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

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232<br />

HAMPTON COURT<br />

whose care so much is due, where all work together<br />

<strong>with</strong> common enthusiasm for the public good. But a<br />

word must be said of that admirable Surveyor of the<br />

Royal Parks and Palaces, Mr.Edward Jesse, who,more<br />

than any man, made the experiment of the free opening<br />

to the public a success. He wrote a charming little<br />

" Summer Day at <strong>Hampton</strong> <strong>Court</strong>," which very<br />

pleasantly expresses his interest, his knowledge, and<br />

his activity. Sir Henry Cole revised an earlier<br />

guide, under the nom de plume of " Felix Summerly,"<br />

and Mr. Ernest Law has re-issued it <strong>with</strong><br />

the improvements which his own knowledge has enabled<br />

him to add.<br />

<strong>Hampton</strong> <strong>Court</strong> to-day appeals to the visitor in two<br />

different aspects. It is the holiday-ground of thousands<br />

of Londoners, and it is in this light that travellers<br />

and foreign critics regard it <strong>with</strong> pleasure and a little<br />

wonder. Thousands of orderly folk, merry, and not<br />

very attentive to historic association or even natural<br />

beautv, make sport and play here, as to the manner<br />

born. "As some men gaze <strong>with</strong> admiration at the<br />

colours of a tulip or the wing of a butterfly, soIwas<br />

<strong>by</strong> nature an admirer of happy human faces," said the<br />

good Vicar of Wakefield: it is a happiness many a<br />

parish priest and many a philanthropist can now enjoy<br />

to the full at <strong>Hampton</strong> <strong>Court</strong>.<br />

But this is not the only sight or the only thought.<br />

<strong>Hampton</strong> <strong>Court</strong> belongs to-day not only to the present<br />

but to the mighty past. Still a royal palace, <strong>with</strong> its<br />

guard of honour, its chapel royal, its chaplain and

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