Hampton Court ... Illustrated with forty-three drawings by Herbert ...
Hampton Court ... Illustrated with forty-three drawings by Herbert ...
Hampton Court ... Illustrated with forty-three drawings by Herbert ...
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64<br />
HAMPTON COURT<br />
characteristically content not to spend money upon<br />
it. She did not add to its external dignity. She<br />
was content to decorate it <strong>with</strong>in, <strong>with</strong> all the luxury<br />
she loved — hangings and tapestries, pictures and<br />
mirrors. Its reputation was already embellished <strong>by</strong><br />
fable. Leopold von Wedel says that <strong>Hampton</strong> <strong>Court</strong><br />
was not only "very magnificent and beautiful," but<br />
was " considered the largest building in England, for<br />
from the distance it has the appearance of a town.1<br />
The Emperor Charles and the Prince of Conde<br />
lodged here as guests of the Queen of England, both<br />
potentates finding room in it <strong>with</strong> their entire suites<br />
(that they had brought <strong>with</strong> them to England) for<br />
lodgment."<br />
Paul Hentzner, a German lawyer, came to England<br />
in 1698 <strong>with</strong> a young Silesian nobleman whose tutor<br />
he was. His description of the Palace, and of the<br />
Queen in it, tallies exactly <strong>with</strong> that of Von Wedel.<br />
Everywhere when the Queen passed the people fell on<br />
their knees. Her procession to chapel was a state<br />
ceremonial. The people cried out "God save Queen<br />
Elizabeth," and she answered, " Ithank you, my good<br />
people." 2 Of <strong>Hampton</strong> <strong>Court</strong> itself his description is<br />
worth quoting verbatim, both for the impression it<br />
gives of the Palace as it was whenElizabethlived in it,<br />
and for contrast <strong>with</strong> later changes. It is the best<br />
account, after Cavendish, of the Palace under the<br />
Tudors.<br />
1 Cf. Sir Thomas Smith, DeRepublica Anglorumlibritres, p. 30.<br />
2 Cf. Transactions of the RoyalHistoricalSociety,N.S. ix. 228.
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