The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-05-21 00:00:00

TEA,: 1-1,v6-s nwATFING ;zoom.

Yesterday his Majesty's Drawing Room (which has
been postponed several times), to eel. brow the King's
Birth-day, took place at the E St. James's,
which is the first ('Dart that bas be. n hell; there for up-
wards of ten years, althom,,lt the suite of rooms called the
Sate Rooms: for holding Courts, are allowed to he the
h. st in this or any other country foe thi.t purpose, not only
from their spacious size, but their convenit hat arrangement
for the company entering aid de;-nrting ; and probably
the Courts of Great Britain were never more numerously
held, or kept np with more splenikr than they were by
the hoe K.ng aml Queen in their pi hoe of life, when they
held five Court days in a week, viz., two Levees on Wed-
" tics lays and Fridays, and three Drawing Rooms on 'rues-
' days. Thursdays, and Saturdays, after Divine Service, for
nearly halt' a year at least; anti the numerous Courts were
from the Nth of January, when the Queen's Birth-day
was kept, until the salt of June, the King's Birth-day,
which months were then called the London Season, and it
was usual for the Nobility and (entry to arrive in town in
'January, and have town in June.
Twenty-two yeats ago, the Isth of last January, the Birth-
day Ball was discontinued, and the Lt ices and Drawing
Rooms were gradually decreased to one Levee and one
Drawing Room to each week. The last public Levee
which the late King lit Id was shortly after a slight attack
of his malady, which confined him for a short time, and
the Levee was in const quence so extremely thronged, that
the crowd unavoidably pressed against the King close to
the clock, to his very gnat inconvenience and fatigue; so
much so, that his Majesty then said he would not hold any
more public Levees ; and had it nut been for the great ex-
a:ions of' the Pages and other attendants, some bodily in-
jury might have been sustained by the King. Another
reason fee his Majesty's discontinuing to hold public Le-
vees was his sight failing him.
-
. .

After that the King held a private Levee at the Queen's
Palace every IVednzwelay, and came from Windsor rept-
hrly for that purposfy, when persons who it was necessary
should kiss the King's hand upon their appointments went
through that ceremony, and various presentations took
place on official business, but none attended there but those
directed to do eo by Ministers, or high official personages.
Ilia Majesty came to town every Wednesday, whether a
Privy Council WAS to be held or official business to be
transacted or not.

The Queen continued to hold Drawing Rooms for a
short time after, at the old Palace, in her court dresses, ir
the apartments of the Duke of Cumberland, it being less
fatigue than,going in her court dress in her carriage. Her
Majesty's declining years caused her to find this exertion
oppressive, and, by the advice of his present Majesty, the
Queen discontinued holding Drawing Rooms altogether at
the King's Palacz, St. James's, and held them afterwards
at her own Palace.

The Queen had enjoyed very good health till the visit
of the Sovereigns to London, when she was kept up for a
great number of nights, somethnes till near six o'clock in
the morning, and after that she was frequently unwell ;
the last attack was on a Saturday evening, while on a visit
to the Duke and Duchess of York. The Queen was some-
times holding a Drawing Room at the old Palace, at the
same time that the King was holding a Privy Council and
a Court for public hnsiness at the Queen's Palace, at the
time the King had discontinued appearing in public or
holding public Courts, owing to the bad state of his
sight. _

The old Palac,. has been seldom used for Court purposes
since the Queen discontinued holding he•r Drawing Rooms
there, except for exhibiting the bulletins of the state of
the late King's health.
The state rooms, and the rooms adjoining them, were
occupied at one time for some months as barracks, by a
portion of the Guards; they afterwards underwent a slight
repair, and the celebrated taptstry was taken down to be
cleaned; this was said to be for the purpose of the late
Princess Charlotte receiving company, had she recovered
from her accouchement. There was searc-ly furniture
remaining; the only seats were a few stools;
there were no lights allowed. The lair, we LA known to
have signed official documents by the light t): a fire. His
present Majesty, then Prince of Wales, when at Court,
in9uired the cause of there not being any candles; anti on
being informed that notle were allowed, expiessed hi s dis-
pleasure.

ALTERATIONS IN THE PALACE.—The present King.
who has directed the reins of Government for these thirteen
years past, has commartled the most important, extensive,
and improved public works to be executed, amongst which
was the repair and decoration of the ancient Palace of St.
James's, which required great improvement before it could
be used for state purposes.
The exterior inconveniences of the old Palace were very
great. The entrance for the general company by the great
gates opposite St. James's-street, was attended with consi-
derable confusion in general, the turn from St. James's
being so very short; and it was very unpleasant to the
Nobility and Gentry coming to Court, particularly to the
ladies, as they were exposed to the fall of weather, and
the wind from various quarters, and among other unplea-
santness, they were subject to the observations of the spec-
tators, who were numerously admitted in those days. At
the entrance for those entitled to the entry, or what may
be termed the first Levee (for the Royal Family, the Fo-
reign Ambassadors and Ministers, the Cabinet Ministers,
the great Officers of State, and other official Gentlemen, or
those who have been in office) one of the principal incon-
veniences was a narrow staircase, only wide enough for one
parson to pass, for which a spacious staircase is now sub-
stituted. Rooms and convenient avenues have been built
for those distinguished personages to wait in, for their ser-
vants and carriages. '1 he yard for their carriages has been
enlarged to double the size, by pulling down a range of
buildings which were occupied by persons holding situa-
tions in the Palace, and a gallery above them connecting
the Duke of Cumberland's residence with the State Rooms
of the Palace. What used to be called the Lord Steward's
Court (from the Board of Green Cloth being in it) and the
Kitchen Court, now form one open space. Such an ar-
rangement was probably absolutely necersary, from the
circumstance of his present Majesty having increased the
entre list so much that there would not have been room
sufficient for their carriages. The entrance for the general
company is much improved, both in convenience and
comfort ; they now alight from their carriages di-
rectly under a colonnade, where there are also rooms and
covered ways, with fires, which add touch to the conve-
nience and comfort of the company.