Hampton Court ... Illustrated with forty-three drawings by Herbert ...

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HAMPTON COURT
watching-chamber that the public declaration of her
guilt was made; and it was at Hampton Court that
the King wedded his last wife, Catherine Parr.
We may well hurry over these last yearsof the brutalised
King; their memories, even at Hampton Court,
are not fragrant.
IV
Edward VI. had some liking for the place of his
birth, though he saw strange scenes there. There
was dread of an attack on him, and his uncle held him
guarded and the house in a state of siege. But he got
ridofhisuncle as hisfather hadgot rid ofhis wives, and
his reign left no mark on the house. Philip and Mary
stayed there for some time after their wedding, and it
was there that preparations were made so extensively
for the heir of England who never came. There,
too, Elizabeth was kept for some time in close ward.
There is one lighter aspect of the time connected
with the place. Mary's favourite recreation served to
decorate the Palace. Catherine of Aragon, says Lady
Marion Alford, had introduced the Spanish taste in
embroidery, which was then white or black silk and
gold " lace stitches " on fine linen. This " Spanish
work," as it was called, continued in fashion under
Mary, Catherine's daughter, who was doubly Spanish
in her sympathies. She had her needle constantly in
her hand, and when Wolsey and Campeggio paid to
her their formal visit, she came forth to them with a