his favourite amusement of hunting without the fatigue of going out of the neighbourhood; the inhabitants, however, having been aggrieved and incommoded, petitioned, after the king's death, that the lord protector and council would grant them relief; the consequence of which was an order of council, by which the deer were removed, and the wooden paling taken down; the district, however, containing many parishes in Middlesex and Surrey, has been always held, and continues to be a royal chace, over which is appointed an officer, called Lieutenant and Keeper of his Majesty's Chace of Hampton Court.

The honour of Hampton Court was so created by act of parliament in 1540. The chief steward, has been always held with that of lieutenant and keeper of the chase; the office is held at present by his royal highnessWilliam Henry, duke of Clarence, third son of his majesty George III.

THE ROYAL PALACE OF HAMPTON COURT is situated on the north bank of the Thames, two miles from Kingston. Pales It was magnificently built with brick by cardinal Wolsey, //5 who set up two hundred and eighty silk beds for the entertainment of the French ambassador, in 1527; and richly stored it with gold and silver plate; but it raised so much envy against him, that, to screen himself from its effects, he gave it to Henry VII. who, in return, suffered him to live in his palace at Richmond. Henry greatly enlarged it, and it had then five spacious courts adorned with buildings, which in that age were greatly admir d.

This was the birth place of Edward Vi. and of the untimely death of his mother, queen Jane Seymour, in 1537. Queen Catharine Howard was presented here as queen, in 1540; and queen Catharine Parr, was married here and proclaimed queen in 1543. Edward VI. Philip and Mary, Elizabeth, and other sovereigns, were often residents here. In 1603-4, was held the conference between the members of the established Church and the puritan divines, before king James I. as moderator; the consequence was, the present translation of the Bible.

Hampton

Hampton Court, after having been the palace, became the prison of the unfortunate Charles I. Here also Cromwell chiefly resided. Charles II. and James II. were occasional inhabitants; but it was a very favourite residence of William III. who employed Sir Christopher Wren to take down great part of the old palace, and the present structure was raised under his direction. The grand façade toward the garden extends three hundred and thirty feet, and that toward the Thames three hundred and twenty-eight. The portico and colonade, of duplicated pillars of the Ionic order, at the grand entrance, and indeed the general design of these elevations, are in a superior stile of magnificence.

Within this palace the princess of Denmark, (afterwards queen Anne) was delivered of prince William, duke of Glocester; and after her accession to the throne, she made it her occasional retreat from public business; as did her successors, George I. and II.; but it has not been so honoured by his present majesty and the only distinction it received during this reign, was its having afforded an asylum to his serene highness, William V. prince of Orange, and Stadtholder of the Dutch republic, when he quitted his dominions, in consequence of the revolution which took place there, in the year 1795. His highness was first cousin to the king, being the son of Anne, princess royal of England, eldest daughter of George II.

The palace consists of three quadrangles: the first and second are Gothic, but in the third are the royal apartments, magnificently built of brick and stone by king William III. The gardens are not in the present style, but in that which prevailed some years ago, when mathematical figures were preferred to the forms of natural beauty*.

The celebrated Brown had his present majesty's permission to make whatever improvements in these gardens his fine imaginations might suggest; but he declared his opinion, that they appeared to the best advan tage in their present state. Their regularity and grandeur are, indeed, more suitable to the magnificence of a royal palace, than the natural beauties of a private villa.

The

The park and gardens, with the ground on which the palace now stands, are three miles in circumference. On a pediment in the front of the palace, is a bas-relief of the triumphs of Hercules over Envy; and facing it is a large oval basin, answering to the form of that part of the garden, which is a large oval divided into gravel walks and parterres.

At the entrance of the grand walk are two marble vases of exquisite workmanship; one said to be performed by Cibber, the father of the poet laureat, and the other by a foreigner: these pieces are reported to have been done as a trial of skill: but it is difficult to determine which is the finest performance. They are adorned with bas-reliefs; one representing the Triumphs of Bacchus, and the other Amphitrite and the Nereids. At the bottom of this walk, facing a large canal which extends into the park, are two other large vases, the bas-relief on the one representing the Judgment of Paris, and that of the other Meleager hunting the Wild Boar.

The

In four of the parterres are four fine brass statues. first a gladiator. The original was performed by AGASIAS DOSITHEUS of Ephesus, and is in the Borghesian palace at Rome. The second, a young Apollo; the third, Diana'; and the fourth, Saturn going to devour one of his children.

On the south side of the palace is the privy garden, which was sunk ten feet to open a view from the apartments to the Thames. In this garden is a fountain and two grand terrace walks. On the north side is a tennis court; and beyond that, a gate which leads into the wilderness; farther on is the great gate of the gardens. Passing through a court yard, on each side of which are stabling, leads to the first portal, decorated with the heads of four of the Cæsars. Through this portal passes into a quadrangle, which leads to a second quadrangle, where, over the portal, is a beau-, tiful clock by Tompion, on which are the twelve signs of the zodiac, with the rising and setting of the sun, the phases of the moon, &c. On the left hand of this qua. drangle is the great old ball, in which queen Caroline

erected

erected a theatre, wherein it was intended that Iwo plays should be acted every week during the continuance of the court there; but only seven plays were performed in it, by the performers from Drury Lane, the summer when it was raised, and one afterwards for the entertainment of the duke of Lorrain, afterwards emperor of Germany. In the front is a portal with four Cæsar's heads. On the opposite side of this quadrangle is a stone colonade of the lonic order, which leads to the great staircase, adorned with gilt iron balustrades, erected on porphyry. This staircase, with the cieling, was painted by VERRIO. At the top, on the left, are Apollo and the Muses, at whose feet Pan is seated, and below them Ceres, holding a wheatsheaf; at her feet is Flora, surrounded by her attendants, and holding a chaplet of flowers; near her are the river-gods Thame and Isis, with their urns; and a table in the middle, on which is a quantity of rich plate, decorated with flowers. On the cieling are Jupiter and Juno, with Ganymede riding on Jupiter's eagle, and offering the cup; Juno's peacock is in the front: one of the Parcæ, with her scissars, waiting for Jove's orders to cut the thread of life. Beneath is Venus on a swan, Mars addressing her as a lover, and Cupid on another swan. On the right hand are Pluto and Proserpine, Cœlus and Terra, Cybele with a mural crown, &c. Neptune and Amphitrite are in the front, and two attendants are serving them with nectar and fruit. Bacchus is leaning on a rich ewer, and, accompanied by his attendants, places his left hand on the head of Silenus, who sits on an ass that has fallen down, and seems to catch at a table to which Diana above is pointing. The table is supported by eagles: on one side of it sits Romulus, the founder of Rome, with a wolf; and, on the other side, Hercules leaning on his club. Peace holds a laurel in her right hand, and in her left a palm, over the head of Æneas, who seems inviting the twelve Cæsars, among whom is Spurina the soothsayer, to a celestial banquet. Over their heads the genius of Rome hovers with a flaming sword, the emblem of destruction, and a bridle, the emblem of go

vernment.