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

WILLIAM OF ORANGE 89
does your Majesty keep an open table as Ido ? '"
The retort,it would seem, was appropriate, since when
Pepys went to the Palace to speak to the Duke of
York about Admiralty business and the occupation
of Tangier, he was not invited anywhere to dinner,
" though a stranger, which did also trouble me."
While Pepys and Grammont, and the writers of
diaries and memoirs, leave an impression of reckless
profusion and license in the Hampton Court of the
Restoration age, John Evelyn preserves in his diary
the quieter aspect of the place and of the age. The
gardens, the park, and the improvements Charles was
making everywhere were noted by him in his careful,
sober way, critically yet with appreciation.
James II.,it would seem, never lived at Hampton
Court.1 This may have made the Palace so constant
a resort of his daughter, who never, it would
seem, forgave herself the treachery with which she
supplanted him.
X
With the " glorious Revolution " Hampton Court
began a new career. The Dutch king, like Wolsey,
is here a creator and builder. It might be said that
Hampton Court more than any other place was his
home. It is in such surroundings that we can most
happily form a critical estimate of him.
1 " It isnot certain whether, as King, he everpassed a single night
inthe Palace." — E.Law, " History ofHampton CourtPalace? vol.ii.
p. 255.