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

GREAT HALL 13
jecting buttresses, and windows and gables, and every
sort ofdelightful surprise, must be examined in detail.
At every turn the artist finds a subject, and his
description says what words cannot say. The Lord
Chamberlain's Court, the Master-Carpenter's Court,
the Court near the Great Kitchen, the Back Court,
the Chapel Court, and others, have each their charm.
And the Great Kitchen itself, with its high roof and
its grand open space, like a great hall, its hatches, and
the approaches to it, form a series of characteristic
pictures. So we turn back to the Clock-tower, and
mount the stair from Anne Bullen's gate.
VI
The Great Hall itself, with the rooms that open
from it, forms the most magnificent series of interiors
that the Palace now presents. The hall was begun
when Wolsey was dead. The Record Office contains
all the accounts of its making, of the expenses
of material and work, and even of every piece of
painting and carving. It was hurried on with all
the impetuosity of the King in seizing every pleasure
with rapidity.
The staircase that leads up from Anne Bullen's
gateway corresponds to another stair leading on the
other side from the kitchen, as in the arrangement
of many college halls, notably Merton College at
Oxford.