 passage into a large peece of pasture ground cofrionly called the 
 Course. 
 
 Severall other buildings, covered part of them with leade, and 
 part with tile, togeather with the severall yards or courts lying 
 betweene and amongst the sayd buildings, which buildings and 
 yards or courts do abutt east upon the said Course, north upon a 
 parcel of grownd commonly called the Paddock, west on a garden 
 or p. of ground known by the name of the Kitchin Garden, and doe 
 adjoyne south to the back part of the range of building (before 
 mentioned), which standeth on the north part of the Cloyster 
 Court. 
 
 One long peece of grownd measured to be taken out of the 
 Course afore mensioned lying on the East pt of the buildings of 
 the sayd Mansion Howse and of the Paddock aforesayd, which 
 peece of ground is to be fenced upon a straight lyne, one end whereof 
 is to bee sett 264 fTt Eastward from the remotest pt. of the North 
 East corner of the pale of the sayd Paddock, and the other one to 
 bee sett at like distance from the west end of the wall that divides 
 the house pk and Course aforesayd and doth conteyne 7 acres more 
 or less. 
 
 One Long Range of Buildings with sondrey aditionall buildings 
 neere or adjoyningto the same (wherein is included the North Wing 
 of the ffront of the sayd Mansion howse) lying behind or on the 
 
262 
 
 Appendix A. 
 
 North parts of the North Ranges of the said Greene Court and Stone 
 Court aforesayd. 
 
 One parcell of ground, commonly called the Kitchen Garden, 
 lying behind the last mensoned buildings abutting west upon part 
 of the Tiltyard wall, and north upon a parcell of ground called the 
 Ould Orchard, cont. three acres more or lesse. 
 
 The materialls of all the before mensioned Buildings and of all 
 such thinges as are valluable upon any part of the severall parcells 
 of ground, Courts, yards, or Gardens before described and sett 
 forth :— 
 
 We valine to bee worth upon the plase (ouer and above demolish- 
 ing charges) Seaven thousand, Seaven hundred and Seventy seaven 
 pounds, thirteen shillings five pence. 
 
 The Ground and Soyle aforesayd (when it shall be cleared of 
 the sayd buildings, or layd for conveniency to severall pts thereof) 
 will bee worth yearly thirty six pounds. 
 
 All that parcell of ground with th'apurtenances commonly called 
 the Paddock lying on the East pt of the Ould Orchard next 
 menconed. 
 
 And all that peece of grownd with the apurtenarices comonly 
 known by the name of the Old Orchard lying East from pt of the 
 Tilt yard thereafter menconed, both which parcells of grownd are 
 fenced on the north with part of the brick wall that standeth on the 
 south of the high way leading from Kingston to Hampton and doe 
 conteyne 8 Acres 2 Roodes more or lesse. 
 
 (Note thus :) The fTence betwene the old orcyard and kitchin 
 garden is to be made by the purchaser of the sd old orchard. 
 
 And all that prcell of pasture ground with the apurtnces com- 
 monly called The Tilt Yard inclosed with a good brick wall abut- 
 ting westward upon the way that Leadeth by the Greene to 
 Hampton Court fferry and conteyning nine acres 1 roode more or 
 lesse. 
 
 And all those five bidldings or towers with their appurtenances 
 built with brick and covered with Leade, three of which Towers 
 are standing in the sayd Tilt Yard and the other two part in the 
 sayd Tilt Yard and part in the Old Orchard aforesayd. Which 
 these parcells of ground last mentioned do conteyne together 17 Ac. 
 
Parliamentary Survey of Hampton Court (1653). 263 
 
 3 Roodes, worth by the yeare (the benefitt of the sayd wall con- 
 sidered) Thirty-five Pounds. 
 
 The materialls of the buildings and Towers aforesayd with the 
 Trees growing in the sayd old Orchard are vallued in gross at three 
 hundred eighty six pounds 9sh. 6 d . 
 
 Merhd. It will not be convenient or safe to sell the grounds and 
 prmss last mensioned before the buildings and prmss first before 
 vallued are disposed of. 
 
 All that Wing of brick building beeing the South wing 1 of the 
 ffront of the sayd Mansion howse and all that Greate howse of Ease- 
 ment 2 standing over the Moate, And other Roomes adjoyning thereto, 
 togeather with a small dwelling house heretofore belonging to the 
 Garden Keeper, with a small stable and Coach house adjoyning, 3 
 And all that litle garden lying on the North part of the sayd Wing 
 of building togeather with one peece of ground in forme of a Triangle, 
 to be taken out of the Outer Greene Court of the sayd mansion 
 howse by a straight lyne from the North West corner of the wall of 
 the sayd Garden to the East end of the Stile coming from the water 
 syde to the sayd outer Court. 
 
 And all such Yards or Courts as lie before any of the sayd build- 
 ings towards the River syde, with so much of a certayne yard or 
 garden, commonly called the Pond Yard or Pond Garden, as shall 
 range from the North East corner of a lowe brick wall standing 
 20 fft from the south syde of the sayd Mansion house (by a diall 
 standing in the sayd garden) to the Greate Wall of the sayd Garden 
 South. 
 
 All which we valine to be worth yearely, Twenty pounds. 
 Memd. The ffence that must divide the sayd Pond yard or Pond 
 Garden is to be made by the purchasar of the last mensoned prmss. 
 
 All those severall Buildings and Towers, wth their apurtehces 
 built with brick and covered with Leade, commonly called the Feather 
 Howse and the Hott Howse with the Store Cellars (betweene the sayd 
 houses), formerly called the old Bowling Alley, And all that slipp of 
 
 1 Now in the occupation of Her occupied by her Royal Highness Prin- 
 Royal Highness Princess Frederica. cess Frederica, and partly by the gar- 
 
 2 No longer in existence. dener of the Privy Garden. 
 
 3 Apparently the rooms now partly 
 
264 
 
 Appendix A. 
 
 ground lying on the South part and before the sayd buildings next 
 unto a certayne way by the River syde called the Towing plase. 
 The material Is whereof we vallued at the grosse summe of 333 1 '. 
 01 s . io d . 
 
 The ground whereon the sayd buildings stand with the slipp of 
 ground aforesayd worth by the yeare tenn shillings. 
 
 Memd. The wall round about the prmss is vallued herewith. 
 
 All those brick buildings covered with Leade with them every of 
 their apurtences comonly called or known by the severall names of 
 the Stillhowse and The Water Gallery, pt of which buildings doe stand 
 over the aforesayd Towing place, close to the River syde, and all 
 yards, Courts, and Gardens belonging to and used with the sayd 
 buildings, or any of them. All which prmss doe abutt upon the 
 Mount Garden wall to the North and the howse park West. 
 
 The severall Materialls of and belonging to the sayd Buildings 
 amount to 504 : 04 : 04. 
 
 The soyle cleared of the sayd Materialls p ann. 33sh. 4d. 
 
 All that office or Building with the yard and apurtences thereto 
 belonging, heretofore used for a wood yard, situate on the North 
 syde of the sayd Towing place and in the Outer greene Court of 
 the sayd Mansion house, having the sayd Greene Court on the East 
 and North pts thereof p ann. ffive pounds. 
 
 All those three severall buildings with the yards and other apur- 
 tences belonging to all and every of them, heretofore used as a Privy 
 Bakehouse and Poultry office and a Scalding house 1 situate in the sayd 
 Outer Greene Court, having the sayd Court north, the foresayd 
 Woodyard office East, and the Towing place South, worth togeather 
 yearly xi H . 
 
 Memd. We have comprehended the Benefitt and accomodat. of 
 the Towing plase to all ffive last vallued pcells (before their 
 grownds and howsing respectively) within the sayd vallues. 
 
 All that Tenement with the apurtences comonly called the Toye, 
 now used for a Victualling House, scituate neere unto Hampton 
 Court fferry, adjoyning on or neere The South west corner of the 
 
 1 These buildings were opposite the present barracks ; but were pulled down 
 about twenty years ago. 
 
Parliamentary Survey of Hampton Court (1653). 265 
 
 wall of the Outer Greene Court of the Mansion hovvse aforesayd, 
 and in the present occupation of M r Mark Gibson, worth by the 
 yeare seaven pounds. 1 
 
 All that Messuage or dwelling howse, with the Yards, Gardens, 
 and other aprtnes to the same belonging, built part with brick, part 
 with Timber, and covered with Tile, situate upon or neere to the 
 Greene comonly called Hampton Court Greene, on the west syde of 
 the way to the fferry plase, conteyning in Length 133 fToote of 
 Assize, and in breadth 84 fft, or thereabout, in the present tenure 
 of M r Thomas Smyhthsbye, and worth by the year xv 1 '. 
 
 Mefhd. To this house there is to be layd 20 fft in breadth before 
 it and 12 fft in breadth all along the east part of it, beeing pcell of 
 the Greene aforesayd. 
 
 All that dwelling house and Garden thereto adjoyning situate on 
 the westpt of the last mensond Mess: and heretofore belonging to the 
 Survyor Gen r11 of the late K s workes being in length (with the 
 sayd garden) 140 fToote in breadth next the foresayd Greene 44 
 fToote or thereabout, unto which also is to be layd 20 fToote of the 
 sayd Greene before the fTront thereof, and then it will be worth 
 yearly six pounds. 
 
 All those severall messuages, Tenements, or dwelling houses, with 
 their and every of their apurtens, heretofore used or enjoyed by the 
 master carpenter, Mason, Locksmyth, and Clearke of the workes to 
 the late Kinge. And all those stables with the apurtes to the 
 sayd Tenements neere adjoyning, comonly called The Qucenes* 
 stables, all which tenements and Stables are situate on the west of 
 the dwelling howse and Garden last before vallued, having the afore- 
 sayd Greene called Hampton Court Greene on the North, and are 
 worth in the whole yearly £26. 
 
 Mefhd. The last mensoned premises are to have layd before 
 
 1 The " Toy " inn was a picturesque 
 building in the same style as the 
 Palace, standing on the now unoccupied 
 piece of ground, next to the " Trophy 
 Gates" entrance to the Palace, and 
 opposite the present " Mitre " Hotel. 
 It was not pulled down till 1857. It is 
 said, on what authority I know not, to 
 
 have been used as a barrack during 
 the Commonwealth for Cromwell's 
 soldiers. Tokens of the house during 
 the seventeenth century are still extant. 
 — History of Sign Boards, 8th edition, 
 p. 505. 
 
 2 Still existing. See p. 314 and 315 
 of vol. i. 
 
266 
 
 Appendix A. 
 
 them (out of the fore sayd greene), 35 fit in breadth at the east end 
 and 40 fft in breadth at the west end of them. 
 
 All those severall dwelling houses, tenements, Great Barne Stable, 
 and other Buildings, with their and every of their apurtnces, scituate 
 westward from the Tenements and premises last mensoned and 
 abutting upon Hampton Court Greene north, bounded with an Old 
 Barne and certayne meadow grounds in the tenure of S r John 
 Hippesley or his assigns West, and with a narrow way or passage 
 by the syde of the Q s Stables on the east, conteyning in length 
 from East to West 336 fft of Assize, and in breadth 170 fft or there- 
 about p. An. xxviii 11 . 1 
 
 Mn d . There is to be layd to and before the sayd prmiss respec- 
 tively 40 ff in breadth out of the Greene aforesayd. 
 
 All that Great Greene or pcell of pasture ground comonly called 
 Hampton Court Greene Lying and beeing on the West syde of the 
 wall of the Tilt Yard aforesayd and on the South pt of the Midle 
 pke hereafter mensoned, which greene or pcell of ground was here- 
 tofore Grazed as A stinted pasture by severall officers of the late 
 King according to their respective allowances, and doth conteyne 
 in the whole (over and above what is to be taken out of the same 
 as is before pticularly menconed) 29 Acres more or less vallued, 
 with respect to the severall Wayes which must be continued through 
 the same at by the yeare Nine Pounds. 
 
 All that pcell of Impaled or enclosed ground, with the apurte- 
 nances (except those after excepted) commonly called or known by 
 the name of the House Parke, lying and beeing neere unto the fore- 
 sayd Capitall Messuage or Mansion House, between a large peece 
 of Inclosed pasture ground comonly called The Course, and A cer- 
 tayne way or passage by the side of the River of Thames, comonly 
 known by the name of the Towing place. And all that Large 
 messuage or Lodge, with the Barnes, Stables, and Outhouses thereto 
 belonging, standing neere or adjoyning to the Brick wall that divideth 
 the sayd Howse Parke from the howse aforesayd. And all those 
 two other small Lodges or Tenements with their appurtenances 
 
 1 These premises seem to have been the site of the present " Cardinal Wolsey " 
 and " Henry VIII." public-house. 
 
Parliamentary Survey of Hampton Court (1653). 267 
 
 situate and being within the sayd Park. And all Timber Trees, 
 and other Trees, woods, underwoods, shrubbs, and bushes, Deer, or 
 wild beasts, comodities, privileges, franchises, Immunities, advan- 
 tages, and all other apurtenances to the sayd Parke and Premises 
 last mentioned, or to any of them of right belonging and appertain- 
 ing. Which sayd parcell of Inclosed Ground doth conteyne (over 
 and above one small parcell to be taken out of the same hereafter 
 excepted) 363 Acres 3 Roodes more or less, and is vallued to be 
 worth upon Improvement yearly Two Hundred and £43 \os. 
 
 Out of which parke or prcell of ground there is to excepted so 
 much as is before sett forth to be Layd to the Mansion house afore- 
 sayd, the ffense to be made by the purchaser of the Parke and 
 premises last mentioned. 
 
 The materialles of the Lodge and other Buildings within the sayd 
 Park are vallued in Grosse at ^184 19s. 8d. 
 
 The trees, woods, and Bushes there at ^163 15^. 
 
 The Deer in the sayd parke reckoned to be in number 199, at 
 one hundred and ninety-nine pounds. 
 
 All that Large peece or parcell of Inclosed Pasture ground with 
 the appurtenances (except those hereafter excepted) commonly 
 called or known by the name of the Course, otherwise Hampton 
 Court Course, ffenced on the North part thereof with a brick wall 
 that standeth on the south side of the highway leading from 
 Kingston to Hampton Court, and ffenced on the south part thereof 
 also with a brick wall that devideth the sayd Course from the House 
 Park aforesayd. And all that little Building scituate within the 
 sayd peece of ground neere the Great Lodge of the house park 
 last mencioned, usually called The Standing. And all trees, woods, 
 bushes, and all other apurtenances (except so much of the sayd 
 Course to be fenced by the purchaser thereof) as is before layd out 
 to goe with the mansion house aforesaid, and two little Courts 
 (paled in and used with the Great Lodge before mentioned) to the 
 sayd pcell of ground or Course in any wise belonging or apertain- 
 ing. All which doth conteyne over and above the excepted pre- 
 mises, One hundred 44 acres more or less vallued by the year at 
 one hundred and seaven Pounds. 
 
 The Trees, Bushes, and little building aforesayd vallued in 
 grosse at £54. 
 
268 
 
 Appendix A. 
 
 All those three Meadows or Several parcells of meadow ground, 
 with their and every of their appurtenances, commonly called or 
 known by the several names of the King's Meade, the Middle 
 Meade, and the Upper Meade, Sett, Lyinge, and being betweene 
 sertayne howses and buildings with the backsydes belonging to 
 some of them, pcell of a certayne hamblett commonly called King- 
 ston Wick in the County of Mctx. and the two last menconed pcells 
 of ground, known by the names of the Course and Howse Parke, 
 and abutting southwards upon the River of Thames. All which 
 pcells of Meadowe ground do conteyne together ninety one 
 Acres, i Roode, more or less, worth per ann. Eighty Eight 
 pounds. 
 
 The Trees standing and growing in one of the said meadowes 
 called King's Meade are worth Tenn Pounds. 
 
 All those severall parcells of meadow grounds with their 
 apurtenances commonly called The Tenn Acres and the five acres 
 peece, lying and beeing on the West Part of Upper Meade aforesayd, 
 having the aforesayd house pice Northwards and the aforesayd 
 Towing Place southwards, and contayning Eighteen Acres more or 
 less worth yearly Eighteen pounds. 
 
 Memorandum. The fee of the last mensioned meadows was pur- 
 chased with the Honor of Hampton Court, but the present Interest 
 of and in the premises was allowed to M r W m Smythsbie during 
 his life as Keeper of the Privy Lodgings and Standing Wardrobe at 
 Hampton Court, and expressed accordingly, so that the purchase 
 will be only for and during the life of the said Wm. 
 
 Memord. The benefitt of the foresayd pc. of ground commonly 
 called the Towing place, is to belong to the purchaser of the pre- 
 mises lying before any part of the same respectively. 
 
 All that large piece or parcell of Course ground with the appur- 
 tenances, commonly called or known by the name of the Hare 
 Warren, lying and beeing within the parrish of Hampton, in the 
 County of Mddx, bounded Westwarde with the Wall belonging 
 to the middle Parke hereafter mentioned, northwards and East- 
 wards with the common fields and other grounds belonging to 
 Teddington and Kingston Wick, and southwards with a high brick 
 wall belonging to the premises and conteyning in the whole Three 
 
Parliamentary Survey of Hampton Court (1653). 269 
 
 hundred and eighty acres more or lesse, vallued to be worth yearly 
 ffowre-score pounds. 
 
 The trees, wood and bushes upon the sayd peeces of ground 
 value at ffifty pounds. 
 
 The Middle Parke. — All that inclosed prcell of ground with the 
 appurtenances, commonly called the Middle Parke, lying and being 
 between the Hare Warren last mentioned and the Parke called 
 Bushie Pfte next mensioned, bounded northwards with parcell of 
 the Great Heath, commonly called Hounslow Heath, and south- 
 wards with Hampton Court greene before mentioned. And all 
 that large dwelling house or lodge, with the Barnes, Stables, Out- 
 houses, and other appurtenances, standing towards that syde of the 
 Parke which borders upon Hounslow Heath aforesaid. And all 
 Timber Trees and other Trees, Woods, underwoods, Bushes, 
 Shrubbs, Wild Beastes, and all other commodities, and advantages, 
 privileges, ffranchises, and Immunities, with their and every of 
 theire appurtenances to the forsayd Parke and premises, or to any 
 pt. or parcell of their belonging or aperteyning. Which sayd 
 parcell of ground or parke doth conteyne 370 acres 1 rood more or 
 less, and is vallued to be worth upon Improvement yearly £225. 
 
 The materialls of the Lodges and Outhouses thereto belonging, 
 amounts in grosse to the somme of one Hundred eighty four 
 pounds 15^. 
 
 The timber trees with other trees, wood, and Bushes are vallued 
 togeather at Three Hundred and twelve pounds, three shillings 
 and four pence. 
 
 The Deer or wild beasts within the sayd Parke reckoned to be 
 in number seventy, vallued at seventy pounds. 
 
 Bushie Parke. — All that parcell of Impaled ground with the fix- 
 tures, members and apurtenances thereof, commonly called Bushie 
 Parke y situate, lying, and beeing in the pish, of Hampton in the 
 County of Middx, between the Highway Leading by the River of 
 Thames from Hampton town to Hampton Courte, and the Great 
 Heath, commonly called Hounslow Heath, conteyning altogether 
 three hundred 50 Acres, 03 R. 16 P., more or less, consisting of the 
 pticulars following, That is to say, 
 
 One parcell of Inclosed ground commonly called the Old Parke y 
 
Appendix A, 
 
 lying neere and adjoinying upon pt of Hownslow Heath aforesayd, 
 wherein is scituate the messuage or dwelling house in the tenure of 
 Sir John Hippesley, commonly called the Greater Lodge, consisting 
 of a hall, a faire parlor, a kitchen, a pantry, and other convenient 
 Roomes belowe stayres, seven Lodging roomes above stayres, with 
 a Large Barne, Stable, and other outhouses, belonging to the 
 same, which sayd parcel of ground doth conteyne one hundred 
 83 acres 21 perches more or less, worth upon improvement one 
 Hundred and two pounds. 
 
 The materialls of the sayd Lodge distinctly calculated amounts 
 to One Hundred £59 \os. 4d. 
 
 The Trees and Bushes of all sorts whithin the sayd Old Parke 
 amounts to Six Hundred £20 6s. 8d. 
 
 The Deere belonging to the same accounted to be but nine and 
 twenty, are vallued at twenty-nine pounds. 
 
 The New Park Part. — One peece of Inclosed ground parcell of 
 the new ground taken into the foresayd parke lying between the 
 sayd Old Parke and the highway last mencioned next unto the sayd 
 Towne of Hampton, wherein standeth a small Lodge with a Barne 
 and yard belonging to the same, and conteyneth together twenty 
 three Acres 2 Roo. and 23 pch. more or less, worth per Acre Three 
 and Twenty Pounds 15/. 
 
 The Trees standing in the sayd prcell of grownd are valued 
 at £25. 
 
 The Neiv Parke other part. — One other peece or pcell of Inclosed 
 grownd beeing the remayning pt. of the sayd new grownd lately 
 taken into the sayd pice, lying betweene the pcell of ground last 
 mensoned, and Hampton Courte Greene aforesayd, and abutting 
 southwards upon the sayd way Leading from Hampton towne to 
 Hampton Court, Northwards upon the old parke aforesayd, and 
 conteyneth one Hundred and forty four acres 12 pch. more or lesse 
 vallued to be worth nearly One Hundred and Fifteen Pounds. 
 
 There are Yong Elmes growing upon the last mencioned peeces, 
 worth twenty pounds. And all liberties, privillidges, ffranchises, 
 Immunities, Commodities, and advantages, with their and every of 
 their apurtences, to all the three last mensoned pcells of ground or 
 to any of them of right belonging and apurteyning. 
 
 Memd. The said pke called Bushie Pke is at present divided into 
 3 parts, as the same is before sett forth, and finding the sayd divi- 
 
Parliamentary Survey of Hampton Conrt (1653). 271 
 
 sion to be rather advantageous than prejudicial to the Common- 
 wealth, we have so returned it. 
 
 All that peece or parcell of pasture ground, comonly knowen 
 by the name of Conduitt Close, lying neere or adjoyning to the 
 high way leading from Hampton Town to Cheston, and cont. three 
 Rhoodes more or less, worth p. acr. 22s. 
 
 Memd. There is standing upon the sayd peece of ground a con- 
 duitt Heade and Conserve for conveyance of water to Hampton 
 Court house, which, with the pipes and watercourses passing from 
 the same is (by the Act) reserved. 
 
 William Smiths by his clayme. — William Smisby, Es r (by pattent 
 from the late King Charles, dated at Westminster the 15 th of Nov 1 
 in the 4 th of his Raigne) claymeth to hold the Office of Keeping of 
 the Privy Lodgings and wardrobe within the Honour of Hampton 
 Court, with all wages, ffees, proffitts, Advantages, and Emoluments 
 to the sayd Office incident, or in any wages belonging toge- 
 ther with the ffee or standing wages of I2 d a day to be pd. out of 
 the Exchequer qterly during the natural lyfe of the said William. 
 
 William Hogan his Clayme. — William Hogan, by letters pattent 
 of the late King James, dated the 12th day of ffeb. in the first of 
 his Reigne, Claymeth to hold the Office of Keeping the two little 
 new gardens at Hampton Court next adjoyning to the Thames syde, 
 and the distilling of all hearbes waters, etc., together with the dis- 
 tilling house and other howses within the sayd gardens as well 
 above stayres as beneath, and the late Bowling Ally adjoyning 
 thereto, and also One Annuity for Annual Fee of Fortie pounds by 
 the yeare, to be payd out of the Reseits of the Exchequer at the 
 fouer most usuall ffeasts by equall portons, for and during the naturall 
 lyves of the sayd William Hogan, and of Anne Hogan his wyfe, 
 and of Charles Hogan his sonne, and the lyfe of the longest of 
 either of them. 
 
 Both which claymes were referred to the directions of the Act 
 for of the prmises. 
 
 Totall of the Annual Values in this Survey 
 
 doe amount unto An. I20 u 00 04 
 
 Totall of the grosse Values is . . . . Gr. 10765 19 09 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 (See page 172.) 
 
 Extracts from the Calendars of State Papers of the 
 time of the Commonwealth, relating to the Sale of 
 the Manors and Parks of Hampton Court in 1653, 
 and their repurchase by the state for the use and 
 Occupation of the Protector Oliver Cromwell. 
 
 Vol. XXXVII., No. 83. June 13/*, 1653. 
 
 "Mr. Thurloe to bring in an instruction authorising the trustees 
 for sale of the late King's lands to let out the parks about Hamp- 
 ton Court, and the houses belonging to them, at the best 
 advantage.'' 
 
 Vol. XLII. y No. 51. Dec. 20, 1653. 
 
 (2) Order that Sir W m Roberts and Edw. Cressett treat with 
 those persons who have bought the parks, hare warren, meadows, 
 &c. of Hampton Court, for their surrender to the commonwealth 
 on reasonable terms, annexing : — 
 
 No. 52. Their report thereon — "We treated with Edmund Black- 
 well, goldsmith and jeweller, who contracted for Bushy Park 15 
 
Sale and Repurchase of Hampton Court (1653). 273 
 
 Nov. 1653, at the rent of £408 \$s. a year, and for materials, 
 timber, deer, &c. to the gross value of £915 17s. The rent being 
 sold at 14 years' purchase came to .£5,722 10s., so that the total of 
 the purchase was £6,638 Js. n 
 
 Of these he reserved to himself the New Park, valued at £1 15 a 
 year, which cost him £1,635, for which he demands £450 profit. 
 Part of New Park, 23 acres, he sold to M r . Casewell, of Hampton, 
 for £407 10s. — £53 more than it cost him ; this is paid for and 
 conveyed. He sold the meadows to his brother, John Backwell, 
 for £1,550 — £308 more than it cost him, and old Bushy Park to 
 M r Woolmer, of Gracious Street, for £1,528 — £100 more than it 
 cost him ; and the hare warren to M r Bryce and M r Inwood for 
 £1,170. Of these none are conveyed, nor is more than a moiety of 
 the purchase-money paid. 
 
 Backwell has thus received £461 profit for the part sold, and he 
 demands for his own part £450 profit. His brother demands 
 £450, M r Woolmer £400, M r Bryce and M r Inwood demand £200 
 besides their charges. The totai of the purchase, less M r Casewell's 
 is £6,283 17s., the moiety of which, £3,141 iSs. 6d., is presently to 
 be paid into the purchasers, besides the profit demanded, £1,968, 
 the sum total being £5,109 iSs. 6d. 
 
 The Middle Park of Hampton Court, was sold to Col. Norton, 3 
 December, but no proceedings have been taken therein except 
 about contracts. 10 Jan. 1654. 
 
 Vol. LXV., No. 23. Jan. n 5 1654. 
 
 15 Nov. 1653. Edward Backwell contracted for £408 15^. rent 
 for the meadows, hare warren, Bushy Old Park, new park ground, 
 &c, for £5,722 \os. s which, with the trees, &c, comes to £6,638 17^., 
 which is paid. The premises are not conveyed, except part of the 
 new park ground to Rich. Caswell. 
 
 13 Dec. 1653. Reginald Merryott for Col. Rich. Norton, con- 
 tracted for the middle park, called Jockey's Park, at Hampton 
 Court, rent £225, with the materials, £3,701 19^. The contract 
 was not signed nor any money paid, and it is therefore void. 
 12 Jan y , 1654. 
 
Appendix B. 
 
 Vol. LXV., No. 33. Jan. 18, 1654. 
 
 7. Order that as [Sydrach] Brice and [John] Innwood are willing 
 to relinquish the contract for the hare warren in Hampton Court, 
 transferred to them by Edm. Backwell, the Trustees for sale of 
 Crown lands issue warrants to their treasurers to pay Brice and 
 Innwood £ 1,370 therefor. Approved 20 Jan. 
 
 Vol. LXV/. y No. 7. Feb. 2, 1654. 
 
 8. Col. Sydenham reports that a treaty has been had with Edw. 
 Backwell and Joshua Woolnough, about relinquishing lands belong- 
 ing to Hampton Court contracted for at Worcester House, viz., 
 Bushey Park, the 3 meadows, the new park ground, and the other 
 part of New Park, with the lodge, materials, deer, and timber, and 
 the hare warren, for which there was paid in full of the purchase, 
 £6,638 7*- 
 
 That there has been paid by virtue of a former order to M r Brice 
 and Inwood, for their interest in the hare warren, part of the said 
 contract (besides £200 allowed him above his purchase money), 
 £1,170 
 
 That there is reserved by Richd. Caswell part of the New Park 
 conveyed to him by the trustees under M r Backwell's contract, 
 which makes up the said purchase money, £357 10s. Total, 
 j£ 1,527 10s. This reduces the original purchase money to 
 £5,11017^ 
 
 That on payment of this sum, and of £1,100 over and above the 
 purchase money, viz., £800 to Backwell and £300 to Woolnough, 
 total, £6,210 17s., — being £4,792 Ss. 6d. to Blackwell and 
 £1,418 Ss. 6d. to Woolnough, — they are willing to relinquish their 
 interest in the premises. 
 
 Order thereon, that the said offer be accepted, and that orders 
 be prepared for the said trustees to receive a relinquishment of 
 their interest, and to the Treasurers at Worcester House to pay the 
 respective sums. 
 
Sale and Repurchase of Hampton Court (1653). 275 
 
 Vol. LXVL, No. 23. Feb. 9, 1654. 
 
 6. Jones, Strickland, and Sydenham to treat with the person 
 that bought the honour of Hampton Court, and with Rich. Caswell, 
 to whom part of the lands are conveyed, to relinquish their interest 
 to the use of the State on reasonable conditions. 
 
 13.' Order — that as Edw. Blackwell has contracted with the 
 trustees of exempted Crown Lands for Bushy old park, and part 
 of the new park, deer, &c. at Hampton Court, and transferred his 
 interest to Joshua Woolnough, who has paid \ the purchase money, 
 viz., £1,118 8s. 6d., but is willing to relinquish his interest on a 
 profit of £300 — the said trustees accept his release of contract, and 
 pay him ;£ 1,148 Ss. 6d. Approved 13 Feb. 
 
 Vol. LXVI., Nos. 40, 42. Feb. 20, 1654. 
 
 8. Order that as Edw. Backwell has contracted with the trustees 
 for sale of exempted Crown lands for 3 meadows and the hare 
 warren in Hampton Court, Bushy old park, and part of the new 
 park, and assigned his interest in the hare warren to [Shadrach] 
 Brice and [John] Imwood, \ of old Bushy park to Joshua Wool- 
 nough, and the 3 meadows to his brother John, who has paid 
 therefor £ 1,242, and is willing to relinquish his interest on repay- 
 ment, with £658 surplus, which the Protector and Council have 
 accepted, that the trustees receive Backwell's release of contract, 
 and pay him £1,900. Approved 21 Feb. 
 
 Order that — as part of the land in the said contract is conveyed 
 to Rich. Caswell, and Edw. Backwell has paid for the remainder, 
 that is, for 4 old Bushy park £1,118 Ss. 6d., and for new Bushy 
 park £1,632, and is willing to relinquish his contract on payment 
 of £142 surplus, — on his so doing, the trustees pay him £2,892 8s. 6d. 
 Approved 21 Feb. annexing : — 
 
Appendix B. 
 
 No. 42 (1. II.) Valuation of the interests in Bushey £ s. d. 
 
 park of Josh. Woolnough . . 1,418 8 6 
 
 Edward Backwell, goldsmith . . 1,1 18 8 6 
 
 „ » 1,774 o o 
 
 John Backwell . . . . 1,900 o o 
 
 £6,210 17 o 
 
 The profit given by the State to the purchasers 
 being £1,100. 
 
 No. 42 (ill. IV.) Notes of the sums required by the several 
 claimants named in the order for re-purchase of Hampton Court 
 lands, viz., £6,638 js. purchase money repaid, and £1,200 surplusage 
 allowed. Total, £7,838 7s. 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 (See pp. 1 80 and 198.) 
 
 Inventory of Goods mostly claimed as belonging to 
 Cromwell, at Hampton Court Palace in 1659. 
 
 Taken by order of the Council of State. Now preserved in the Public Record 
 Office. See State Papers, Domestic, Commonwealth, vol. cciii, No. 41. 
 
 For the Right Honoi> le the Councell of State, 
 
 In obedience to your Hono ble order of the Eleventh of June 
 instant commanding us to repaire to Hampton Courte and to take 
 an Account of the Goods in the Howses there soe as there bee noe 
 Imbezillment of them and likewise to take notice of such servants 
 as there remaine alsoe to take care of the Watercourses and Rivers 
 and certify the state of the whole to yo r Honour with our opinion 
 what servantes are fitt to bee continued for looking to the house 
 and what is fit to bee done therein. 
 
 We doe humbly certify that wee found in severall Roomes these 
 the particular goodes in this Booke mentioned, as followeth : — 
 
 [All the articles following, except those to which an asterisk is 
 prefixed, are in the original marked as belonging to Cromwell.] 
 
Appendix C. 
 
 In the Greate Presence Chamber. 
 
 Nine peices of Tapestry hanginge of Ahashuerus and Esther. 
 *One Turkey Carpett, five yards long. 
 *One Turkey Carpett, three yards and a halfe long. 
 *Three Spanish Tables. 
 
 Twelve back stooles of guilt leather and one Elbow Chaire. 
 
 One paire of Andirons with double brasses. 
 
 One paire of Creepers, fire showell, and Tongs with double 
 brasses. 
 
 One Spanish Table. 
 
 In the Privy Chamber. 
 
 *Nine pieces of Tapistry hangings of the old and new Law. 
 One large fine Persian Carpett. 
 
 Eighteene back stooles and one elbow chaire of a Cinamon 
 collour Cloth. 
 
 One large joyned table. 
 
 In the Supping Chamber or Withdrawing Room 
 
 *Five peices of Tapistry hangings of the Morians. 
 Twelve back stooles of guilt leather. 
 Fower Spanish Tables. 
 Three leather carpetts. 
 
 Two Courtines of greene bayes for the wyndowes. 
 
 One paire of Andirons with double brasses. 
 
 One paire of creepers, fire-showell, Tongs and Bellowes. 
 
 In the Ballcony Roome. 
 
 *Fower peices of rich Arras hangings of ye History of Tobyas. 
 *One Couch and two Elbow chaires ) of Crimson velvett 
 *Six back stooles V imbroidered with 
 
 *One long seate with a cushion ) cloth of gold. 
 
Inventory of Cromwell 1 s Goods (1659). 279 
 
 One fine Persian carpett. 
 
 Three window courtines of red bayes. 
 
 One Spanish Table. 
 
 In the Clossett next to ttt. 
 
 Two wyndow Courtines of red cotton. 
 One paire of small Andirons with creepers. 
 One Joynd Table. 
 
 In the Rich Bedchamber. 
 
 and imbroidered 
 suitable to the said bed. 
 
 *Five peices of rich Arras hangings of the Antiques. 
 *One peice of the like Arras of ^Eneas. 
 *One large persian Carpett under the bed. 
 *One bedsted with a sackcloth bottome. 
 
 *The furniture of rich incarnadine velvett imbroidered very rich 
 with gold and silver conteyning 
 *Three courtines \ 
 *Fower Cantoones 
 
 *Deepe vallons and bases of the same velvett, 
 
 *Fower Cupps 
 *One French Carpett 
 *Two Elbow Chaires 
 *Six back stooles 
 *The ceeler and head-cloth of the said bed is of rich cloth of 
 gold, with inward vallons, cases for the posts and lynynges of the 
 courtaines and cantoones all of the same. 
 
 *Two large wyndow courtines of scarlet cloth, lyned with Crim- 
 son Taffety and laced about with gold and silver needle worke lace 
 like acorns. 
 
 *One small Spanish table. 
 One large feather bed and bowlster. 
 One Canvas Materis. 
 One holland quilt. 
 One paire of blankets. 
 
 Three large courtins of scarlet bazes being a case about the 
 bed. 
 
28o 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 One paire of rich guilt stands and a table suitable. 
 
 One large looking glasse in an Ebony frame. 
 
 One paire of Andirons wi th double brasses, and creepers fire 
 shovell and Tongs suitable. 
 
 The chaires, stooles, Tables and Stands are covered with scarlet 
 bayes, fower plumes with red and white feathers. 
 
 One counterpane of white sattin quilted with silke of severall 
 collours. 
 
 In the late Queenes Dressing Roome. 
 
 *Three peices of fine Tapistry hangings of Vulcan and Venus. 
 *One peice of Arras hangings of Lazarus. 
 
 One Elbow Chaire ) ^ white cloth of Tissue with 
 Fower back stooles > r , ■ . , 
 
 One footstoole f covers of scarlet ba y es ' 
 
 One paire of Andirons with double brasses and creepers fire- 
 shovell and Tongs suitable. 
 One paire of Bellowes. 
 One small screene. 
 One fine counterfeit Ebbony. 
 One pair of stands of counterfeit Ebbony. 
 
 In his late Highnes Bedchamber. 
 
 *Five peices of fine Tapisty hangings of Vulcan and Venus. 
 Two wyndow courtines one of scarlet bayes, th' other of sarge. 
 One small couch ) r 1 n j i 
 Two elbow chaires ( of sky collour damaske 
 Fower back stooles ( and cased with watchet 
 One carpet J Ba y es - 
 
 One black Table with a turned frame. 
 One paire of Andirons with double brasses. 
 One paire of creepers with fire shovell and Tongs. 
 One paire of bellowes. 
 
Inventory of Cromwell 's Goods (1659). 281 
 
 In his Dressing Roome. 
 
 *One old Coberd. 
 One Spanish Table. 
 Two small Turky Carpetts. 
 One paire of Andirons with double brasses. 
 One paire of creepers and fire shovell, Tongs and Bellows. 
 Fower back-stooles of Turkeyworke. 
 
 In Paradice Roome. 
 
 *Seaven peices of rich hangings of Arras, of the Tryumphs of 
 the Capitall Sinns. 
 
 *One peice of the like Arras of Meleager. 
 *One chimney peice of Arras of Tobias. 
 
 Fower Courtines of watchet Bayes. 
 
 Two paire of Andirons. 
 
 One paire of Creepers. 
 
 In the Long Gallery. 
 
 *Nine peices of painting of the Tryumphs of Julius Caesar done 
 by Andrea Montanea. 
 
 One small Billiard board. 
 One paire of Andirons. 
 One paire of creepers. 
 
 In a syde Gallery adioyning. 
 
 One Billiard board. 
 One paire of Andirons. 
 
 In a small closett in the lady Faulconberges lodgings formerly 
 the Duke of Richmond's. 
 
 The closet hanged about with old greene perpetuano. 
 
 Two back stooles ] 
 
 Three folding stooles > of old greene cloth. 
 
 One footestoole ) 
 
282 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 In the Lady Frances lodgings formerly the late King's 
 Cabinet Roome. 
 
 *Five peices of Tapistry hangings of Meleager. 
 *One peice of Tapistry hangings of Sorteene. 
 
 One feather bed and boulster. 
 
 One holland Quilt. 
 
 One paire of Andirons, with double brasses. 
 
 One paire of Creepers and fire shovell, Tongs and Bellowes. 
 
 Two wyndow Courtines of red bayes. 
 
 In a Roome appointed for Strangers. 
 
 The roome hang'd with 44 panes of Crimson velvett and cloth 
 of gold. 
 
 One Bedstead with a furniture of needle work of poeticall 
 fancyes cut double vallons, Tester, headcloth and fower courtines 
 of greene sattin branched with flowers of gold and silver. 
 
 One elbow chair. 
 
 Two back stooles of needlework suitable to the bed. 
 One long seat for a cushion. 
 One long cushion ) 
 
 One square cushion V of greene cloth of gold. 
 One footstoole J 
 
 One counterpane of greene sattin quilted with gold twist. 
 One large feather bed and boulster. 
 
 One Canvas Materis, a holland quilt, and a paire of blanketts. 
 
 Seaven guilt cupps and seaven plumes of feathers. 
 
 Three courtines of scarlet bayes. 
 
 One small Turky Carpett and a looking glass. 
 
 One paire of Andirons. 
 
 One paire of creepers, a fire shovell, Tongs and a paire of 
 bellowes. 
 
Inventory of Cromwell y s Goods (1659). 283 
 
 In the L d President's Roome formerly the late Kings 
 Dressing Room. 
 
 Two wyndow courtines of watcher, bayes. 
 One paire of Andirons. 
 
 One paire of creepers, fire shovell, Tongs and Bellows. 
 
 In the next roome, for a servant. 
 
 One halfe headed bedsted. 
 One small feather-bed and boulster. 
 One paire of blanketts and a rugg. 
 *One old Table. 
 
 *One furniture for a bed of stripe stufte that came from Sweden. 
 
 In the late King's Bedchamber. 
 
 One paire of Andirons and a fire shovell. 
 One paire of Tongs and a paire of bellowes. 
 
 In a little Roome adjoyning. 
 
 One halfe headed bedsted. 
 
 One small feather bed and boulster. 
 
 In the late King's Withdrawing Roome. 
 
 *Two peices of rich Arras hangings of the Antiques. 
 *One peice of Arras hangings of Meleager. 
 *Two old Court Cupbords. 
 
 *One small peice of Tapistry of the Cardinally armes. 
 One large Spanish Table. 
 One new Turky Carpett. 
 Eight backe-stooles of Turky worke. 
 
284 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 In the Ministers roome formerly for private Oratory, 
 
 The roome hanged round with stript stuffe. 
 
 One bedsted the furniture of liver collour sarge Contt: Courtines, 
 
 vallons, and counterpane. 
 
 Two folding Stooles ) ., , , , ,1 D 1 
 T * , ** ! > suitable to the Bed. 
 
 lwo back stooles j 
 
 Two small carpetts of stript stuff. 
 
 One feather bed and boulster two blankets and a rug. 
 
 *One paire of Andirons with creepers, fireshovell and tongs. 
 
 In the late King s privy Chamber. 
 
 *Fower peices of rich Arras hangings of y e history of Tobias. 
 
 *One peice of Arras of Meleager. 
 
 *One large elbow chaire of crimson velvet. 
 
 Three Spanish Tables and two Turky carpetts. 
 
 Two large courtins for ye wyndow of sad collour bayes. 
 
 Fower back stooles of Turkey worke of flower potts. 
 
 In the late King's presence Chamber. 
 
 *Three peices of fine old hangings of the Tryumphs. 
 *Two peices of the like stuffe of ye Cardinally armes. 
 *One Turkey carpett. 
 
 Five Spanish Tables. 
 
 One large Turkey carpett. 
 
 Fower wyndow courtines of sad collour bayes. 
 
 Eighteene backstooles of Turky worke of flower pottes. 
 
 Two paire of Andirons. 
 
 One paire of Creepers, fire shovell and Tongs. 
 
 In the late Princes Gallery. 
 
 One hundred, Twenty and seaven homes of severall sorts of 
 Beasts. 
 
 One picture of a large paire of homes from Amboiz. 
 Twelve branches for Candles. 
 
Inventory of Cromwell y s Goods (1659). 285 
 
 In the late Prince s Bedchamber, 
 
 *Six peice of good old Tapistry hangings of Sorteene with the 
 Cardinall's armes. 
 
 One standing bedsted the furniture of needle-worke being ye 
 labours of Hercules cont: Tester, head-cloth, and double vallons. 
 
 Fower Courtines of purple cloth of gold bodkin, lyned with 
 greene and white damaske. 
 
 One counterpane of Crimson sattin quilted with gold twist. 
 
 Three^bac^^too^ \ °^ neec *lework suitable to the Bed. This 
 
 One foot stool°e° ^ J bed brou S ht out of Scotland - 
 
 One seate for a long Cushion. 
 
 One large feather-bed and boulster. 
 
 One Canvas materis and a holland quilt. 
 
 One paire of blanketts. 
 
 One large foote carpett and a small carpett. 
 
 Seaven guilt cupps and seaven plumes of feathers. 
 
 One paire of Andirons. 
 
 One paire of Creepers, fire shovell, Tongs and bellowes. 
 One small Table. 
 
 In the two next Roomes, being the late Prince's Withdrawing 
 Chamber and Dressing Roome. 
 
 Two paire of Andirons. 
 
 Two paire of Creepers with fire shovell and Tongs. 
 Fower new back stooles of Turky worke. 
 One Spanish Table. 
 
 In a Clossett in the Passage to the Tennis Courte. 
 
 The roome hang'd with French greene Sarge. 
 
 Two elbow Chaires ] 
 
 Two back stooles > suitable. 
 
 Two square cushions J 
 
286 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 In the Nursery at the end ofy e said Passage. 
 
 The roome hang'd round with stript stuffe. 
 One carpet of the same. 
 One small Table. 
 Fower leather Chaires. 
 
 One elbow chaire \ of red say belonging to a bed in the 
 Three back chaires j wardrobe. 
 
 In the lodgings forme7'ly Duke of Hambleton 's, late Lord 
 Claypooles as Master of the Horse (vizt.) 
 
 In his Bedchamber. 
 
 Two paire of Andirons. 
 One paire of Bellowes. 
 
 In his Dressing Roome. 
 
 One elbow Chaire ) of cloth of silver rased with velvet and 
 Fower back Stooles J cased with red bayes. 
 
 One paire of Andirons and one fire shovell. 
 
 In his w th Drawing Roome. 
 
 One dbfw C Cha C ire i of ^ ellow cloth ° f # old and cased with 
 Three back stooles J red bayes. 
 
 One paire of Andirons. 
 
 One paire of Creepers, Fire shovell, Tongs and Bellowes. 
 
 In a small Clossett adyoning. 
 The Closset hang'd with liver Collour sarge. 
 
Inventory of Cromwell's Goods (1659). 287 
 
 In his Dyning roome adioyjzing. 
 
 Twelve back stooles of Turky worke. 
 
 Three Spanish Tables and two small turky Carpetts. 
 
 Fower wyndow Courtines of greene bayes. 
 
 One paire of Creepers, fire shovell and Tongs. 
 
 In another Dyning Roome adioyning. 
 
 *Six peices of ye old Tapistry hangings of the Amazons or 
 Hypolite. 
 
 *Two old Turky Carpetts. 
 One Couch ^ 
 
 Six back chaires \ of Turkey worke. 
 
 Six high stooles j 
 
 Two Spanish Tables. 
 
 Three wyndow courtins of Stript stufife. 
 
 Three peices of stript stufife under y e wyndowes. 
 
 One bedsted the Courtines of linsey woolsey and narrow vallons 
 of Damaske. 
 
 One small feather bed and boulster. 
 One paire of blanketts and a rug. 
 
 In a Clossett in the late King's private Oratory, 
 
 Two stript Courtines. 
 *One old Spanish Table. 
 
 In another Roome adioyning. 
 
 j of stript stufife. 
 
 One paire of creepers, fire shovell, Tongs and bellowes. 
 
 In a roome next to it for Servants. 
 
288 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 In a little Roome adioyning, 
 
 *Three old Coberds. 
 *One settee. 
 
 *One old Table covered with greene cloth. 
 
 In the Comptrowler Co 11 Jones lodgs, formerly the Lord 
 Chamberlines. 
 
 One roome hang'd round with liver collour sarge. 
 One standing bedsted the furniture of like Sarge cont. 
 Fower courtines, head cloth, Tester and Counterpane w th fower 
 cups. 
 
 Two elbow Chaires 
 
 Five folding stooles V suitable to the hangings. 
 
 One Carpett j 
 
 One Feather-bed and bowlster. 
 
 One paire of blanketts and a rugg. 
 
 In a roome adioyning. 
 
 *One feather bed and boulster. 
 *One paire of blanketts and a rugg. 
 
 In his Withdrawing Roome. 
 
 *Two pieces of Hercules 
 *One peice of Tryumphs 
 Two Deale Tables. 
 
 of Tapistry hangings. 
 
 In his Dyning Roome 
 
 Two dozen of Turky worke Chaires. 
 Two Spanish Tables. 
 One side Table of Deale. 
 
Inventory of Cromwell's Goods (1659). 
 
 289 
 
 In a Roome for Servants adioyning. 
 
 Three long formes of Deale. 
 
 One large Table standing on Tressells. 
 
 In a roome for Servants above Staires. 
 
 One standing bedsted w th stript stuffe furniturne. 
 Two square Stooles 1 , , « , 
 
 Two Chains \ suitable to the Bed. 
 
 One feather bed and boulster. 
 Two blankets and a rug. 
 *One Table and a Coberd. 
 
 In ye la : ClaypooVs nursery, being parte of the Armory. 
 The roome hang'd with stript stuffe. 
 
 In Mrs. Grinawayes chamber, gentlewoman to the Lady 
 Faulconberge, being part of the Armory. 
 
 The roome hang'd round w th greene and yellow stript stuffe. 
 One standing bedsted the furniture of greene sarge cont : fowei 
 courtines head cloth and counterpane. 
 One feather bed and boulster. 
 One downe pillow. 
 Two blanketts. 
 One Carpet of stript stuffe. 
 
 In a roome below Stairs where Mrs. Fairecloth lay formerly 
 the late Lady Denbighes. 
 
 *One standing bedsted, ye furniture in the Wardrobe. 
 *One bed. 
 One bowlster, two blankets and a rugg. 
 
290 
 
 ^Appendix C. 
 
 Two folding stooles 
 Three Chaires 
 One Spanish Table. 
 One Dressing Table. 
 
 suitable to the said Bed. 
 
 In the next Roome for a servant. 
 
 One halfe headed bedsted w th a Canopy of greene and yellow 
 stript stufife. 
 
 One feather bed and bowlster. 
 One blanket and a rug. 
 
 In a Roome adioyning. 
 Two Spanish Tables. 
 
 In Mad'mozelle Duretts Roome. 
 
 The roome hang'd round with stript stuffe. 
 One standing bedsted with furniture of the like stuffe. 
 Two Elbow Chaires 
 Two Square Stooles 
 One side Table. 
 
 I of the same Stuffe. 
 
 In the La: Denbyes chamber, late M r - Claytons. 
 One brasse figure of Mercury. 
 
 In the Roome zvhere the young lady Cromwell } s gentlewoman 
 
 lay below staires. 
 
 One bedsted. 
 One Table. 
 
Inventory of Cromwell's Goods (1659). 291 
 
 In a roome below staires where the Servants Dyne, formerly 
 called the Vestrey. 
 
 *Five tables and Eight formes. 
 
 In M r - Maidstone s lodgs, formerly the Earle of Hollande. 
 
 One halfe head bedsted with a Canopy of greene Sarge edged 
 with guilt leather. 
 
 One canvas and one fustian quilt. 
 One bolster and a pillow. 
 Two blankets and a rug. 
 
 In the Blew Roome, 
 
 Six back chaires of Turky worke and one Spanish Table. 
 One pair of Andirons and Creepers with brasses. 
 A paire of Tongs and bellows. 
 *One carpet of Crewell. 
 
 In his Dyning Roome. 
 Five Spanish Tables. 
 
 Tenn back Stooles and a high stoole of Turky worke. 
 One paire of Andirons, fire shovell and Tongs. 
 
 In the Lower Wardrobe. 
 
 One standing Bedsted the furniture of gold collour damaske 
 ^cont: 
 
 Power courtines and double vallons ^| 
 
 Tester and headcloth \ suitable to the Bed. 
 
 One Carpet and fower Cupps J 
 
 Fower Courtines of gold collour bayes being a case about the 
 Ited. 
 
 One Case for the Carpet of the like Bayes. 
 
2g2 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 suitable to the Bed. 
 
 One Counterfeit Ebbony Shelfe. 
 
 Fowre pieces of greene TafTety hangings lyned with Sarge for 
 a Closset and a wyndow Courtine of the same. 
 
 One standing Bedsted the furniture of sky colloured TafTety 
 and imbroidered with silke and gold after the indian fashion lyned 
 with sky colloured Sarcenet cont : 
 
 Fester and head cloth 
 
 Double vallance. 
 
 Four courtines. 
 
 One Counterpane. 
 
 Four cupps & 4 plumes of Feathers. 
 One Carpett and a screene cloth. 
 Three courtines of watchet bayes being a Case for the Bed. 
 One piece of the like bayes to cover the screene cloth. 
 Two small looking glasses, one of them being broke. 
 One standing Bedsted the furniture of a sad collour. 
 Fower courtines single vallons and Carpett suitable. 
 The Tester headcloth and single vallons being of clouded 
 TafTety. 
 
 The Courtines lyned with the same and a counterpane. 
 
 Fower Cupps and fower sprigs of silke to stand upon them. 
 
 And a Cyprus Chest that this bed lyes in. 
 *Two fine persian Carpetts Eight yards long a piece. 
 *One Turky Carpet five yards long. 
 *One Turky Carpet fower yards and a quarter long. 
 *One Turky Carpet Three yards i long. 
 *One Turky Carpet Three yards long. 
 *One Turky Carpet Three yards long. 
 
 One Turky Carpet fower yards \ long. 
 
 One Turky Carpet three yards \ long. 
 
 One Turky Carpet three yards long. 
 
 Three Turky chest Carpetts two yards long a piece. 
 
 Two small Carro Carpets one yard and three q'ters long a 
 piece. 
 
 Three small yellow ground carpetts for syde Tables. 
 *One red and two blew sarge swede furnitures for Bedds. 
 *One stript stuffe sweed furniture for a bed. 
 *Two old footstooles of cloth of gold. 
 
 Six cushions of cloth with red leather bottomes. 
 
Inventory of Cromwell's Goods (1659). 293 
 
 One furniture for a bed of stript stuffe used for the Lord 
 Richardes ladyes gentleman usher. 
 
 One furniture of liver colloured sarge belonging to a bed M r 
 Faircloth lay in. 
 
 One led collour sarge furniture M r Lockeire lay in. 
 
 One piece of grey stript stuffe hangings that hang'd M r Locketre's 
 roome. 
 
 Greene sarge hangings y* hanged M r Fairclothe roome. 
 
 Two Courtines of greene kersey edged about w ,h guilt leather. 
 
 One furniture of red say for the Lord Richard's nursery used. 
 
 One peice of stript stuffe with pillars y 1 hang'd the said roome. 
 
 One furniture of stript stuffe used for the Comptson Butler. 
 
 One furniture of stript stuffe with hangings to the roome of the 
 same used for the Ld Richards ladys gentlewomen. 
 
 One furniture of stript stuffe with hangings to ye roome of the 
 same used for the Ld Richards gentlemen. 
 
 Two back chaires and fower stooles to the furniture of the 
 aforesaid two roomes. 
 
 One bundle of stript stuffe hangings used in the roome where 
 the Doctours lay. 
 
 One peice of stript stuffe hangings that hanged on the roome 
 for M r Faircloth. 
 
 One furniture of a liver collour sarge for ye lady Clapoles 
 gentlewomen. 
 
 One back stoole and two square stooles of the same. 
 
 Nine courtines for wyndowes. \ 
 
 Two peices to hang under wyndowes. \ of stript stuffe. 
 
 Seaven small Carpetts. j 
 
 Two small Carpetts of greene serge belonging to M 1 . Faircloth. 
 One peice of stript stuffe that hanged a closset for Auditor 
 Barrington. 
 
 *One needleworke carpett five yards long. 
 Two chaires of sad collour cloth. 
 
 Twenty and two chaires and two high stooles of Turky worke. 
 Fower peices of Tapistry hangings of David & Abigaill. 
 Two peices of Tapistry hangings of the old & new lawe, being 
 parte of the suite y* hangs in ye late Queenes privy chamber. 
 Five pieces of old Tapistry hangings of the Prodigall sonn. 
 One small peice of Arras hangings of ^Eneas. 
 
294 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 One peice of Tapistry hangings of Meleager. 
 Three fustian Quilts and one small holland Quilt. 
 One round down bolster. 
 
 Nineteene feather beds and boulsters w th paires of blankett and 
 ruggs. 
 
 One old feather bed and boulster. 
 
 Five small feather beds and boulsters with paires of blanketts 
 & ruggs. 
 
 One canvas materis belonging to the red say bed. 
 Thirteen canvas materisses with feather boulsters and ruggs. 
 Five paire of small blanketts. 
 *Three old cloth blanketts. 
 
 *Two small feather beds and boulsters with paires of blankets 
 and ruggs. 
 
 *Forty chaires and fifteene high stooles of Russia leather. 
 *Five blew courtines of Linsey Woolsey. 
 *Eleven downe pillowes. 
 
 In the Upper Wardrobe. 
 
 Fower Elbow Chaires ^| of gold collour damaske and cased with 
 
 Six back stooles \ yellow bayes suitable to y e furniture 
 
 One footstoole. J in y e lower wardrobe. 
 
 One small couch \ of greene TafTety and cased with greene 
 
 One Elbow chaire I bayes, being suitable to y e greene 
 
 Two low stooles j taffety hangings in her late Highnes 
 
 Two Cushions. J closet. 
 
 One small Table of Counterfeite Ebbony. 
 
 Two large Tables and a hanging shelfe of the same. 
 
 Nine Cushions of turky worke bottomed with red leather. 
 
 One large China Jarr. 
 
 Two small Jarrs of purslane. 
 
 One wanscot Table to the gold collour Damaske bed. 
 One Cabbinet and frame of Speckle wood. 
 One small wanscott Chest of drawers. 
 Tenn paire of blacke stands. 
 
Inventory of Cromweir s Goods (1659). 295 
 
 In the late Queenes Oratory where M rs - Blowfeild lay. 
 
 One small standing bed the furniture of greene sarge cont : 
 Tester and head cloth 
 A Counterpane 
 
 Fower Courtins suitable to the said bed. 
 
 One Carpett 4 Cupps 
 
 Two back Chaires. 
 
 One small feather bed & boulster. 
 
 One paire of blanketts and a down pillow. 
 
 One wainscot Table and two Deale tables. 
 
 One small back stoole of Calves leather. 
 
 One Deale presse for Clothes. 
 *One presse of wanscot covered with printer's leather. 
 *One Courte coberd. 
 
 In M r - Cofferer's mans Roome. 
 
 One Sweed standing bedsted the furniture of Red sarge Cont : 
 Fower Courtines and a headcloth with a buckram Tester. 
 One featherbed and boulster. 
 Two blanketts and a rugg. 
 
 One Spanish Table and one half-headed bedsted. 
 
 In a roome formerly the Ury. 
 One large Deale Table. 
 
 In the Great Hall. 
 
 value I One large Organ and a Chaire Organ which was 
 about ^300. ( brought from Maudlin Colledge in Oxford. 
 
296 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 In the Roome over the Lower Wardrobe. 
 
 of the like velvett and laced w th 
 gold and silver lace. 
 
 *One standing Bedsted the furniture of watchet velvett cont : 
 *Tester & headcloth 
 *Three Courtines 
 *Fouer Cartoones 
 *Fower Cupps 
 *One Counterpane 
 *Double vallons 
 *One Elbow Chaire 
 *Two high stooles 
 *One foote stoole 
 *One square cushion 
 *One long cushion. 
 *One long seate to lay the cushion on and fower plumes of 
 feathers. 
 
 One large feather bed and boulster. 
 One canvas materis. 
 One paire of blanketts. 
 Two Deale Tables. 
 
 In M rs Waterhouse Roome, formerly the Queenes Robe 
 
 Roome. 
 
 The Roome hanged round with freench greene sarge. 
 
 One standing bedsted the furniture of greene sarge cont : tester, 
 headcloth, double vallons, fower courtines fower cupps and one 
 counterpane. 
 
 One carpett ^1 
 
 Two backstooles V suitable to the said bed. 
 
 Fower folding stooles J 
 
 One feather bed and boulster and a Downe pillow. 
 One paire of blanketts and a rug. 
 One small wanscot Table. 
 
Inventory of Cromzvell 's Goods (1659). 
 
 297 
 
 In the Roome adioyning. 
 
 One halfe headed bedsted. 
 *One Spanish Table. 
 
 In Co 11 Will: Cromwell's lodgs. formerly S r Math : Listers. 
 
 *One halfe headed bedsted. 
 *One Table and a long forme. 
 *One Courte Coberd. 
 
 In M r How the ministers Withdrawing roome, formerly 
 Secretary Windebank } s. 
 
 The roome hanged with hare colloured stript stuffe. 
 One carpet of the same. 
 
 Five back chaires and one high stoole of russia leather. 
 One Spanish Table. 
 
 In M r Hows Bed-chamber. 
 
 The Roome hang'd round with grey stript stuffe. 
 
 One standing bed the furniture of the like stript stuffe. 
 
 Single vallons, Tester, headcloth, 4 courtines and a carpet. 
 
 One Feather bed and boulster. 
 
 One paire of blankets and a rug. 
 
 Two back stooles and two folding stooles of sarge. 
 
 In the next Roome for a se7^vant. 
 
 One halfe headed bedsted. 
 
 One small feather bed and boulster. 
 
 One paire of blanketts. 
 
298 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 In a roome formerly the late King's gentleman ushers, late 
 Mr. Robinson \s> yeoman of the Race. 
 
 One halfe headed bedsted. 
 One feather bed & boulster. 
 Two blankets and a rug. 
 
 In a roome formerly the Signetts' office late Doctour 
 
 Clarkes. 
 
 One halfe headed bedsted. 
 One Deale Table and a forme. 
 
 In a roome formerly the late Queenes gent: late M r Jones 
 
 the Carvers. 
 
 Two backstooles of russia leather. 
 One Deale Table. 
 
 In a roome formerly for the late King's robes late M r 
 
 Birds. 
 
 One halfe headed bedsted. 
 
 Two formes. 
 
 One Courte Coberd. 
 
 In a roome formerly the L d Treasurer s Bedchamber. 
 
 One greate Deale presse. 
 One half headed bedsted. 
 One paire of iron Doggs. 
 One greate fireshovell. 
 
Inventory of Cromwell's Goods (1659). 
 
 In a Roome formerly the Bishop of Canterbury es late the 
 Lady Claypoole s Nursery, 
 
 Seaven peices of Tapistry hangings of Artimesia. 
 Eight peices of Tapistry hangings of Orlando. 
 One large persian Carpett seaven yards long lyned with blew 
 linnen. 
 
 One square old Turkey cutt Carpett. 
 
 Fower Elbow Chaires "\ r 1 n j l. rr a. « ^ -j j 
 
 of sky colloured taffety imbroidered 
 
 with silke and gold after the Indian 
 
 fashion, and cased with blew bayes 
 
 suitable to ye furniture in the lower 
 
 Wardrobe. 
 
 Fower backe Stooles 
 One large Couch 
 One long Seate 
 One Cushion 
 One Footstoole 
 
 Fower elbow Chaires 
 Fower folding stooles 
 One footstoole 
 
 of sad collour cloth, imbroidered with 
 silke in trayles and flowers and cased 
 with sad collour bayes suitable to 
 ye Bed y t lyes in the Cyprus Chest 
 in y e lower wardrobe. 
 
 a string of 
 
 One large looking glasse in an Ebbony frame w th 
 silke and gold. 
 
 One wanscot Table and one Spanish Table. 
 
 One greene thread plush stoole. 
 
 One canvas Materis and a holland quilt. 
 
 One fine Downe bed and bowlster. 
 
 One paire of Spanish blankets. 
 
 One large feather bed and bowlster. 
 
 One canvas Materis and a holland Quilt. 
 
 One paire of Spanish blankets. 
 
 In the Laundry. 
 
 Three halfe headed bedsteds. 
 
 Three feather beds and boulsters. 
 
 Three paire of blanketts & three ruggs. 
 
 Three Downe pillowes. 
 
 Three iron grates and two Coppers. 
 
3oo 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 In the two Porters lodges. 
 
 Two halfe headed bedsteds. 
 
 Two feather beds & boulsters. 
 
 Two paire of blanketts & two ruggs. 
 
 In M r Kerbyes roome yeoman of the bin cellar. 
 One halfe headed bedsted w th rayles. 
 
 One furniture of red sarge Cont. fower Courtines, a headcloth 
 and a tester of buckram. 
 
 One feather bed and boulster. 
 
 One blankett ; a rug ; and a Downe pillow. 
 
 Two stooles of russia leather. 
 
 One Deale Table. 
 
 In M r Drewer the Granary mans Roome. 
 One halfe headed bedsted with rayles. 
 
 One Tweed furniture of strype stuffe cont. three courtines a 
 headcloth and a tester of buckram. 
 One feather bed and bowlster. 
 One paire of blanketts and a rug. 
 Two backstooles and one high stoole of russia leather. 
 
 In Robert Dobsons roome, one of the grooms of ye stables. 
 
 One halfe-headed bedsted. 
 
 One canvas materis and a feather bowlster. 
 
 One paire of blankets and a rugg. 
 
 hi Thomas Beard's roome, another of ye groomes. 
 
 One featherbed and bowlster. 
 Two blanketts and a rugg. 
 
Inventory of Cromwell's Goods (1659). 301 
 
 In the Dairy Maid's Roome. 
 
 One halfe-headed bedsted. 
 One feather bed and boulster. 
 Two blanketts and a rugg. 
 
 In the Lady Claypooles mans Chamber. 
 
 One standing Bedsted the furniture of pink-colloured sarsnet 
 cont. headcloth and tester, three courtines fower cantoones, fower 
 Cupps and fower spriggs of silke, one counterpane and eighteene 
 silke strings w th tassells to tye up the courtines. 
 
 Two Elbow Chaires \ 
 
 Two Back Chaires I suitable to the bed and cased with 
 One foote-stoole pink-collour'd bayes. 
 
 Two long Seates. ) 
 One carpet of the same. 
 
 Three courtines of bayes being a Case about the bed. 
 One Elbow Chaire of lemon collour sarsnet with a foote-stool. 
 One long seate and cushion of the same cased with yellow 
 bayes. 
 
 One featherbed and Boulster. 
 One holland Quilt and Spanish blanket. 
 Two wyndow Courtines of pink collour bayes. 
 One Turky foote Carpett five yards long. 
 
 One standing bedsted with a furniture of liver collour sarge 
 lyned with lemon collour sarsnet cont : Tester and headcloth and 
 counterpane of the like sarsnet, as alsoe inward vallons of the 
 same, fower courtines and outward vallons, one Carpet and fower 
 cupps of the same. 
 
 One Elbow Chaire ^ 
 
 Fower folding stooles J 
 One featherbed and boulster. 
 Three blanketts and one holland Quilt. 
 One long black hanging shelfe for books. 
 One looking Glasse. 
 
 Two back Stooles 
 
302 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 One ordinary blanket. 
 
 One wanscot Table and one Deale Table. 
 
 Memorandum. Where the lynes are drawn in the margant those 
 goods by the wardrobe keeper are said to belong to his late 
 Highness. 
 
 In the Banquetting house in the Mount Garden, 
 
 *Twelve wainscot scollop Chaires w th backs. 
 *Eight peices of grotescoe painting on cloth with Cheilde, over 
 them. 
 
 *Two peices of the same over the doores. 
 *One large concave Sundiall of Stone. 
 
 In the great Banquetting howse below these. 
 
 *A marke head and a scollop basin of white marble. 
 *One large ovall Table of blacke and white marble. 
 
 In the Privy Garden. 
 *One brasse Statue of Venus ^ 
 
 *One brasse Statue of Cleopatra I with fower pedestalls of 
 *One white marble Statue of Adonis j stone under them. 
 *One white marble Statue of Apollo J 
 
 *One large fountaine of blacke marble with a curbe of Eight 
 cants about it of the same marble lyned with lead. 
 *Fower scollop basins -\ 
 * Fower Sea-monsters I of brass about the 
 
 *Three Scrowles j Fountaine. 
 
 *Fower boyes holding Dolphins J 
 
 *One large brasses Statue on the top of the Fountaine called 
 Arethusa. 1 
 
 *Fower large flower potts of lead. 
 
 *One large bench of Oake, the backe lyned with Deale. 
 
 *Five stone rolls with fower iron frames. 
 
 *Fower large backe seates of Deale and one old one. 
 
 1 See page 244. 
 
Inventory of Cromwell 's Goods (1659). 303 
 
 In the Cloyster Courte. 
 *One Stone roll with an iron frame. 
 
 In the Bowling Greene. 
 
 *Two large Seates with Covers of Oake and Deale. 
 *Two greene back seates of Oake. 
 *One stone roll with an iron frame. 
 *One large wood roll with a wood frame. 
 
 *One large Horizontal Dyall of brasse with a pedestall of carved 
 stone. 
 
 In the Moate Garden. 
 *One stone roll with an iron frame. 
 
 In the Chappell. 
 
 *A pulpitt standing on a table of Deale. 
 *Twelve long formes. 
 
 In the Anti-chappell. 
 *A Cedar planke eight foote square lying on two formes. 
 
 In his late Highness Kitchin. 
 
 *Six very large copper pottes tin'd. 
 
 *Two of a smaller size tin'd. 
 
 *Five brasse kettles tin'd w th iron feete to them. 
 
 *Two greate copper pans to boyle fish in. 
 
 *Two very large gridirons. 
 
 *Fower large iron dripping panns. 
 
 *Three iron Trewetts. 
 
 *Six storing panns of Copper tin'd. 
 
 *Fower pudding panns. 
 
 *Five large brasse peices with holes in them to take fish out of 
 y* panns. 
 
3°4 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 *One long Copper with a false bottom to boyle fish in. 
 
 *Three greate frying panns. 
 
 * Eleven brasse flat dishes tin'd over. 
 
 *Nine spitts. 
 
 *Three brasse scummers and one brasse ladle. 
 
 *Eighteen wooden trayes. 
 
 *Five cleavers or chopping knives. 
 
 *Eleven small molds or pastipans. 
 
 *One paire of large iron racks. 
 
 *One Copper to boyle meate in covered with lead. 
 
 In a Roome at the end of the wardrobe. 
 
 *Fowerteene paire of andirons with double brasses. 
 *Nine paire of iron Creepers with brasses and 1 1 paire without 
 brasses. 
 
 *One paire of greate iron doggs. 
 *Twenty two fireshovells with brasses. 
 *Seaven plaine fire shovells. 
 *Three greate fire shovells. 
 *Three paire of plaine tongs. 
 *Tenn paire of ordinary bellowess. 
 *One paire of the best bellowes. 
 *Nine Spanish Tables. 
 *Fower Joyned Deale Tables. 
 
 In the Scullery. 
 
 *Twelve large pewter Dishes 
 *Fowerteene lesser Dishes 
 *Nine Dishes of a third size 
 *Fifteene Dishes of the fowrth size 
 *Sixteene Dishes of the fifth size y 
 *Two dozen of Trencher plates ( 
 *Two pastey plates 
 *Six pye plates 
 *Five sawcers 
 
 *Two stoole panns y 
 
Inventory of Cromwell 's Goods (1659). 
 
 *Two dishes tin'd 
 *One Scummer 
 *Two Coppers 
 
 of Brasse. 
 
 of brasse. 
 
 of Iron. 
 
 In the Comptrowler s Kifchin. 
 
 *One very greate pott 
 *Three other greate potts 
 *Two greate panns 
 
 * Eighteen panns or Cullenders 
 *Two peices to take up fish 
 *Six dishes & Eight tin'd Chaf n 
 *Fower sawce panns 
 *Two Scummers 
 *Two ladles 
 *One mortar 
 *One large frying pann 
 *Two dripping panns 
 *Twenty Spitts 
 *One large fireshovell 
 *One peale & one pestle 
 *One paire of greate rackes 
 *T\vo gridirons. 
 
 *One Cisterne covered with lead. 
 
 In the Pastrey. 
 
 *One large pott with a Cover 
 *fower Chafors 
 *Eight greate dishes tin'd 
 *Eight small pans tin'd 
 *Sixe large Covers 
 *One mortar 
 
 * Three greate Ladles 
 *Two little Candlesticke 
 *Six greate Collenders tin'd 
 *Two greate pans w th covers tin'd 
 *Seaven greate saucepans tin'd 
 *Two lesser saucepans tin'd 
 *Fifteene saucers tin'd 
 *Two greate Scum ers & two small ones 
 
 * x 
 
 of Brasses. 
 
3o6 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 *Fower peales 
 *One pestle 
 
 *One raker 
 *four screw 'd Candlesticks 
 *Two Chopping Knives 
 
 of iron. 
 
 In the flesh Larder. 
 
 *One large Cisterne for water "| 
 
 *One brine Cisterne I covered w th lead. 
 
 *One powdering place J 
 
 *fower large Dressors of Elme set on tressells. 
 
 *One paire of scales w th weights weighing two hundred. 
 
 In the Brewhouse. 
 
 *One Copper. 
 
 *One mash tun, and underbacke. 
 *One Guill tun and two upper backs. 
 
 Store Cisternes. 
 
 *One large Store Cisterne in the Privy Garden which serves 
 the greate fountaine there. 
 
 *One large Cisterne under the Square stone Courte that serves 
 the fountaine and Maze there. 
 
 *One large Cisterne in the Kitchin Garden to serve the Kitchin 
 and Offices on that side. 
 
 In the Howse Maids Roome. 
 
 *Twenty Stoole panns 
 *Fowerteene Chamber potts 
 *Eight pewter Basons 
 *Two Cisternes 
 
 of Pewter. 
 
Inventory of Cromwell's Goods (1659). 307 
 
 In the Grooms of the Chojnbers Roomes. 
 
 *Twenty two large Candlesticks 
 *One perfuming pott I f fi 
 
 *Twelve branches for Candles 
 *One Warming pann 
 *Seaventeene paire of tin'd Snuffers. 
 *Thirteene pewter Candlesticks. 
 *One halfe headed bedsted. 
 *One Spanish Table. 
 
 May it please yo r Hon rs . 
 
 As to the other partes of y r Hon rs order vizt : 
 
 That wee should take notice what Servants remaine at Hampton 
 Court, as alsoe care of the Watercourses and Rivers. 
 Wee humbly certify 
 
 That M r Kenersley (as we are informed) was of late ordered to 
 be Howsekeeper, as well as Wardrobe Keeper there, under whome 
 there are these Servants (vizt.) 
 
 Richard Marriott j who looketh *° the ward robe and 
 ( house. 
 
 JohnClemente \ Porter of th £ fore S ate of the 
 J [ house. 
 
 Robert Blanch j Porter of the gate that leads into 
 ( the Paddock Course. 
 
 As to the safeguard of the goods in the house, wee humbly con- 
 ceive it necessary for the present to continue as yet these two men 
 untill the goods by yo r Hon ,s order shalbe otherwise disposed of. 
 
 Gardiners \ Tobyas Yares 
 ( John Darley. 
 
 As to the watercourses and Rivers wee humbly Certifye that 
 there are severall pipes broken that lead from Coome park hill and 
 Hampton Town unto the house alsoe y e River hath been turned 
 
3 o8 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 out of its course by severall persons for private use & likewise 
 stopt by weeds which wee are now clearing to supply the park and 
 ponds for the preserving of the fish. 
 
 Lastly though the parkes were not mentioned in yo r Hono bc 
 order for our Inspection, yet the Comon wealth having a consider- 
 able interest there, wee humbly certify 
 
 That in the House parke the number of Deere are computed to 
 bee about Seaven hundred. 
 
 And in Bushy parke about seaventeene hundred, greate and 
 small — And of Red Deere about thirty. 
 
 The servantes relating to those parks being as following 
 
 M r . Place 
 
 } Ranger to both the parkes. 
 
 Charles Daine. 
 William Myles. 
 
 Huntsman 
 
 Keep" 5 of Bushy pke 
 
 (These have 
 had of late two 
 men allowed 
 und r them. 
 
 C. Denely. John Embree. 
 
 Endorsed 
 
 CertifT of Goods & Servants at Hampton Court. 
 Ord d . 18 June 1659. 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 Accounts for Various Works done at Hampton Court 
 in the Reign of Charles II. 
 
 I. The Tennis Court. (Harl. MSS. No. 1656, Folios 215 
 
 et seq.) 
 
 Dec. 1660. 
 
 Masons, Imployed in squaring, working, and fitting of stones to 
 make the damboes (tambours ?) in the Tennis Courte, sawing part 
 of the blacke marble for the line Crosse the Courte. 
 
 John Ashlee xvii daies £2 2 6 
 
 William Ffitch — xvii daies £226 
 
 Carpenters. Imployed in plateing all that side of the Tennis 
 Courte next the Garden new plancking both sides of the s d courte 
 upon the wall. 
 
 Bricklayers. Imployed in tileing y e Long Gallory going out of 
 the privy Lodgings to the New Tennis Court, on that side next 
 the parke, working up with bricks, and p 1e of the new Tennis Court 
 wall, and underpinning all the plateing after the Carpenters, on that 
 side next the garden, huinge, rubbing, squareing, peeringe, and 
 scimonting (cementing) of tiles for to pave the Tennis Court. 
 
 Sawyers. Imployed in cuting out of timber into divers scant- 
 lings, viz 1 for plates and other uses to be used about the Tennis 
 Courte. 
 
Appendix D. 
 
 Jan : 1 660-1. 
 
 Bricklayers imployed in Lathing and tileing of ye Tennis Courte 
 Keepers house mending ye Ranges in ye Kitchinge and makeing 
 a new boyling place. 
 
 Feb. 1 660- 1. 
 
 Masons — squaring & working of ffree stone for the Tumber 
 belonging to the Tennis Court. 
 
 Carpenters — taking down the gallery at the Tennis Court, and 
 the roofe of the end gallery where the hazard is, planning all the 
 timbers and seting them up again, etc. 
 
 Sawyers — in cutting out of new & old timbers into several scant- 
 lings for rafters for ye Tennis Courte. . . 
 
 March 1 660-1. 
 
 Carpenters plaining and shooting of deale boords to cover the 
 galleries at the Tennis Court over the side gallery and both the 
 ends ; working and framing the timbers for the whole frame of the 
 side gallery and both ends ; fastening of peeces to the wall to lay 
 the joysts upon & pinning them all down ; boarding the gallery 
 over head, making of frames for the nets to catch the balls. 
 
 Bricklayers — working up the bricke worke of the gallery at 
 the Tennis Court, huinge and squarring of bricks, mending the 
 buterisses there next the park side, cuting out 3 windows in the 
 little roome nere the Tennis Court, .... working up with brick 
 between the wall and the stone worke of the Tambour. (Folio 
 229.) 
 
 To John Phillips Turner for turninge 9 cullums (columns) for 
 the Tennis Court at 6 d the peece ; & for turning 4 other cullumes 
 for that place at I2 d the peece. 
 
 To John Gregory for 600 of P square paving tiles. (Folio 231.) 
 
 To John Miles, Smith for 43 great thimbles for 2 curtain rods 
 for the Tennis Court. 
 
 April 1661. 
 
 Carpenters making a frame for the mason to sett their saw in to 
 saw the black marble for the Line crosse the Tennis Court. (Folio 
 235). 
 
Works in the Reign of Charles II. 3 1 1 
 
 Plaisterers imployed in burning of plaister of Paris, & laying of 
 a great part of the walls of the Tennis Court therewith. {Folio 
 236.) 
 
 May 1661. 
 
 Masons .... working black marble for the Line to goe on crosse 
 the Tennis Court, making the grill by the Tambor. {Folio 241.) 
 
 II. The Parks. (Harl. MSS. No. 1656, Folio 216. 
 Dec. 1660.) 
 
 Carpenters .... Imployed .... in making of a large square to 
 sett out the worke in the parke by, for the trees and river, clearinge 
 out of poles for stakes, sharpening of them & helping to drive the 
 stakes to sett the ground. 
 
 III. Miscellaneous. 
 
 1. The Ferry. (Harl. MSS. No. 1656, Folio 232.) 
 
 To Simon Winsloo Ferryman at Hampton Court for his allow- 
 ances for one quarter of a yeare last past for ferrying over the 
 workmen & Labourers 10/-. 
 
 2. The Great Hall. (Harl. MSS. No. 1618, Folio 204). 
 
 Joyners Imployed in making two paire of doores for the Great 
 Hall and fitting the Ironwork &c. setting them up and making 
 •one paire of doores for the Duchess of Yorke's bedchamber. 
 
 3. The Astronomical Clock. (Harl. MSS. No. 161 8, 
 Folio 219, Oct. 1664.) 
 
 To Robert Streeter, Serjant Painter for guilding and painting 
 the great Diall in the Fountain Court & shadowing of all the 
 Letters, Ciphers, and Characters and painting of the landskips and 
 seapeices £48 16. For guilding and painting the Clock Diall that 
 js over the other side the gatehouse £ 1 1 70. 
 
CHISW1CK PRESS :— C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO. 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE. 
 
Uniform with the present volume, and illustrated with 130 autotypes etchings, engravings, 
 
 maps, and plans. Price £1 $s. 
 
 THE 
 
 ^tstorp of Hampton Court palate. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 IN TUDOR TIMES. 
 
 BY ERNEST LAW. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " Mr. Law has ransacked annals and records, and, as he tells us in his preface, he has 
 familiarized himself with each nook and corner of the buildings. The volume is richly illus- 
 trated with engravings after famous historical portraits by Holbein, Antonio More, Zucchero, 
 or their imitators ; by maps and quaint architectural elevations, after old drawings and 
 designs ; and by views of the interior, from the venerable cellar-doors to the richly-wrought 
 ceilings of the State Apartments. But if these illustrations appeal to the eye, there are 
 others still more interesting, which forcibly address themselves to the imagination : for 
 although Mr. Law's narrative is based upon patient archaeological investigations, he has 
 succeeded in avoiding all dulness of detail, and has presented us with a succession of vivid 
 pictures of the manners of courtly life in England under the rule of the magnificent Tudors." 
 — The Times. 
 
 " It is seldom that one comes across so satisfactory a combination of research and recital 
 as this volume presents. Mr. Law has spared no pains in the collection of facts, and shown 
 no little skill in his treatment of them. . . . Mr. Law has been successful in finding a most 
 interesting subject for his pen. Every page of his book bears traces of care, and it will be 
 read with pleasure not only by the historian and the antiquary, but by every one who shares 
 in the English fondness for the relics of a glorious past." — The Academy. 
 
 "There is no resort of holiday makers more completely satisfactory [than Hampton 
 Court] to the ordinary sightseer ; and Mr. Law's work, by adding the charm of historical 
 association to so many nooks and corners of the buildings, has greatly increased the pleasure 
 of a visit." ... Of Henry and his wives at Hampton Court we have many particulars which, 
 if not exactly new, are now for the first time gathered and grouped together with their 
 appropriate scenery. . . . We cannot follow Mr. Law through all the curious and interesting 
 details which he gives of the occasional sojourns of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth at 
 Hampton Court. He has contrived very dramatically, as we have said, to make a continuous 
 narrative without trenching on general history." — Saturday Review. 
 
Opinions of the Press on Volume I. 
 
 " The large and handsome volume which Mr. Law has produced supplies a want, and 
 speaks highly for the labour and research which must have been employed to achieve the 
 result ; a story which reads like the stately portions of ' Kenilworth '—a splendid record of 
 royal banqueting and processions, of princely extravagances, of the romance that accompanies 
 even the ceremony of Court life, of secret happenings and dark tragedies, true things stranger 
 than fiction, and enacted on the magnificent stage of Cardinal Wolsey's great architectural 
 monument. . . . The charming and plentiful illustrations add greatly to the enjoyment of 
 this fine work, an example of the most luxurious and pleasant form in which historical 
 information can be conveyed." — The Literary World. 
 
 " In many ways an attractive book. Tastefully got up, pleasantly written, and liberally 
 illustrated, it cannot fail to awaken an interest in the picturesque old Palace. . . . Mr. Law 
 deserves credit for the earnest way he has worked up his subject. ... It is satisfactory that 
 it should at last have been taken in hand by a man with the ability to produce a trustworthy 
 and exhaustive work." — Spectator. 
 
 " Mr. Law has brought all the advantages of knowledge, opportunity, research, and official 
 aid of the heartiest kind to bear on 4 The History of Hampton Court Palace in Tudor Times/ 
 with the result that a complete monograph is now before the public, and claims the par- 
 ticular gratitude of the antiquarian, the architect, and the historical reader. . . . Nothing of 
 historical importance is omitted from the materials carefully gathered by Mr. Ernest Law, 
 whose chief merit, however, is the artistic sense of colour and congruity with which the whole 
 is put together." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 " Mr. Law has gathered together all perhaps that is known . . . and has neglected no 
 feature in the vast pile, however minute, which has an interest, whether it be for the historical, 
 the archaeological, or the artistic reader." — Daily News. 
 
 " A wide field of historical interest is traversed in Mr. Ernest Law's first volume on the 
 famous palace, originally built with such stately splendour by Wolsey, and subsequently 
 occupied by successive sovereigns of England. The illustrations add greatly to the attractions 
 of the work, which throws much light on the lives of our kings and queens during some of 
 the most momentous periods of English history." — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 " Mr. Law has left untouched no source of information from which he could learn anything 
 worth knowing concerning the Cardinal's magnificence in curtains, carpets, furniture, pictures, 
 and plate ; concerning his innumerable attendants and the entertainments which he 
 lavished on foreign ambassadors, and upon his grasping and ungrateful master. Mr, Law's 
 pages seem to glow with purple and gold ; and if mere words would dazzle, this description 
 of Wolsey's life at Hampton Court would throw the rest of the book into obscurity. But 
 there is much else that is entertaining, and ... he presents us with a careful, accurate, and 
 exhaustive account of the many strange scenes of Henry's reign here, where so large a part 
 of the lives of five of his Queens was passed, where Edward VI. was born, where Catherine 
 Howard was imprisoned, and where Catherine Parr brought up the children of her dreadful 
 husband. But for all this, and much more, the reader must go to the book itself, which is a 
 truly instructive and entertaining one." — St. James's Gazette. 
 
 " From first to last Mr. Law has done his task well ; his information is complete on 
 whatever subject it may be proffered. The illustrations are excellently clear and well chosen." 
 — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " In truth the history of the Palace is the history of so much of the Tudor era, told in a 
 scholarly and admirable style, with taste, accuracy, and some enthusiasm. The various 
 changes made in the building from the original plan ; the careful explanation of all its 
 important parts, the charming manner in which the author avoids dullness and long winded- 
 
Opinions of the Press on Volume L 
 
 ness ; the thorough mastery of the subjects, architectural and archaeological discussed 
 throughout, render it very readable. 
 
 " A vast amount of curious collateral information, both social and political, is interwoven 
 upon many a page. So much so, indeed, that the book may be regarded as a very model. 
 . . . This, in all sincerity a most delightful book, can be commended, as well for its dignified 
 literary tone, thorough independence of thought, and excellent taste, as for its well-chosen 
 subject-matter, scholarly treatment, and literary completeness." — Vanity Fair. 
 
 " He has produced a work of great historic and artistic interest and importance." — The 
 World. 
 
 " Mr. Law is well qualified for his task, for, in addition to diligent and fruitful researches 
 among the state papers and original records which have enabled him to furnish much fresh 
 information, and to correct some prevalent errors, he has had the advantage which a long 
 residence within the Palace walls and a very special genius loci give in this case to the 
 historian. 
 
 " Much local colouring is given by Mr. Law to the account of Edward's birth and 
 christening, the death of his mother, the scenes which took place at the arrest of Catherine 
 Howard, whose paroxysm of grief gave rise to the mystery of the shrieking ghost and the 
 Haunted Gallery." — The Scotsman. 
 
 " This is a delightful book. . . . The narrative, which binds all together, is written in 
 modern English, but a pleasant illusion of age is kept up in a certain quaintness of printing, 
 and in the general get-up of the work." — Manchester Guardian. 
 
 " Mr. Law evidently loves the ancient pile, and by dint of ransacking almost every likely 
 source of information, has managed to bring within the compass of one moderately-sized 
 volume an amount of information respecting Henry VI II., his ministers, his wives, and his 
 children, which it would be hard to find in any single library. . . . Nor with all his learning 
 is Mr. Law dull, though, as becomes the chronicler of a palace and the pranks of princes, he 
 is never flippant. . . . A work which must have cost Mr. Law an enormous amount of loving 
 care, and which, we may add, is well worthy of the pains he has bestowed upon it." — The 
 Observer. 
 
 " With every attraction of type, paper, and binding, worthy of the royal and historical 
 palace it describes, it gives us a most minute and yet most interesting record of Hampton 
 Court. Such local records are often dry reading through the accumulation of antiquarian 
 details ; but though such details are by no means wanting, Mr. Law has interwoven with 
 them so much of narrative and anecdote that the interest never fails, and we feel ourselves for 
 the moment living in the times which he is describing, and historical personages pass over 
 the stage before our eyes as if alive." — The Tablet. 
 
 " Good and scholarly work. ... It is worth reading, not only as a good history of the 
 Palace, but as giving some interesting glimpses of the private lives of the Tudor sovereigns." 
 — The Guardian. 
 
 "The story is so interesting that one can almost imagine oneself in the sixteenth 
 century. It is impossible in a paragraph to give any idea of the research and literary ability 
 which unite themselves in Mr. Law's book ; but it is eminently one to be read, and will find a 
 place by no means to its disadvantage beside those of the late Mr. Hepworth Dixon treating 
 of similar themes." — The Graphic. 
 
 " The work has a twofold interest. It contains 130 illustrations, maps and plans, and a 
 carefully and brightly written narrative of the Tudor palace and its celebrated inhabitants . . 
 . . The book is one worth reading and possessing, and does credit alike to publisher and 
 writer." — Illustrated London News. 
 
Opinions of the Press on Volume I. 
 
 " The results that have been obtained are placed before the reader in an extremely 
 pleasant manner. The author's style may not be so picturesque as Hepworth Dixon's, or as 
 gracefully learned as that of Surtees, but it is clear, unaffected, and truthful, and these are far 
 more important characteristics." — The Builder. 
 
 " The work is altogether one of absorbing interest." — The Queen. 
 
 " The author has invested the now desolate rooms and galleries of. the Palace with a 
 fresh charm, derived from a patient and appreciative research into all the circumstances 
 which have attended the eventful history of the edifice in Tudor times." — The Building News. 
 
 " In the limits of a paragraph it is impossible to do justice to a work at once so thorough 
 and so readable, so entertaining and so sound. We shall content ourselves with remarking 
 that it is vastly more interesting than most good novels, and that, historically speaking, it is 
 worthy of the age of Brewer and Bishop Stubbs." — The Magazine of Art. 
 
 " This is a most delightful book, full of all that is amusing, instructive, and entertaining, 
 and one that cannot fail to thoroughly interest any reader."— Naval and Military Gazette. 
 
 " Mr. Law has brought forward with signal success the picturesque side of the chronicle. 
 He has provided a series of historical pictures, which are signally striking and impressive, 
 and details of familiar life, which the historian too often overlooks." — Notes and Queries. 
 
 " Mr. Law has succeeded in producing a really delightful history." — The Bookseller. 
 
 " This book has been written and got up with great care. The labour bestowed upon his 
 researches must have been immense." — British Quarterly Review. 
 
 " The subject is an interesting one, and Mr. Law has handled it in a highly attractive 
 manner. . . . While making the record rigidly accurate and complete, as becomes a high- 
 class historical work, the author has at the same time very appropriately invested the volume 
 with an additional charm by slightly tinging its pages with a faint glamour of the romance 
 inseparable from the varied life 'that filled the spacious times of great Elizabeth."' — The 
 Textile Manufacturer. 
 
 " Mr. Law has done his work thoroughly. It owes its liveliness, picturesqueness, and 
 interest to the author himself, who shows great skill in clothing the dry facts with flesh, and 
 giving them an air of reality, as if he were describing contemporary events." — Leeds Mercury. 
 
 " The illustrations are most informing and the letterpress extremely erudite, and at the 
 same time most entertaining." — Court Journal. 
 
 " The author's account of the amusements of the Palace, and of all the romantic associa- 
 tions connected with it, is both entertaining and interesting. Mr. Law has done his work in 
 an effective and exhaustive manner." — Sydney Morning Herald. 
 
 " The chief attraction of the book is in the pictures it gives of the life of the time, and 
 the colour that is added by the use of contemporary testimony. The severity of history 
 is softened here by many touches of gossip of which contemporary literature furnishes 
 abundance." — The Nation. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
GETTY CENTER LIBRARY 
 
 3 3125 00594 8191