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

CHAPTER VII
MEMORIES AND LEGENDS OF TO-DAT
Residents of later days: the families to whom the Crown has given
apartments:the Wellesleys:Lady Mornington, the "motherof
the Gracchi " : the caretaker of the Palace: its condition today:
its romantic interests: Charles I.: Catherine Howard:
the White Lady: Mrs. Penn: ghost stories: the artistic pictures
on the verge of the twentieth century:a picture of the
future by WilliamMorris.
HamptonCourt,the most homely of English palaces,
has now become the most interesting of all English
dwelling-houses. In no other certainly are to be found
members of so many families distinguished in the
service of the Crown and the State. Since the accession
of George III., the custom of assigning private apartments
to persons favoured by the sovereign has been
continued without intermission, and the Palace has
ceased, apparently for ever, to be a royal residence.
Among the personages of royal blood who have since
that date resided there was William, Stadtholder of
theNetherlands, who fled from Holland in 1795 '■>
and
in 1880 the Queen gave the beautiful apartments of
the Lady-Housekeeper in the south-west wing of the
west front (of whichMr.Railton has given a charming
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